Line #57 Main/MenLikeDogsWomenLikeCats


1	[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/{{Superman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/802_8.jpg]]]]
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3	Man's Best Friend is a dog, but Woman's Best Friend is a cat... or, at least according to fiction. In real life, of course, people's preference for cats or dogs isn't tied to their gender (at least not to anywhere near this extent).
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5	This might be a parallel indicator of MenActWomenAre. Dogs are traditionally used for working (with dogs as purely companion animals being a relatively recent occurrence): they herd sheep, sniff luggage for bombs, chew on criminals, guard the stash, et cetera. Cats tend to [[CatsAreLazy laze about not doing much]], except disarranging small items, and they're largely indoor pets (which is why [[IntrovertedCatPerson loners love 'em]]). Cats also have this [[CatsAreSuperior entitlement attitude]]: "What have you brought me today, [[SonOfAnApe furless ape]]?" Thus, Men and Dogs Act, while Women and Cats simply Are.[[note]]This perception ignores the fact that cats were indeed domesticated for the specific purpose of keeping vermin at bay.[[/note]]
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7	A male character who has a particular fondness for cats (especially CuteKitten) might be InTouchWithHisFeminineSide (though men who like [[PantheraAwesome big]] [[KingOfBeasts cats]] are mostly aversions), while a female who likes dogs might be a bit of a {{tomboy}} (though if it's [[PreciousPuppy small]] [[MisterMuffykins dogs]] or [[CunningLikeAFox foxes]] then she's usually [[GirlyGirl anything but]]). [[AllDogsArePurebred Certain dog breeds]], such as hounds or retrievers, are usually owned by men because they're "manly"-seeming working dogs. Male characters are almost never seen owning [[DogStereotype "girly" dogs]], companion breeds like poodles,[[note]]Interestingly, poodles, even the smaller variations, ''are'' a hunting breed, but their frilly pelts have led to them being seen as only cutesy companions by many[[/note]] chihuahuas, or Malteses. Cats on the other hand (at least the domesticated ones) don't have these restrictions much, mainly due to [[SmallReferencePools most people not recognizing more than a few select breeds at most]], though [[CatStereotype longhaired cats and hairless cats]] are sometimes depicted as feminine due to their high maintenance. Big wild cats, on the other hand, are usually seen as "manly" animals in many cultures, even in Western ones, while foxes, like certain dogs, are portrayed as "[[FoxyVixen feminine]]" canines in certain cultures and [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom especially modern media]].
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9	The prevalence of [[TheInternetIsForCats cat videos on the Internet]] has diluted the prevalence of this trope somewhat over time. It might even count as an inversion since Internet-based activities are often seen as [[ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet stereotypically male]]. If a couple consists of a female cat-lover and a male dog-lover, it's often a sign of OppositesAttract.
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11	Also see ABoyAndHisX, CrazyCatLady, KindheartedCatLover, CatStereotype, CanineCompanion, and DogStereotype. Compare to FemaleFelineMaleMutt, which is another way the dog/cat gender stereotypes can play out, and BoysLikeCreepyCritters and AllGirlsLikePonies, for other ways liking certain animals is stereotyped by gender.
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13	----
14	!!Examples:
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16	[[foldercontrol]]
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18	[[folder:Advertising]]
19	* This is a common trope for pet food ads, which usually feature men with dogs and women with cats. A major example are Mars Petcare's famous products: Pedigree (dog food) and Whiskas (cat food), in which even the narrators are male and female, respectively. Subverted with Blue Buffalo, which has woman dog owners listing off ingredients in food they feed to their dogs.
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22	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
23	* Tamaki is a girl in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' who works with nin-cats and is often surrounded by cats. It is revealed in the DistantFinale that she has become Kiba's girlfriend. Kiba's best friend and partner is his nin-dog Akamaru. Kiba comes from a clan of people who work with dogs, with the other two prominent Inuzuka being his mother and older sister (his father [[DisappearedDad explicitly ran off]] years ago).
24	* Inverted in ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' where Kaguya likes dogs and Shirogane like cats. However, it's because [[FemaleFelineMaleMutt Kaguya resembles a cat and Shirogane resembles a dog]]. In other words, they like each other. During their "cat person vs dog person" fight, another character noted that it sounded like they were flirting with each other.
