Wednesday, February 3, 2010

TAILS

I know we've talked about humans calling us she when we're a he, or he when we're a really a she. Well, yesterday I got "she'd" again. I had my blue he-sweater on and everything but this guy still thought I was a girl.

When my human gave the guy a look that said "dude, the sweater! look at the sweater!" he didn't even apologize for she-ing me. Nope. He just started talking about my tail.


STRANGER GUY:
Someone told me that boy pug tails curl left and girl pug tails curl right.

MY HUMAN:
Seriously?

ME [to myself]: Are you high?
STRANGER GUY:
Or maybe it's girls to the left, and boys to the right?

MY HUMAN:
Uh. No idea. He's a he though.


I've sniffed a lot of pug butts and have never noticed any of this boy/girl tail-curling business. To be honest though,
I'm not sure I ever really looked. Could it be true? To find out, let's be scientific and take a poll:
  • Are you a he or a she?
  • Does your tail curl to the right (clockwise) or left (counterclockwise) when a human looks at you from the front?
  • (Optional) Just curious, do you have a single or double curl?
If you're not a pug, that's ok. Just tell us something about your tail (brother Dutch's tail is spotless; his left butt-cheek has a heart-shaped spot on it).

For the record: I am a he and curl to the right. I only have one curl - except when I get tired and then it's more like a half-curl. Kinda like a cheese doodle. But furry.

23 comments:

Paco and Honey said...

Well, I (Paco) am a boy and I curl to the left with a single curl. My sister, Honey, is a girl (duh!) and she curls to the .. left too. Hmmm. We aren't much help.

Sequoia & Petunia & Emma said...

Hi Puglet! Sequoia here, my tail curls to the right and I am a girl. Tuni tails curls directly in the center and sometimes to the right and she is a girl too. I have a single curl and Tuni barely has a single curl (her tail is spongey and super small and fats). Good luck with your poll.

I wears pink all the time and people always 'he' me because I am bigger than my sister. Humans.

Sequoia

Sabrina said...

Hi Puglet, Beulah's tail curls to the left (she's a girl!) and it has 1 and a half curls. WHen she's nervous, though, it uncurls! Barney the lab had "happy tail" when I first got him--he banged it so hard on the walls when he wagged that it started to bleed all over the walls--my house looked like it was waiting for CSI! Now he has a white spot where the hair has never grown back...

Anonymous said...

When looking at him head-on, Mu's single-curl tail curled to the left.
(My favorite thing about curly pug tails is when y'all run so fast your tail staightens!!)

-Mushu's mom
xoxo

Lola said...

My tail curls to the right and it's on and a half curls... exceot when I'm sleepin, running, or scared/nervous- then it's straight. My human sister thought she broke it the first time she saw it straight!
I think humans should pay more attention to the color of our sweaters than the way our tails curl! My mom makes me wear a 49er jersey during football season, and everybody calls me a 'he'.
Let us know the poll results.
Lafayette Lola

Arlo The Pug said...

that is a funny poll! I'm a boy and my tail curls to the right, but i know of another pug who is a boy and his tail curls to the left...But I alway get mistaken for a she! Annoying let me tell you! But I just let it roll off my back...better to get petted as a she than to be ignored as a he! lol.

THE PUGLET said...

Oooh - please keep the tail data coming ('data' - that's what your answers are) so we can bust this Myth like those guys on the TV.

So far, it looks like the myth of the he/she tail curl is going to be.... busted!

Lola said...

oh yeah- I LOVE the heart shaped spot on Dutch's butt!
Lafayette Lola

dw said...

Hi, Rainy here. My little tail curls to the left whens my mom looks at me from the front. Most of the time it is a double curl, buts not always. Sometimes I's don't keep it curled up that tight. But sometimes I's do!

"I had you big time"
Love,
Rainy

Ollie said...

Hi Puglet,
I have a long white tail like Dutch (my human is very careful about closing doors after me) and like Barney I have a "happy tail". I have a wide swing and the ability to wack fragile objects across a room and send them crashing into a wall (my aim is excellent!).
When I'm really happy (anytime food is involved), I do a little circular jig and my "happy tail" ends up slapping me in the side of the head. But what do I care? I'm happy!

Anonymous said...

Frodo's tail curls right w/only a single curl. I love it when he sleeps and it uncurls to just a little 'hook' at the end, I have found myself waking up in the a.m. holding onto his tail!

