"It"

Has anyone else come across people routinely referring to their dog as "it" rather than by specific name or gender (he/she) or "my dog" etc?

I.e "it" did this, "it" was doing that, etc.

I find it very jarring and am always concerned about their relationship with their dog if this is, IMO, the rather remote way that they view "it".

Do/would you find it equally concerning?

I find it very odd when people refer to their dogs as "it", whether that be in real life or on forums.

"It has to go today" really gets me

I generally refer to my dogs as

my dog
he/she
by name

However, I must admit I do often refer to unknown dogs as "it" .....................












...............with or without the quiet bit in front .......................

But then I find it weird when people refer to their animals as their "furbabies/kids" and themselves as their "mummy/daddy".

Don't like my username then SB? We always joke that I'm Cain's mum, my mum will tell him "go find your mum", but I know full well that he is no child, he is not a baby substitute and it treated as a dog. I don't think using mum/dad nicknames is that bad as long as the owner doesn't treat the dog like a child (dress it up, handbags and strollers )

I don't like "it" at all of someone is referring to their own dog. I agree, it speaks volumes about the relationship and how they view their dog. Although I have asked "whats it's name?" when I don't know the sex of a new dog, I'd use he/she once I knew though.

My OH refers to "it" when he is referring to someone's dog. It grates on my nerves too. Mind you, it grates on my nerves when he refers to our things as 'his' too. GRRR

One of my clients phoned me once and referred to himself as his dog's Dad. He paused slightly before he said Dad and I heard his OH giggling in the background.

It makes me sad when someone refers to their pet as an 'it'.

I'm guilty of sometimes calling myself Gelert's mum But he is not my furbaby *shudder* That sort of thing creeps me out.

Personally I do not like the "fur babies" phrase, but referring to a dog's owner as Mum or Dad can be a convenient (and reasonably polite) way to get around having forgotten a name .

I see it as a sort of non-literal courtesy title, like calling adults "auntie Y" or "uncle X" when you are a child.

I tend to figuratively shudder when people use it meaning it literally though .

IME that can also be another cause for concern about the appropriateness of the relationship, (in the opposite direction to the impersonal "it") as such relationships often tend to be highly anthropomorphic.


Conversely, as a non-literal title I think the other thing about referring to "Mum" or "Dad" can also helpfully set up an reasonable leadership role, in the sense of being a guiding, nurturing, parental leader, with responsibility for setting and maintaining appropriate fair, firm consistent boundaries, based on mutual respect and affection.

As opposed to encouraging an overly distance or autocratic outlook (although sadly parental abuse of real children does occur) or conversely a lets-all-be-pals-together opt-out (although some parents these days seem to adopt that attitude with their real life children anyway!).

If I know the dog's sex I refer to 'it' as he or she. I think OH has once or twice referred to our dogs as it too. When speaking to someone that does not know them. I find it a very detached way of speaking.

But then he is more detached about stuff in general.