Does your dog know you crossdress?

[Martina]

I have had a dog since he was a 3 month old pup. In the first year I had him I wasn't dressing much and he would only have seen me in nighties or feminine underware and that would have been normal for him. Then after a year he saw the real Martina for the first time when I dressed up in secretary style to help me get through my paper work which I hate. I was in an above the knee pleated skirt, stockings and frilly blouse and he got very excited, wagging his tail and jumpimg around. He definitley knew there was something different about me. He sees me quite a lot now in dresses and skirts and he seems to observe me more closely at first than when I'm in drab. He sometimes appears a bit confused when I turn up in a skirt. He knows we don't go out when I'm dressed up and he doesn't bother me for walkies until he sees me back in drab again. I know dogs aren't judgemental but I often wonder does he think in as much as a dog can that its "weird" . He is a very intelligent dog and he behaves differently with women and men. I wonder can he associate clothing with gender and that may explain why he behaves slightly differently when I dress up. Has anybody else got dogs that appears to know that they crossdress?

[DonnaT]

Our previous Aussie, Bonnie, didn't react different when I was dressed, but she quickly sat up in surprise the first time she saw me in a wig last year. Heard my voice and knew it was me.

I haven't had the wig on in front of our current Aussie, Sugar.

[Anita]

Up until 2009, I lived in a house where my landlord and his two border collies were upstairs, and I was downstairs. The dogs were named Bob and Dylan. (Did I mention that my landlord liked a certain musical artist?)

Dylan was a very affectionate dog if he knew you, and a fierce watchdog if he didn't know you. You can probably see where this thread is going. The first time I walked out of the house dressed, Dylan got upset and began to bark. He didn't attack, fortunately, and it took my voice to assure him that it was "me."

On a related note, I rented a costume one Halloween for a radio-sponsored rock show. It was a sort of Arabian nights sorcerer outfit; Aladdin the magician. My cat took one look at me in this outfit, and retreated into a corner, howling like cats do when they know they're going to the vet. She was really distressed by whatever she "saw." Maybe she would have rather seen the nurse's outfit I wore ten years later.

[Tara M]

I once came home from a weekend away and our Jack Russell greeted me at the door but was a little off with me. Later on I shouted at her for some reason and suddenly she seemed to realise who I was and came over and made a proper fuss!

[Davita]

My cats give me a second look when they 1st see me. What I know is that they hate me in hats. My wigs are almost a hat to them, but after a say a few words, they tend to relax. I have managed to scare a hiss out of my boy when I wore a hat on my wig. Such a fun time torturing the cats....

[Robyn Katie]

Um, ha, our two cats ignore the change.

But then, they're tortie queens. Tortie queens typically have way too much going on in their minds to bother about trivialities like dress, or whether they're walking on my face, or anything like that.

Love, Robyn Katie

[Susan]

Dogs rely on their sense of smell rather than their eyesight. I expect he recognises you by smell - if you had some perfume on that may have confused him rather than what you were wearing.

[Wendae]

My dog doesn't like it when I wear a hat in drab and will bark and run away. In fem there is no reaction. Cats don't care.

[Mary Sanders]

Yes, and I have often wondered what's going through her head when she watches me play dress-up. My wig is got to be the strangest thing to her.

I have an extensive collection of negligees. Every morning after my wife leaves for work I religiously take at least 3 or 4 gowns out of my closet and wear each one for about 1/2 hour.

I've been doing this for years yet my dog still sits there and glares at me while changing form one gown to the next. At times she even sits there and wines at me as if to be telling me to stop. When I do finely get dressed she seams to be more content.

I don't know what she's thinking but all I can say is good thing dogs can't talk. LOL!

[Paula G]

No dog, but I'm sure the cats do, one will ignore me, well he ignores me most of the time anyway, but more so as Paula. The other one is much more sensual and will entwine himself around my hose clad legs and wriggle into any nice soft materials on the bed, sometimes this can make getting dressed quite difficult as well as entertaining

[Gillian]

Animals are sensitive to peoples moods. If you are in a calmer state when dressed that is what the animal is responding to.

[Melyssa Anne]

I don'y have a dog -- but do have cats, And they react to me very differently when dressed. They do not like the male me, but will come and sit by me and want to be pettted when I am dressed. Very bizarre and confusing!

[Carol Elizabeth]

I have dressed in front of 3 dogs over the years.

The first one didn't care one way or the other. She was a loving dog that loved to sit next to you on the couch and loved to be petted. She was playful until she was 16 years old - she died at 17 and I felt like I lost a member of my family.

The second dog didn't care what I wore either. He was a big dog who wanted to sit on your lap. He used to take me for walks and couldn't seem to understand that I changed clothes first. It just didn't make sense to him, he must have thought I looked fine in my fem clothes.

The third dog is a very small dog. She prefers me to wear skirts. She loves to lay on her back in my lap, using the skirt as a make shirt hammock.

That's my experience, oh and by the way, I have noticed that dogs are color blind. They all love to be petted and they don't care what color your skin happens to be. They know who is friendly and who must be feared. It's another one of those things that we can ponder.