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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

@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.

Why in god's name would you do this to a frightened animal?

@CaliforniaCookie

L.o.l 🤣 is this attempt at being a bit spicy troll 🤔 or a wind up then?

quite perculair real Strange mumsnet thread this one isn't it

i suspose its the weekend and certain ones out there,
get bored and restless and make things up to get a reaction from posters online on websites like this

Just wondering as i am of afro Caribbean British ancestry myself,

Is this one of those yapping small dogs types like Jack Russell ect,

What breed is it then?

Yiked Really hope it's not a a large dog breed like a Rottweiler that's like that then??? !!!

My dog has put a Confederate Flag on his kennel.
Is that racist?
I hope not.
That might backfire bigly on my future plans...

Yikes 😳 hope it's not one of those large aggressive dogs types
quite disturbing if this mumsnet thread is for real ?
@CaliforniaCookie

Dog doesn't like strangers, surprise!

No, it isn't ridiculous. Our GSD was like that. He used to bark hysterically at dark skinned men.

In the end, we worked out that it wasn't skin colour that set him off, because he was fine with one visitor we had from the caribbean, but not a friend from Nigeria or any of our Asian friends.

It was very odd and embarrassing . We never worked out the real cause though. He was a rescue dog so we didn't know part of his history.

OP I don’t lock my difficult dog away when I have unknown people visit as I fear that will create more problems. I do keep him on a very short lead even in the house and to be fair he seems to settle after a while.

I do put him in another room whilst they are mooching around using the bathroom etc and it seems to be working.

What breed of dog are we talking about? I’d take my chances with a small breed who didn’t like me but not necessarily with a larger dog.

What on earth are you talking about? It's embarrassing if a dog reacts badly to anyone even if the person doesn't see it as racist, disablist or whatever. Nobody thinks the dog knows its being racist either, it's just an instinctive reaction to something it's unfamiliar with. There's an elderly man who 'jogs' along the canal path near me wearing normal clothes and my dog barks at him although she's fine with the usual runners in sportswear. There's no logic to it but dogs like everything to be familiar and predictable.

Yabu for using the word racist. It's a dog.

This is more common than you might think though, usually comes from not being socialised well enough as a puppy.

This is why my dog now barks at people in wheelchairs. It's not because he's ableist.

He also barks at men when it's dark. He's not a misandrist.

Speaking of the dogs I know...

My dog goes bananas if he spots a GSD. He turns from a daft soppy creature into a barky beast. We rescued him so he's possibly had a run in with that type of breed, but even after lots of socialising with other dogs, he's not happy if he spots a GSD.

My friends dog doesn't like men, she's reluctantly made friends with her human dad and brothers, but much prefers female company.

ActualCannibalShiaLeBeouf
I actually read that dogs don't like other dogs who are black. Something to do with not being able to make out their facial features so can't tell if they're a threat or not. We have a mainly black dog and other dogs always have a go. Unfortunately she's a feisty little thing and gives as good as she gets
Ooh thanks for the reasoning, our dog gets a lot of hate from other dogs too (he’s a very content (on walks, crazy at home lol) cocker spaniel Who has dogs suddenly snarl when they see him, our neighbour’s dog included. EVERY person says ‘sorry, he/she just seems to hate/ be afraid of black dogs’. If our neighbour’s dog, who is lovely in every other way, had the chance he’d kill our dog so we not have had to fully close off part of the garden so they don’t see each other

My mother’s dog hates men, and anyone wearing a hat. Barks the place down.

@CaptainMyCaptain

What on earth are you talking about? It's embarrassing if a dog reacts badly to anyone

Posters are saying they are mortified because their racist dogs are barking at black people. That's ridiculous. Train your dog better and stop calling it racist.

My dog is also racist, and has a pop at anyone with a noticeable mental disability. It is incredibly embarrassing.

I'm not sure what advice to give really, other than see her without the dog.

If she's a particularly good friend and if you wanted to, you could help her get the dog used to the idea of non-white people by giving it lots of treats every time you see it. But that would be incredibly kind and selfless of you. I'm a dog lover, but wouldn't be interested in doing that for a friend.

Yep because no rescue dog was ever spooked by something unfamiliar.

Unfortunately if you live in certain parts of Wiltshire your dog may never have seen a black person.

If you live in the Manchester suburbs and walk in parks your dog may not have seen a horse or a cow.

Ask a behaviourist, a really well trained dog may react to something it has never encountered before.

Well OP you know the dog is not actually racist but as you said it’s a ‘new’ dog, does that mean it’s an adult dog that changed owners or a puppy? Does your friend know its history? It’s obviously had exposure to non whites if she’s said it’s goes nuts when it sees one so likelihood is it has a stress response for whatever reason.

Can she find a non white behaviour therapist?

Assume you’re staying overnight due to distance, she needs to ensure your safety by keeping the dog in an enclosed room, and on a lead when in the same room as you, with you periodically giving it treats and it seeing you putting its food out? Perhaps even you taking a small item of worn, unwashed clothing that can be put in its bed? An old top that you don’t mind getting rid of that you could wear while travelling. It’s not something that can be changed in one visit but that might help to calm it down if it’s used to your smell over the course of the first night.

As PP have said I’d think twice if it’s a big dog or a bully breed but your friend needs to sort it out anyway before it attacks someone.

Definitely a 'thing' my dad lives in a multicultural area, has a multicultural family and friends. Dog see's P.O.C. all the time. My s.i.l. is black, nephews mixed race, many of my dad's friends and neighbours are black.
It's not like he's never seen any other than white people. He still goes mad, barks, growls. No idea why. He's not like that with white people.
Dad's had him from a puppy. No bad experience.
Not a chihuahua.