25	* Very apparent in ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion''. Asuka and Mari, the two most prominent female pilots, are both heavily identified with cats (in Asuka's case, far more than she was in the original series), while Shinji, the lone male pilot, picks up the nickname of "puppy boy". In the fourth movie, Toji is also shown to own a dog, while Rei Q gets a scene where she bonds with a cat.
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28	[[folder:Comic Books]]
29	* Franchise/{{Superman}} has a pet dog named Krypto, while his cousin ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} has a pet cat named Streaky.
30	* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'':
31	** In the ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' comic "The Great Switcheroo", Salem from ''ComicBook/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' changes [[GenderBender all of Riverdale's sexes]]. The titular band of ''ComicBook/JosieAndThePussyCats'' becomes "Joey and the Junkyard Dogs".
32	** This appears with the protagonists of the three main comics of the SharedUniverse: Archie of ''Archie Comics'' had a pet dog (as does his best friend Jughead), Sabrina of ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' has a [[AllWitchesHaveCats cat]] {{familiar}}, and the titular band of ''Josie and the Pussycats'' is cat-themed (with one of the main characters, Alexandra, also having a cat familiar).
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35	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
36	* Creator/MortWalker's daily strip ''ComicStrip/BeetleBailey'' centers on the fictional US Army Camp Swampy, where male Sergeant Orville Snorkel has his dog Otto dressed in a scaled-down Army uniform, while female Sergeant Louise Lugg has a white longhair cat named Bella that's perpetually scowling.
37	* ''Pooch Cafe'' has Chazz, who owns a hyper-sentient canine named Poncho, and Carmen, whom Poncho thinks of as a CrazyCatLady simply because they're felines.
38	* ''ComicStrip/{{Mutts}}'': Earl the dog is owned by bachelor man Ozzie. Mooch the cat is technically owned by a couple, Frank and Millie, but Millie is the one who dotes on Mooch while Frank grudgingly tolerates him at best.
39	* In ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', Charlie Brown has his pet beagle, Snoopy, and Frieda has Faron, a cat who never walked and was always being carried, usually by Frieda herself. Faron was dropped from the strip after only a few appearances mostly due to the fact that Schulz couldn't draw cats very well.
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42	[[folder:Fan Works]]
43	* Inverted in ''Fanfic/BlazBlueAlternativeRemnant''. Weiss, Pyrrha, and ''especially'' Noel can't help but coo and adore Ruby's dog, Zwei, but Ragna's completely indifferent. When Yang wonders why, he states that he's more of a cat person.
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46	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
47	* ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'': Most of the human characters are male and own dogs. Fagin has the dogs Dodger, Francis, Einstein, Rita, and Tito. CardCarryingVillain Sykes has the Dobermans Roscoe and Desoto. Young Jenny Foxworth, however, adopts TheWoobie kitten Oliver. There's also Georgette the show poodle in the Foxworth home, but she's framed as a Foxworth asset rather than as a family pet.
48	* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooOnZombieIsland'': Great Dane Scooby is largely under Shaggy's ownership, while Simone Lenoir has a plethora of cats at her island estate. The animals square off almost immediately upon the gang's arrival.
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51	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
52	* ''Film/{{Babe}}'': Farmer Arthur Hoggett owns a pair of sheepdogs named Rex and Fly, whom he keeps for breeding purposes, and like most of the animals on Hoggett Farm, they refer to him as the Boss. Farmer Hoggett's wife, Esme, owns a cat named Duchess, who refers to her as the Boss and Farmer Hoggett as the Boss' Husband.
53	* ''Film/HomewardBoundTheIncredibleJourney'': The Seavers view their pets as family pets, just as the kids look after each other, but officially, Shadow the Golden Retriever, Sassy the Himalayan, and Chance the American Bulldog [[note]] Boxer in the sequel [[/note]] belong to their older son, Peter, daughter Hope, and younger son, Jamie, respectively. At the end of [[Film/HomewardBoundIILostInSanFrancisco the sequel]], the family takes on Chance's girlfriend, Delilah the Kuvasz, and it seems for a moment like the kids' mother, Laura, will subvert this trope and favor her, but it's apparently agreed that Delilah will be a family pet.