Crabbie Chris said...

Well Puglet I'm going to put a wrench in you data. My tail curls to the right I get called he all the time....but truth is...I'm a hermaphrodite! Yep super rare I am (hehe channeling my inner Yoda there). My outside kinda looks like a boy part, but I don't have ummm....two other boy thingies. I have girl parts on the inside except I also had some boy parts inside too! Mommy says that just made me extra special because I was sooooo unique. So I guess sometimes your data much have to have an "other" catergory.

3pugs2luv said...

Zoey & Phoebe reporting. Most of the time our tails stay in the middle & we have a double curl but when we relax a little & uncurl it a little they tend to go to the right. We looked at pictures of Yoda, who was a boy, (we still miss him very much) he had a double curl too that would stay in the middle but when he relaxed it a little it would go to the left. Our human uses our tails as a gauge to see how deeply we are sleeping; if they're straight then she knows we are out & she can turn off cartoons & watch the news.
Don't feel bad about humans(they do it to us all the time, no matter what we wear) confusing their hes & shes. Just feel sorry for them, they are not as perceptive as us. On more than one occassion humans have asked our human how she got our tail to curl. One time she said with a curler & they believed her. Silly humans.
Luv ya, Zo & Phoebs

THE PUGLET said...

Arlo - you are so right: better to get petted as a she than to be ignored as a he!

The whole "happy tail" thing sounds cool. Except for the CSI/crime scene part. Dutch's tail is pretty happy - but not THAT happy.

I can't wait to see if there's any truth to this tail-curl gender myth. So far, it seems like the only thing we know for sure is that curled tails aren't curly all the time.

Keep the data coming!

THE PUGLET said...

Bellatrix -

uh, I'm a little confused but hey, I guess if you have all the parts no one will ever call you the wrong thing. How cool is that?!?

Anonymous said...

Hey Puglet,

My tail is spotless like Dutch but Boka has a spot on the underside of his tail.

Miley

SpencerBartholomew said...

Puglet... I am a boy and my tail curls to the right and it's a single... I also do the cheese doodle thing when I'm tired. This tail study is really cool!

Tiffany- Lafayette Lola's mom said...

Puglet- I just saw your addition to yesterday's post. Hope is so cute- we are sending Lola's cookie money her way, especially since Lola can't have cookies anymore.
We will pray for a speedy and full recovery for little Hope... and for a loving forever home for her, too.
Tiffany, Whitney, and Lafayette Lola

THE PUGLET said...

Spencer B ~ we're tail brothers! Mine works just like yours :)

THE PUGLET said...

Tiffany, Whitney, and Lafayette Lola --

Thanks a bunch guys!!! I'm so glad you're on a diet and don't need your cookie money. It sounds like Hope can use all the help she can get.

I was going to get one of those heli-thingy toys my friend Frank has, but I figure Hope needs a new eye more than I need another toy... so we sent her the money instead.

Mimi, Diva Dog extraordinare said...

my tail has a very tight double curl that goes clockwise if she's looking at me straight on ans usually sits to mom's left, my right. sometimes i get 'happy tail' when im chewin on a bone and mom pets me. but like others my tail will uncurl if im really relaxed (bone chewing, or asleep) but never fully straight. it has a little 'hook' at the end. mom calls this uncurled tail 'lazy tail'

Anonymous said...

Las Vegas Lola weighing in--- My tail curls to the left, I am a girlie girl, and I have a double curl! :) Pug Hugs, Las Vegas Lola

Buford T. Justice said...

Buford T. and family here.....

Momma is trying to do to a tail study here but some of us is sleeping and refusing to get off our beds (it is nightime after all!!!!!) Lacy Pug (girl) girls to the left (if mom is looking straight at her) single curl. Bambi's is to the left (girl) single curl. Per-Li-Mae (mom made her wake up), left and 1 1/2 curl. Peggy doesn't have a normal Pug tail..... She was in an accident a loooooonnnnng time ago so it's a short, straight, stubby tail that sticks out but kinda to the right. And I, Buford T. Justice, has a curl to the right..... hey wait, I'm the only boy here and it curls to the right?????? (Buford scratches his head......)

Also, momma says that pug curls straighten out when you get them wet, like at bath time. I wonder why she thinks that.

Good luck with your data