Conan the hero dog's gender is now a matter for the Pentagon
The Pentagon is now weighing in with an official statement to confirm a dog's gender.
President Trump on Monday praised Conan, the military dog who was injured during the raid on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi last month, at the White House, referring to Conan as male. But White House officials subsequently confused everyone by clarifying that Conan is actually a female dog, and then clarifying again hours later that actually, no, he's male.
If you thought the confusion over what gender a dog is couldn't possibly be a story spanning two days, you'd be wrong, as on Tuesday morning, a Pentagon official told ABC News that Conan is actually female — only for the White House to maintain that no, really, Conan is male.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Perhaps the single most important story of our time finally came to a conclusion with a fifth update in the form of a statement from the Pentagon to BuzzFeed News confirming that, yes, Conan is male, meaning that after about a full 24 hours, we arrive back at exactly the same place we started and this has been a great use of everyone's time. Brendan Morrow
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
Has ‘poppy politics’ got out of hand?Talking Point ‘Toxic’ debate over red and white poppies is another front in the culture wars
-
Vladimir Putin’s ‘nuclear tsunami’ missileIn The Spotlight Russian president has boasted that there is no way to intercept the new weapon
-
Sudoku hard: November 11, 2025The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
USDA orders states to ‘undo’ full SNAP paymentsSpeed Read The Trump administration is telling states not to pay full November food stamp benefits
-
Senate takes first step to end record shutdownSpeed Read Eight senators in the Democratic caucus voted with Republicans to advance legislation to reopen the government
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