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56	[[folder:Literature]]
57	* Inverted in ''Literature/EachLittleUniverse'': male protagonists TM and Veggie own two cats (or, at least, have unofficially adopted them), while female survival show host Riegel O'Ryan has a dog. FemaleFelineMaleMutt is also inverted since the dog is female while both cats are male.
58	* Played straight when ''Literature/PeterNoTail'' is adopted by two children. Birgitta is the one who becomes attached to the title character, while her brother Olle would have rather had a dog.
59	* In the Lucy Maud Montgomery story "''The Quarantine at Alexander Abrahams''" from ''[[Literature/AnneOfGreenGables Chronicles of Avonlea]]'' man-hater/old maid Angelina [=MacPherson=] and woman-hater/old bachelor Alexander Abraham are trapped together by a quarantine for awhile. She has cats (but only brings one with her into quarantine), he has a dog. They hate each other's pets, but she does feed the dog. By the by, her cat quickly establishes dominance over his dog.
60	* ''Literature/LesVoyageursSansSouci'': Miss Ursule -main character Sébastien's aunt- owns a white cat called Blanchebelle (''White Beauty''); whereas Captain Albatros -Rosalie's father- owns a dog called Timoléon.
61	* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', it is said that dogs have an affinity for male channelers whereas cats like females, although this is never central to the plot.
62	* Subverted in Creator/StephenKing's short story "L.T.'s Theory of Pets" in ''Literature/EverythingsEventual''. L.T. owns a Jack Russell (bought by his wife) and his wife owns a Siamese (bought by L.T.) but both loathe "their" pets and get on much better with the one supposedly belonging to their spouse. (Although he's at pains to point out that both were given with the best of intentions, not AGiftForThemselves situation.)
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65	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
66	* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': Miss Brooks' landlady Mrs. Davis has a cat named Minerva. In [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness the first episode of the series]], "First Day", Mr. Conklin had a pet dog.
67	* ''Series/YediYuz'': Played straight in the episode "Biyolojik Saat". Metin prefers dogs, while Gökçe prefers cats. However, while Gökçe also likes dogs, Metin actively hates cats at the start of the story, which initially puts him at odds with her.
68	* Inverted in the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' episode "The One With Rachel's Book". Chandler describes his idea of his future with Monica: a house in the suburbs with a cat, etc. Monica likes the idea but changes the plan to "dog" instead. [[MasculineGirlFeminineBoy Though this might have something to do with their couple roles]].
69	* Inverted in series 10 of Series/{{Big Brother}} UK, with housemates Sophie and Freddie. Sophie always talked about her beloved pet Chihuahuas, as part of a task she was given the name "Dogface", and actually quite liked it! Freddie said he preferred cats. (Sometimes he even purred!). On separate occasions, Sophie wore dog facepaint and Freddie wore cat facepaint. Their personalities fitted some dog/cat stereotypes. Sophie was a DumbBlonde, which could go with the trope that DogsAreDumb, while Freddie was an eccentric loner, which may go with a male version of CrazyCatLady, as well as IntrovertedCatPerson.
70	* Invoked in a BBC documentary ''Cats V. Dogs: Which Is Best?'', which was discussing and testing how cats and dogs compare in intelligence, eyesight, sense of smell, hearing, and so on. It was light-heartedly presenting it as a kind of battle between the two species, and they had the female presenter Liz Bonnin fighting on behalf of cats while the male presenter Chris Packham was fighting on behalf of dogs.
71	* Inversion: Creator/AnimalPlanet's ''Series/ItsMeOrTheDog'' features a female dog trainer, Victoria Stillwell. The series gained a SpearCounterpart titled ''Series/MyCatFromHell'' starring Jackson Galaxy, a male cat whisperer.
72	* Inverted in the ''Literature/RedDwarf'' episode "Parallel Universe"; in the GenderBentAlternateUniverse, Deb Lister evidently smuggled a dog on board the ship, as opposed to Dave's cat in the main universe.
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75	[[folder: Music]]
76	* In "Let's Get Married" by Music/TheProclaimers, while describing their future married life, the singer responds to an apparent desire of his fiance to have a cat by saying "as long as it barks."
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79	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
80	* Inverted in ''Series/AllegrasWindow''; the titular Allegra's best friend is Lindi, a dog, while her older brother Rondo's best friend is Riff, a cat.
