Can't visit friend as her dog is racist

It's definitely a "thing".

Dogs can react badly to things they're unfamiliar with, especially if they were never exposed to those things during their socialisation period. Mine hates temporary traffic lights and people using umbrellas, lol.

Of course it's not racism in the human sense.

You clearly don’t understand dogs at all, there is capacity for much more than you believe. It’s actually pretty common

All these animals are just thinking "humans are weird".

I have a racist dog
I'm pretty sure he'd be won over very quickly by the chicken trick up thread. Also just ignore the dog when you meet it, stand side on to it and let it sniff your hand before you say hello. Low eye contact too.

Her dog needs to be exposed to more non-white people in a safe, supervised environment to get over it.

The question is, are you happy to be one of those people? If you're comfortable with dogs normally and don't mind being barked at non-stop, it could be helpful to your friend if you visited and spent some time with her and the dog.

If you're not the best with dogs, I wouldn't visit, as you might find a constantly barking dog terrifying.

Surprised to see the above! Chihuahuas obviously need to get out more

Dogs are ‘prejudiced’ against other dogs too. Breeds with squashed faces such as pugs often get distrusting / fearful responses from other dogs as they have unusual features and their facial expressions are difficult to read.

My horse used to freak out if we had to pass a blue car. Animals are weird sometimes. I wish I knew what my lurcher was thinking.

Yes, we've had three rescues who weren't happy with men. It soon changed when they realised our house was safe and happy.

Dogs are strange.
My aunt's dog hated anyone wearing jeans. She was a rescue and they think she was abused by someone in jeans. Rather difficult though as most people wear jeans especially in places like parks and woods where you walk dogs!

We had a dog who has a thing for teenage boys ( the smell of lynx we think was his association) he got so excited and desperate to get near them. Not good when I was a teenage girl trying to walk the normally perfectly behaved Labrador!
We think he developed this as a puppy when he spent the wold cup surrounded by my brother's friends watching TV and probably being given treats.

Go to your friends with treats. If dogs do judge in skin colour you just need to teach it a good association ie food.
But do they discriminate? dogs come in all colours and I have never seen a dog be funny about the colour of a dog. I have about breed of dog or size but not fur colour ??

My old dog wasn't racist, but she did hate men, older men in particular. She also had a special hatred for men wearing hats, and people riding scooters. She also despised balloons. She was a rescue, a little bit bonkers but very lovely. I always wondered what had happened to her to make her have these specific hates (and they really were hates)

It's a nightmare, isn't it? I renamed my dog LGBTQ just so that he would get used to it.

My dog hates white people ! I think because from a puppy till age 1 he only saw black and brown people so to him white people were different and scary ! Even our vet was black ! He goes mental each time he sees a white person barking and shaking !

😂😂😂

That’s nothing - my dog is a pedant and constantly correcting my grammar!

Jehovahs witnesses our old dog went INSANE when they came knocking we knew she was wary of young children she would shake in fear so we would keep her away from them but everyone else from about age five upwards she was fine with then we had some witnesses knocking suddenly my calm dog turned into a snarling mess I could barely hold her and they legged it down the driveway as soon as the door was shut she stopped it was like a switch was flicked never saw her that way again no clue what it was that set her off this dog loved everyone who came to the door religious or not it was the oddest experience

Bonus was we were blacklisted for about 15 years so no-one knocked until they were SURE she had passed

I have another dog who loves people in mobility scooters as my dad had one and always had treats.

My friend had this issue with a dog and spent a fortune on behaviourists trying to sort it. Things improved but were never totally fixed. It was okay with specific indivuals with gradual introductions and that person feeding them lots of treats etc. Obviously it's not the dog being racist, but having been poorly socialised as a pup and not having seen enough non-white people in the early socialisation period.

It's Northerners the dog hates.
Practise saying "not bloody likely!" and "ow much?!" just to let her get used to it.
A diet of pork scratchings and warm beer may also help.
You're welcome.

My dog also barks at black people, mainly men, and we live in a very multi cultural area, and mine own children are mixed race (white /Asian). He’s fine in a few mins so wouldn’t stop me inviting someone over. Once he knows they are ok he’s their best friend

Have you considered sending the dog to inclusion and diversity training?

Is it only race the dog has an issue with? How is he with trans people or people with disabilities?

Our dog used to be the same but I think it's just a reaction to seeing something they weren't used to - they also bark at children, hi-vis jackets and joggers!

😂

We had a dog next door like this. My only theory is that dogs don't see a full spectrum of colour like we do, they see almost in black and white. Possibly with dark skinned people they look almost featureless to them and it freaks them out. Especially if the dog maybe doesn't have great eyesight to start with.

The one I knew didn't. He went absolutely batshit at me in my work uniform which is completely black but would run to me if I was wearing anything else. I think its something to do with their vision tbh.

I know a dog who is the same. The owners grandchildren are mixed heritage. It's odd

This thread is barking mad!