Can't visit friend as her dog is racist

[CaliforniaCookie]

I was making plans to visit one of my best friends.
She is white and I'm mixed race.

She told me she was concerned as her new dog who i haven't met, is racist.

Anytime he sees a person who is not white he goes mental.

This is honestly not a fake post.

Not sure how to respond. Advice welcome.

My dog is white and I can tell you this seems to be a thing.
My own dog is terrible with people in wheelchairs but only if they’re moving.
Dogs are weird..

My sisters dog is a racist too! Does not like black or Asian people and barks and growls at them! No idea why as the dog is a black dog himself 😂

So your dog is a paedophile 😂

My dog used to growl at black people too. I was so mortified. But I trained her out of it and she's no longer racist. Ironic thing is, she's black herself 😂

The dog isn’t rascist! Dogs can’t compute that concept. It will just be he hasn’t seen or been around people not like his owner and is fearful therefore. She needs to do some behavioural training/ socialise the dog .- I would suggest this your friend. In the meantime, can she lock the dog in a separate room when you come round?

Dogs see in black/white/grey it's not that the dog is racist but the dog can't make out facial features as well on darker skin so they can't tell if you are actually friendly as easily. Most people won't interact with a barking dog so the problem persists.

My sister’s dog would bark at black people. It isn’t dog racism, it’s barking at the fear of the unfamiliar (although our old dog was pugist, hated them after he, a 50kg dood, was attacked by an untrained small, snuffling thing on a string).

Our remaining dog is very much not ‘racist’ and adores our black vet from South Africa (he is a frequent flyer with regular blood tests as he has medicated hypothyroidism). His vet says taking his blood is 2 seconds to do the actual blood test, then 5 minutes for cuddles lol.

Ted’s a big, fluffy, gentle bear of a dog who attracts lots of children for stroke and hugs of all creeds and colours.

However, chimneys give him the bloomin’ willies.

I have two dogs and I live in a very diverse part of London.

Neither of my dogs react any different towards black people but I've had two dogs in the past who did - my childhood dog and my first rescue dog 30 years ago.

I was always baffled.

Interesting thread. However really baffled at the amount of responses agreeing with the OPs use of the term racist here. Keeping in mind it is a dog.

My sister's dog is scared to death of the fridge freezer. When they bring shopping home, her dog has to be put in another room.

Dogs are weird, but so lovable.

BiL’s dog is sexist and hates men.

Neighbours’ dog is cyclistist and hates me because I’m a cyclist! Possibly many on MN would hate me too!

This is my current dog with French bulldogs. Mortifying. He growls everytime he sees one, one went for him in the street for no reason and he’s hated the breed as a whole since.

I don't know why people are disbelieving the OP. This absolutely does happen. Dogs have different eyesight from humans. To some dogs, people with darker skin tones look as though they have "shadowy faces", which they find unnerving if they're not used to it. Some of them will also bark at women in niqabs for similar reasons.

My dog is the same with any flat faced breed. I think it is because they can't read them properly, as they don't have proper snout/mouth that they can read.

Saying that, my dog is a greyhound, and she is not that keen on other greyhounds.

I'm surprised people are so shocked by this. I'm from the Caribbean and it's really common there for Black people's dogs to be massively reactive to white people and vice-versa.

This is true. When I was socialising my pup I had a spreadsheet of people and experiences for him to discover so he'd get used to differing things.
Postmen
Revolving doors
Walking on different textures
People with disabilities
Older and younger people
I almost punched the air with joy when a uniformed delivery man rang the doorbell. He was a Sikh with a turban - bonus points!

My dog is fine with people - but doesn’t like dark coloured dogs… is he racist?

Because using it on her dog is going to reinforce the issue the dog has with people of colour?

The dog, if indeed it hasn't been exposed to different ethnicities, and does have such an issue, it's first proper exposure in the home is going to be 'pet corrected by person of x ethnicity, of which I already had issue with (for whatever reason'?

It's common sense, really.

Just ignore the dog completely when you go. Don't look at it, talk to it, anything. Just completely ignore. It'll soon come around.

Has this been picked up by the DM yet? I can’t wait for their expose on racist dogs.

Is it true dogs are more weary of black dogs? My friend has a black Dane and I'm sure she told me this. Is it to do with their vision or something? There was a reason

dogs that read the DM are deffo racist.

My friend's usually placid border collie was racist - went berzerk around our black friends.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.

This makes sense, I don’t buy the dogs can’t see darker peoples features. It’s more that some dogs in the UK are going to be around mainly white people so some are alarmed at someone different. I’m not surprised to hear it’s the same the other way around.

OP, I’d suggest she keep your dog away from you or keep it on a leash initially. I generally don’t like dogs and when I was younger visiting friends they’ve been happy to put the dog in another room or whatever.

This covers all of it really well with actual behavioral experts.

1. of course a dog isn’t racist because that’s part of human society.
2. BUT yes, they can be afraid of certain groups of people (skin colors, genders, wheelchair users, postmen!). This talks about how to fix it.
3. It also discusses why we call dogs “racist” or why we’re concerned, even though of course we know they can’t be (it’s American so it talks about American history, but also because dog owners are afraid people will think that they’re racist).

Good article. Good advice.
https://www.tuftsyourdog.com/dogtrainingandbehavior/my-dog-is-racist-and-im-mortified/