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83	[[folder:Video Games]]
84	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'': Hyrule Town has a young couple named Romio and Julietta, who have a pet dog and cat respectively.
85	* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'': At first there's Cammy, a British KindheartedCatLover who is also a Shadaloo "product" and defected from them in the past. Then the fourth game introduces Abel, a French amnesiac who Guile rescued from one of SIN's bases, and a lover of dogs.
86	* Inverted in ''VideoGame/YokaiWatch''. Official art usually portrays the original male protagonist Nate alongside the cat SeriesMascot Jibanyan, while the original female protagonist Katie is associated with the (lion-)dog yokai Komasan.
87	* In ''VideoGame/DevilChildren'', the titular Devil Children are each given a starting Mon. The boy, Setsuna, gets a Cerberus (dog demon), while the girl, Mirai, gets a Gryphon (eagle-lion hybrid).
88	* ''VideoGame/PapaLouieArcade'' is a rare inversion. The workers of "Papa's Pancakeria", Cooper and Prudence, have a cat named Cookie and a dog named Pickle, respectively.
89	* ''VideoGame/AntonballDeluxe'' features Anton's dog (a terrier) and Annie's cat (an unidentified species) in their respective owners' cutscenes, both of which [[UncattyResemblance resemble them]]. Anton gets along with his pet, while Annie struggles to walk hers. Both are also unlockable characters.
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92	[[folder:Web Original]]
93	* Lofi Girl of the eponymous Website/YouTube channel's "beats to relax/study to" stream is always seen studying or relaxing next to a cat. Her male counterpart from the "beats to chill/game to" stream, Synthwave Boy, instead has a small dog sleeping in his window.
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96	[[folder:Western Animation]]
97	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', Tommy has his dog, Spike, while his cousin Angelica has a cat, Fluffy.
98	* In one ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short, the cat Tom and dog Spike are owned by a pair of spouses. When their owners decide to keep only one pet, the husband insists on getting rid of Tom, while the wife insists on getting rid of Spike. The owners decide that whoever catches the mouse (Jerry) gets to stay. Tom and Spike end up tearing up the house trying to catch Jerry and are both then thrown out in favor of Jerry (under the logic that a mouse would eat less than Tom or Spike, not knowing Jerry's quite the BigEater himself).
99	* In ''WesternAnimation/KryptoTheSuperdog'', Krypto is owned by a boy. Streaky the Supercat is owned by a girl.
100	* WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse has a dog named WesternAnimation/PlutoThePup while his girlfriend/wife WesternAnimation/MinnieMouse has a kitten named Figaro. [[note]] However, for a brief period at the beginning of their history, Pluto was Minnie's dog. Figaro also originated in ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'', where he was the pet of Gepetto, making him another aversion.[[/note]]
101	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
102	** Bart is very close to his dog, Santa's Little Helper, while Lisa has a cat, Snowball II, and is a KindheartedCatLover in general.
103	** In one episode centered around Valentine's Day, the resident CrazyCatLady has a MeetCute (and a brief relationship with) a "Crazy Dog Man."
104	* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'':
105	** Subverted in "The Patriot Act", when Hank offers to take care of a soldier's pet while he's away on duty and is horrified to discover that said pet, named Duke, is a cat. As Duke proves to be quite a handful, Hank makes several insulting comments at his owner's expense, just short of saying he's gay.
106	** In the episode "To Kill a Ladybird", Hank remarks that dogs are a practical pet and only thinks cats make sense as a pet for little girls and old ladies.
107	* In the Hungarian animated series ''Frakk, terror of the cats'', the elderly couple Károly and Irma owned two cats and one dog. Irma, the wife, particularly liked and spoiled the cats, whereas Károly, the husband, got along much better with the dog.
108	* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaucers}}'' shows that the two teen sidekicks have a dog (the boy) and a cat (the girl).
109	* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy''; Billy has a cat named Milkshake, while Mandy has a dog named Saliva.
110	* Inverted in the first episode of Rita and Runt in ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}''. We are introduced to the title pair by a man who adopted Runt and a woman who adopted Rita because of this trope, but it's obvious from their complaints about what they want from a pet that the man wanted a cat, and the woman wanted a dog.
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Context Main / MenLikeDogsWomenLikeCats