Red-faced

My friend, Jill, has a Portuguese Water hound—a very cute, but also expensive, and somewhat rare pooch named Chopper. She recently e-mailed some pictures to me that she had received from Chopper’s breeder, photos of a new litter of Portuguese pups. Each pup photo featured a disembodied hand holding a black-and-white newborn with its eyes still shut. As I opened the individual photos I read the captions: Male—Blue, Female—Red.

“Arrogant breeders,” I muttered to myself. “These dogs are all black and white, yet they try to make fine, invisible distinctions. Who do they think they’re fooling?”

I opened another attached photo that read, “Male—orange.”

“Oh, the pomposity!” I fumed.

Next photo: “Female—Yellow.” Outrageous!

That’s when I noticed the tiny yellow ribbon around the dog’s neck and the matching hue/caption for the ribbons around all the babies’ necks.

“Oh,” I said sheepishly to the empty room. “Color me stupid.”