Can dogs tell the difference between male humans and female humans?

I was just wondering. Obviously dogs can tell the difference between male dogs and bitches, and they can tell the difference between different humans, but can they tell the difference between male and female humans? People can’t tell the difference between male dogs and bitches in most cases (unless the look at the genitals), however i find it easy to differentiate in certain breeds. In German Shepherds it is obvious if it is a male of a female. Anyway, do any of you know? Was there ever a study done? It sounds like the kind of study Stanley Coren might do.

German shepherd: females are smaller and less aggressive then males. And yes, dogs do know the difference. Dogs that are abused tend to be scare and even aggressive to men because they know men are bulkier and have deeper voices then women. That’s why abused dogs tend to do better with women and childes.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 1st, 2011 at 3:00 am and is filed under dogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Can dogs tell the difference between male humans and female humans?”

Tricia Beaver on March 1st, 2011 at 8:44 am

German shepherd: females are smaller and less aggressive then males. And yes, dogs do know the difference. Dogs that are abused tend to be scare and even aggressive to men because they know men are bulkier and have deeper voices then women. That’s why abused dogs tend to do better with women and childes.
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Used to have an abused rough coat collie who only came to women.
mysterious one on March 1st, 2011 at 9:09 am

Yes, dogs can smell human gender. Dogs can also smell if you are distressed, sick, general age, overall health etc all from just sniffing your butt, and once they know you, the scent from the air.

Ex: Some dogs seem to automatically dislike men or women specifically, and can take time to warm up to.
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Sana Malik on March 1st, 2011 at 9:29 am

i think they know the difference between both of them . anyway DOGS are very sweet animal . i love DOGS …….!
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ladystang on March 1st, 2011 at 9:45 am

mine can
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AKC on March 1st, 2011 at 10:24 am

Uh yeah…they listen to the voice, they look at the different body language men give off. Usually you can tell the difference between a dog and a bitch in Shepherds, Amstaffs, Bullmastiffs, Boxer, Dane, Mastiff, Samoyed etc. There are always the "doggy females" who have more masculine structure and are often mistaken for a male. In mutts, that’s much harder to do, almost impossible.
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Dogs