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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think my dog is racist

45 replies

HarryTheHungryHippo · 05/10/2013 15:10

Our usually very calm and laid back dog has a tendency of barking at people who are either black or Asian. It doesn't help that's he's a big dog and so comes across as intimidating when he barks. This isn't all black and Asian people just sometimes (he's done it maybe 7times in his life and he's 7) but he has never done it to anyone white. I used to think maybe it was that he didn't like hats/headscarfs/hoods up because the first few people were wearing these but he's done it since to some young girls wearing neither and a man who again wasn't wearing anything on his head.
I can't think of anything else it could be and it's not like I can explain to a dog that racism is wrong. Is there anything I can do to stop this?
Will be back later, have to take ds swimming

OP posts:

Original poster

HarryTheHungryHippo · 05/10/2013 15:13

Just to mention I do tell him off every time he does it I don't just ignore it

OP posts:

SPsTwerkingNineToFive · 05/10/2013 15:14

I dont know. My dads friends dog didn't like an Irish accent though. It would be fine around my dad til he spoke then he would change.

He did it to the other Irish men/women that came round. It was very strange.

We had a dog that used to bark at black men after 2 attacked my mum in our house while she was there. She was fine before hand so only thing we could think of.

BillyBanter · 05/10/2013 15:15

No idea. I've heard some dogs don't like black labs.

Maybe he sees dark skin colour as different and threatening if his current social circle is all white.

KirjavaTheCorpse · 05/10/2013 15:15

My lovely dog was like this. He barked and snarled at black men and women. I have no idea why, it was baffling and very out of character. He was a huge ball of goof.

When I met DP, who is black, my dog growled at him and sulked for a few days and that was it. He bonded with DP quickly so it can't have been anything too personal or ingrained

unobtanium · 05/10/2013 15:19

No point telling him off. It might even be contributing to the problem -- he will begin associating encounters with dark skinned people with being told off. What may be happening is you see someone coming, tense up ever so slightly, which dog feels magnified by a thousand, he gets tense and barks, he gets told off... cycle has begun.

My horse is racist, loves black fillies and hates white labs. No idea why.

unobtanium · 05/10/2013 15:23

Just to be clear, you may be tensing up without realising it, thinking, oh no, dark skinned person coming, dog might bark... dog feels you tense up, and barks.

Is he OK with people coming to your house? Or is he racist then too?

QueFonda · 05/10/2013 15:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

unobtanium · 05/10/2013 15:25

Last pointer, there is a place for doggy posts on here... dog house or something...

CoolStoryBro · 05/10/2013 15:29

My dog hates Americans. It's very strange.

natwebb79 · 05/10/2013 15:36

Sorry no advice but this reminded me of a particularly hilarious episode of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' :-D

Corriewatcher · 05/10/2013 15:45

Our dog does this too, although the severity depends on the darkness of the skin. Problem is that we are a mixed-race family. She's fine with DH who is light-skinned Indian, very suspicious of his darker skinned sister, and barks like mad at our nephew who is half Indian, half black Caribbean. However, our nephew came to stay with us for a couple of weeks a while ago, and over time she got to almost like him. He even plucked up the courage to take her on some walks and they gradually became BFFs for that short time. But now it's back to growling when he's near.

One point though is that even if I wear a black glove and try to pat her, she doesn't like it until she realises it's me. Plus she doesn't like black dogs either. She does like our black cat though!

PinkSippyCup · 05/10/2013 15:48

My dog (my parents' dog really, but I lived there too when they got him so I think of him as 'mine' too iykwim) is just like this!

He doesn't like black/ Asian men he doesn't know, tall people, people wearing hats/ other head gear. Oddest thing of all is that we are a mixed race family, my Dad is black!

He is a Collie/ Lab, so I think it's just normal anxious Collie stuff!

Fuzzysnout · 05/10/2013 15:49

Keep some tasty treats in your pocket. If you see someone he might react to, feed & praise him from a distance before he gets chance to react. He should soon relax and make a good association. The key thing is distance at first - he needs chance to get it right.

clam · 05/10/2013 15:52

My cockapoo has form for this, too. Normally very bouncy and friendly, but last year when dd had about a dozen girlfriends round for a get-together, he was pleased and waggy to see all of them until one of them, who's black, arrived, and he suddenly growled and fussed. It was embarrassing. Poor girl. What could we say? What should we have said/done?

Turniptwirl · 05/10/2013 15:53

If you have any black or Aidan friends get them to come over and work with him making sure they give plenty of treats do he associates them with good things. I found some Asian kids got very excited over my dog but in a half scared way so very squealy which could be scary for some dogs

My friends dog doesn't like young men. She's never had a bad experience with them or anything, she just doesn't like them. Dogs are weird.

liquidstate · 05/10/2013 15:57

My husbands dog is racist too. He barks constantly despite not barking at any other time. Poor thing. He doesn't mean it he just has never regularly see with people with different coloured skin.

I grew up in a very mixed area but now live in the middle of nowhere so he does not get to mix with many people outside of our friends and family who are all white. I would do something about it but he is 12 and won't be with us much longer.

digerd · 05/10/2013 16:25

Dogs communicate and assess their environment mainly through smell,sound and body language - not colour- some people say dogs are colour-blind and see everything in black and white. If true, I imagine they can see shades of black/white and the contrast between the 2.

FlapJackOLantern · 05/10/2013 16:51

My dog barks at anyone in a hi-viz jacket, male or female. And the window cleaner.

Apart from that he never barks.

Original poster

HarryTheHungryHippo · 05/10/2013 17:02

Thanks everyone. I don't knowingly tense up, in fact the last 3 times it's happened iv not being paying attention till he barked so it's not tha I saw them coming. uno thanks I'll have a look for that group.
Like others have said it's embarrassing, it makes him look vicious when he's really not.
He's not particularly keen on children but he doesn't go on like this and toleraes them brilliantly considering (yes you tollder ds who like to call him horsey and jump on him)
Normally when he doesn't like someone he'll back off and then bark but this is different and like I said it's not every single person, we live in a very multicultural area and it's only the occasional person or child but the fact they have darker skin is the only thing I can think that would be setting him off. I don't get it

OP posts:

Cataline · 05/10/2013 17:14

Our (otherwise lovely) dog used to bark at anyone Asian of black. He also barked and growled at people with umbrellas or high-vis vests plus anyone who wore a hat or had their hood up. This included anyone on tv.

clam · 05/10/2013 17:21

Thinking back, when mine was a puppy, I did all the things I was advised, like exposing him to loud noises, umbrellas, rubbish skips, people in Wellingtons and so forth, but I'm pretty sure we probably didn't come across any black people on our walks. Maybe that's why; he's just not used to it. He also barked and growled the first time he saw me with my hair up in a towel.

ScarletLady02 · 05/10/2013 17:26

I used to have a racist dog as well...He would bark at black people in the street and secretly piss on them if they were in our house

thehorridestmumintheworld · 05/10/2013 17:29

Lol @ all these racist dogs they are funny, my dog hates hi-viz wear. Who knows why they do anything. About the treating to prevent barking, my mum is doing this with her dog hating dogs and it is working really well. Start from a distance and treat the minute they see the person but don't bark. Then slowly get closer over a few weeks.

34DD · 05/10/2013 17:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SomeTeaPlease · 05/10/2013 18:01

My dog doesn't like men. He's fine with my stepdad but when the male vet tried to pet him he practically climbed into my lap (at 35kg, that's no small feat!)

Dogs are weird.

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