[Karsten (OP)]

I hope this is an appropriate topic here. I tried "google" but the recommended sites lead down a very different route.

My girlfriend told me of her dog (now deceased), an unneutered male, who would copulate with the neighbour's dog (a neutered male). According to her description the copulation was not just an attempt, but they performed the whole sexual act including getting stuck with each other. Obviously no puppies where produced. My girlfriend insists that the neighbour's dog was a male. Has this been heard of before?

[CliffordK]

My question is what would her dog do in the presence of a female in heat.

Did he attempt to copulate with other things such as a person's leg?

It is quite possible that the neutered male presented some androgynous characteristics.  However, for the animal to be truly homosexual, it would have to choose to pass up the chance to copulate with a receptive female.  Otherwise, perhaps you could consider it to be bisexual, or multi-sexual.

My parents used to have several cows, but no bulls.
When a cow would come into heat, it was always obvious because the others would start jumping on each other, with the one standing still being the one in heat. 
Obviously, a bull would have also joined in the action if one had been present.

[RD]

Similar question ... http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=35787.msg333833#msg333833

[cheryl j]

My cat is gay.

[RD]

My cat is gay.

apparently there are tranny cats [] ... http://www.kittywigs.com/wigs.html  []

[Karsten (OP)]

Well, we suspect her dog would have been interested in a female in heat. Even though she is actually not sure if the neighbor's dog was neutered, and he did not hump human legs and the like, we will agree that her dog was probably "bisexual" rather than homosexual.

Now, ... how to phrase this... (this is where the google search did not help at all)

The sexual act/ copulation of a male dog with another male dog obviously did not involve a female dog's genital organs. Is anal sex common in the animal (non-human) world? I imagine that pleasure plays less of a role than instincts when it comes to dogs and the dog "on bottom" is not necessarily in favor of the act no matter what sex. Of course being in heat might help, but a male dog on bottom would not be in heat. Why would a male dog tolerate this? Sheer dominance of the other dog?

[Don_1]

I think 'homosexuality' is the wrong term in such instances in the animal kingdom. In humans' homosexuality might be the result of a personal preference to same sex or a dislike (perhaps even revulsion) of mixed sex bonding. It should also be borne in mind that not all homosexual relationships are physical. But whatever your sexual persuasion, it will be a matter of personal choice.

In the rest of the animal kingdom, I'm not so sure that personal choice is a factor. Since we can't ask our four legged friends, we can never really know though. OK, you can ask, but you'll never understand the answer.

My personal view is that with pack animals, homosexuality involving males may be a means by which to establish or reinforce bonds within the pack and in both pack and solitary animals might even be a means to show submission to a dominant male, or for a dominant male to enforce his stature.

With females, I think it is far more likely to be a 'caring & sharing' act. Around one third of the paired population of Laysan Albatross of the island of Oahu are female couples. The probable reason for this being the shortage of males. The once declining population has been flourishing since these 'lesbian' relationships were noticed.

And what of Lions and Elephants? Could it not be said that the all female pride of Lions is a form of lesbianism? And the same goes for the Elephants. In both cases, the females herd together with the males most definately precluded and often chased off, should they approach at the wrong time.

[wolfekeeper]

Gay animals are known to happen in the animal kingdom. We're talking about animals that are attracted to same-sex, same-species animals, but aren't attracted to the opposite sex at all.

So far as I can recall, it's been recorded in (at the very least) dogs, sheep, penguins, swans. The swans in particular built a nest together even though they were both males, we're talking pair-bonding. and in all cases there was certainly females around.

[wolfekeeper]

There you go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_behavior_in_animals

Rams are one of the classic cases apparently.

[Karsten (OP)]

Very interesting.