Question of gender and pets

[Michele A Berdy]

I'm a bit late to the party... but here at the Moscow dog park, we call our pooches собака regardless of gender. Вот моя собака!  Не видели мою собаку? Ездил с собачкой. People say that about their male dogs as well as female dogs. On the other hand, people use the gender-appropriate pronoun. Она - брехливая. Ему уже 5 лет. Куда он пошел? Она подбирает всякие гадости. Привет, маленький!

For a different reason, gender is very important -- probably 99 percent of dog owners don't spay or neuter their dogs, so there are more "issues." We always seem to be shouting at new people: У вас - кто? Девушка или мальчик? (девушка, девочка, сука; кобель, мальчик, парень). I can rattle off the names of gender of dozens of dogs -- it's the owners' names I can't remember. 



-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Emily Saunders
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2013 3:08 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Question of gender and pets

Thanks!  How about this hypothetical.  I own two dogs, both male.  If asked:  У тебя есть собака?  Would you be specific and answer:  У меня два кобеля (would you ever sаy пса?) Or would you say the generic у меня две собаки.

Thanks.  It seems straightforward, but I get this question asked a lot when students do introductory essays/blog posts about their family members and pets.  I call it the Это моя собака.  Его зовут Кинг.   dilemma.

I'd love a variety of opinions about when you would and when you would not specify the masculine gender of your pet.

Thanks!

Emily



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