LOVING OUR DOGGIES, GAY, BISEXUAL AND HETEROSEXUAL
A fabulous documentary featuring a pair of lesbian pugs and a gay greyhound revealed it is possible for animals to have same sex preferences.
In My Gay Dog and Other Animals, academics and behavioural experts decode gay relationships in the animal kingdom and insists they can’t be explained away as dominant behaviour or bonding.
The documentary saw leading dog behavioural expert Leon Towers put the preferences of an Italian greyhound to the test, after his owner Matt Tipper, 34, from Bath revealed Franco prefers his other dog, Norman, to any females.
When introduced to a female dog in heat, he was not interested, and continued to try to attract the attention of other males.
Meanwhile, Christine King, from Weston-super-Mare, also noted that two of her female pugs had a more ‘intimate’ relationship than any of her other pets.
Matt explained that Franco had no interest in female dogs – and that he ‘goes for’ Norman ‘all the time’.
His mother Ann revealed: ‘I’ve thought for a long time that Matt’s dogs are gay.’
When leading dog behavioural expert Leon Towers watched a video of the two animals, he noticed there was a certain passion between the pooches – despite them both being male.
Watching Franco’s behaviour, he said: ‘Wow. He’s really going for it there. Oh my god. And Norman bless him is just standing there taking it.’
He went on: ‘I’m flabbergasted by that, I can’t wait to see them.’
In order to assess whether the dogs were gay or bisexual, he tested them with a female dog who was ‘in season’.
GORGEOUS FRANCO
Leon explained that it is ‘the ultimate test’ to see if the dogs are gay, as most male dogs will not be able to resist a female dog who is ‘on heat.’
And while Norman’s natural instinct kicked in straight away, Franco was less than impressed and continued to try to get the attention of the male dog.
Leon decided to remove Norman as they continued their experiment in an effort to see if Franco can focus on the female dog.
But the little pooch was still not interested in the female dog and, despite sniffing her a little, didn’t pay her much attention.
Leon was absolutely stunned by the encounter, saying: ‘It’s not normal at all. I’ve never ever ever come across a male dog that mounts a male dog constantly.
‘It’s blatantly obvious Franco prefers male dogs.’
Meanwhile pet-owner Matt added: ‘The results that we got today were pretty black and white. Franco prefers male dogs to female.’
But it’s not just male dogs who can be gay – with pet-owner Christine King suggesting her pet pugs are in a lesbian relationship.
Pugly and Nelly are closer than her other three animals, with the dog-lover revealing: ‘They have a more intense connection than the rest of the gang.
‘Pugly always humps Nelly, which always goes on for a little while. She doesn’t object, it’s just what they seem to do.’
Christine continued: ‘They are like a married couple really, they just happen to be dogs…and female.’
Rebeccah Baylis, who is the pugs physiotherapist, revealed she considers it ‘pair bonding’, a close relationship common in the animal world built through courtship and sexual activity.
‘Pair bonding is massive in the animal world – maybe Pugly feels the affection for Nelly, so I think it goes far deeper than ‘Is Pugly gay?’ That action is relaxing for her.’
Baylis went on to suggest a reason why Pugly enjoys humping Nelly so much, by explaining how the sexual movement releases happy hormones.
‘There is research to say when you ride a horse, it releases the same chemicals as it does when you have sex, which is why girls particularly become quite obsessed with horses and ponies, because it releases those happy hormones.’
However, Professor Volker Sommer, an evolutionary anthropologist from University College London, suggested that gay behaviour in animals goes further than just bonding.
‘One way of trying to explain the sexuality out of same sex, sexual behaviour is to say, “oh no, that’s not sex, it’s just dominance behaviour. One male is mounting another and he’s exerting his higher status”. That simply is not the case.
“Explaining the sexual component away from, or out of same sexual interactions, is one of the oldest games in the book. There is no such category in nature as social or sexual.
‘There is a lot of variation and for that reason to say, “oh yes, this is not just sex, this is social”, just tells you something about your mindset. You are not willing to allow non- human animals to actually have homosexual sex.’
