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 don't think it is. I had a rescue GSD. I got him when he was around 6 months old. he was just the same.
With the help of the lovely Indian woman who lived next door we trained it out of him. it took about a year though

@BewaretheIckabog

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

Jesus Christ. Yes, that's not my point. My point is

A) the dog isn't racist ffs
B) if a dog barks at someone, the person isn't thinking "oh it's barking at me because I'm black/white/Asian/have a stupid haircut." They're just thinking "ugh. Horrid barking dog, keep it away from me."

Tell me you know nothing about dogs...

@fieldsofbutterflies

Tell me you know nothing about dogs...

How the fuck is a dog racist?

My old dog used to bark at the Brookside theme tune. Must hate scousers...

I never said dogs were racist - at least, not in the human sense.

But it's very normal for dogs to be scared by things that are unfamiliar to them, and not always as easy as "training them better".

What other sense is there?

So you do agree then? It is just reacting to something that it either doesn't understand or has had a bad experience with before.

It isn't doing it because it is racist. Could just as easily be someone with polkadot skin.

And of course, that doesn't change the fact that the dog's behaviour can be adjusted.

I think the lightheartedness of this thread is lost on some and they’re taking it a bit too literally. Of course a dog can’t be ‘’racist’’, we know that! What OP means is the dog is scared of people with dark skin, which can happen if the dog isn’t used to it 🤣 I would have thought it didn’t need clarifying.

One of our old dogs, sadly no longer with us became aggressive/fearful of a Muslim woman walked past with a hair and face covering. I don't know if it was the billowing fabric or that he couldn't see their faces.

Never behaved like that with anyone else in the street.

We now live in the countryside/beach and it wouldn't be a problem now as there isn't anyone here that dresses like that.

You are wrong, one of the ladies I see regularly realises the dog barks at her and not at other women and believes it has to do with her race and heritage.

I know a black person working in security also says dogs bark at him because he is black. It also happens to people in high-viz clothing.

But I will agree that it is not racism and had the OP not used that term I wouldn’t have but I’m not here to police the terminology.

Our friend had a lab that would bare his teeth if anyone spoke in Spanish. Could be the tv or even the owner himself. He didn’t growl or bark, just showed his teeth.

Well, in the sense that if a dog has never been around black people before, it's understandable that they're going to be scared. It's a bit like how dogs often get really scared of horses or cows.

Of course they're not racist but they are reacting to something they've never seen before and don't really comprehend.

It's pretty much impossible to expose a dog to absolutely everything by 16 weeks (when the socialisation window closes) so it's normal (if not ideal) for them to find some normal things scary and unnerving.

My parents many years ago had a rescue cat that hated women. She was owned by two gay men who emigrated and didn't want to subject the cat to going in a plane and she loved my dad but would glare at my mother and my sisters and I when we visited.

She would 'flirt' with any men that came to the house though!

My cousins dog didn't like black people. We are brown so there's not much colour difference!

my own dog likes white young females but for some reason really doesn't like old white men.

dogs are funny things

There is no other sense other than the human sense to racism.

@BewaretheIckabog

believes it has to do with her race and heritage.

She "believes" this. Dogs don't like her race and her heritage. That's some truly prejudiced dogs there.

I know a black person working in security also says dogs bark at him because he is black. It also happens to people in high-viz clothing.

So... do dogs not like his blackness or his hi-vizness? 🙄

Are you always so literal?

Everyone knows dogs can't actually be racist, but it was OP who used the terminology and it was pretty bloody obvious what she meant.

I wanted my difficult boy to have a good run around on Christmas Eve so took him to quiet woods to let him have off lead time.

The local running club came through dressed as elves, Santa, Christmas fairies and with jingly bells.

He did not like it so maybe he’s the grinch or hates people celebrating Christmas.

My collie was SO racist. Our family home was in an entirely white area and she was an anxious little thing after a husky attacked her as a puppy, so we couldn’t take her to places where she would have been exposed to non white people and get her used to them. An Indian family temporarily lived across the road and she’d go bananas.

Basic reading comprehension would suggest the black person and the general people in high viz are not the same.

So... do dogs not like his blackness or his hi-vizness?

I doubt you're actually interested, but it's probably both.

There's research out there that dogs see hi-vis differently to us, which is why they often find it quite scary.

We have a neighbours dog who does this. They've put up more fencing so he can't see us through the fence. Otherwise everytime we were out in the garden the dog would go crazy and my kids would get scared. We didn't need to broach it with them they took him in every time and came up with the fence solution.

You'd think, wouldn't you?

Our lab was hatist.
Barked at anyone in a hat with a brim.

The dog isn’t racist, he is prejudiced.
dogs that have experienced trauma will freak out if they see a human that is superficially similar to the human that hurt them
my friend has a dog that is terrified of men and anyone wearing a hood up on their head. If you’re a man wearing a hood…she will go for you. This dog isn’t a misandrist.
they just are very simple minded and think someone vaguely similar is also a threat.