Can't visit friend as her dog is racist

@CaliforniaCookie The can of pet corrector is the LAST thing you should do!

Thats a fantastic way to cement the dogs fear of certain people, and add in a sound phobia as well, for fucks sake do not do this!

I set out what should be done up thread, scroll back and find my post, its pretty simple stuff, but NO aversive should be used, they do not cure behaviour, simply suppress it and they risk 'fall out' unwanted side effects (fear of aerosol cans, fear of hissing noises for example, result in a dog that shits itself when air brakes go off or someone uses some air freshener) which you cannot know about until they happen and are typically worse than the behaviour you originally used them to 'fix'.

I am a dog behaviourist, I am not talking bollocks here, please do not do this.

For everyone saying they have or have known "racist" dogs, and say it's "mortifying" (sad face) ...

... what the fuck are you talking about?

If a dog barks at a black person do you really think the black person's first thought it "it's cos I is black, innit." Have you been barked at by a dog and thought "this dog hates whitey"? 🙄

The black person will just think "what a nasty, nippy little mutt" and carry on with their day. They don't have telepathic communication with the rest of the black population so the next black person will think the same thing and, again, move on with their day.

Jesus, please don't use pet corrector on a fearful dog unless you fancy getting bitten!

Gosh, using Pet Corrector on a dog barking in fear will only cement his belief that he is right to be scared of whatever/whoever he us having a go at. It will make it worse.

For mine I don’t know what happened before he came to me but it was a white family who almost starved him to death and neglected and probably abused him.

However, I think there may now be a problem as I am tensing up when I see people I think he will react to.

It’s not easy but I wouldn’t be saying to them just come round with loads of treats it’ll be fine. That may work but if it doesn’t the OP doesn’t want a dog snarling and snapping at her.

I went to South Africa 20 years ago and this was very common. Can she lock the dog up for your visit?

I had the opposite when I lived in a multicultural area - my dog liked black people (he had been born into a mixed race (human) family

I hear the Tory party are struggling to find election candidates. I will point them in the direction of the Chihuahua sanctuary.

If non-white people are unfamiliar, maybe the dog is barking because it’s frightened. My old dog (admittedly a bit of a wuss) was very scared of, and barked at various unfamiliar things, inc. a) a fat woman jogging in a bright green tracksuit, b) a policeman in a traditional helmet, and c) a Halloween pumpkin’s face!

Yeah, those fucking dogs with their 4 brain cells who can be trained in fire & rescue, police work, drugs detection, cadaver trained, bomb detection, diabetes control, helping the blind, helping autistic children, used as reading dogs in schools, the list goes on. Not bad for 4 brain cells.

Only having a laugh!

It's not necessarily poor socialisation - it could be a negative experience of some kind.

I assumed it was clothing but he was used to seeing people dressed this way from an early age. Unfortunately a few months ago he ran barking at a Pakistani lady who had no head covering and was wearing jeans. He had walked past her dozens of times before.

The other dog walkers wear full length coats in winter and dresses / skirts in the summer.

He is obviously on lead now but still stares and has lunged at a lady whilst I was talking to her. It’s embarrassing as I can’t stop and chat or walk with them for a few minutes.

We are working on it.

Dogs aren't racist.

They are poorly socialised.

My beagle is absolutely petrified of Morris Dancers. He'd never seen any until last weekend and if I hadn't had a good grip on his lead and collar he'd have bolted off up the road.

My old dog was racist too. It's so embarrassing!

Not a chihuahua btw. She was an Akita

Can 100% see the people who don't own dogs here.

Also the subset: people who do own dogs but are tediously literal.

My dog, too, has a Kill List, including men, people of colour, leaves skittering in the street, motorcycle helmets, hi vis jackets and the soup maker.

I call her racist, but I quite clearly don't actually think she is. It's just short-hand.

@Corinthiana
I think it's the bright blonde hair ! He's well socialized and has been since he was a puppy. He's a bit "quirky"

My aunt used to have a “racist” dog. She was badly abused by people of Pakistani decent. This meant that if she saw anyone of this descent, she became aggressive. Sucked really cos my aunt lives in Peterborough in a heavy Pakistani area.

Now you sound patronising unfortunately. You're welcome.

Guide dogs were looking for people with tattoos and beards to help socialise the dogs.

https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/blog/bearded-and-tattooed-volunteers-helping-to-socialise-the-next-generation-of

Ours doesn’t like large blonde dogs. Presumably had a bad experience! (Adopted at 6)