I think my dog is racist

[Wordsmith]

Might sound stupid - I certainly would think so, but my 15 month old Cairn Terrier barks like crazy everytime she sees a black or Asian person. It is getting really embarassing. There is one lady who walks in the park and everytime the dog sees her she runs up to her and barks. This lady then looks really nervous - and I'm trying desperately to catch the dog and apologise profusely at the same time. A similar thing happened when we were walking down the street and a black man was walking towards us. In both cases there was nothing unsual about the way they were dressed - the Asian lady was wearing a headscarf but otherwise just the usual trousers, coat and boots etc. Today my dog saw her from a distance and deliberately targeted her - it wasn't as through she was surprised by her coming up from behind or anything like that.

I would try and ask her if I could intriduce the dog to her when I am holding her - but I think she would be a bit scared (the lady, not the dog)

She's generally speaking a lovely, friendly dog, not particularly 'barky' when we're out walking normally, and I've defnitely noticed the difference with black or Asian people.

It sounds crazy - but does anyone else have experience of their dogs barking like this? I'm getting to the end of my tether with her.

[Adarajames]

Dogs are just not very good at generalising, so someone wearing a hat / glasses / using wheelchair / differing skin colour etc etc etc, they see as lots of different 'creatures', not just variations on a theme, and so if they've not met that particular version before, and ideally when a young puppy, they will have worried / nervous / strange reactions to it. Sometimes with hard work you can remedial train them (we have a lot of ex puppy farm fosters, you can imagine how many things, everything, they are afraid of!) but other times you can't so just have to manage the behaviour as best you can

[HappydaysArehere]

We often have a friend's dog to stay and she is just the same as is my daughters dog. We think it is something about not seeing the features clearly. They also go mad when someone comes in wearing a hat. When being embarrassed by our friends dog barking at a lovely black girl my husband said"can't understand it she's black herself". (Black labrador)

[LokiBuddyBoo1]

My 1 yr old ddog saw a black person for the first time last month at the train station and he went crazy barking and growling at him he seemed to take an instant dislike to him.

[Wordsmith]

I'll try that. Thanks.

[TheSlaveAKAMummy]

I realised after I'd posted that I'd written he. Ok well sounds to me like you done the right thing to calm the situation. Although personally I would keep her on the lead while in public places such as the park until you have established the behaviour you expect, maybe take her to a field or something where she can be as free as she wants without causing you panic if that's possible. She is your dog and it is entirely your choice. What I learned with my dog was that if I walked in the opposite direction from him he'd get confused and wonder where I was going which distracted him. But again this was done away from other people until we had reached the understanding that I did not want him to run off and if he did I would walk away and there'd be no treats for him.

They are very correct in saying that. That's exactly what they do, they can be very stubborn at that stage and this is actually the perfect time to practice with her. It can be a lengthy process but we'll worth it in the end. I hope you get the results you are looking for. Best of luck

[Wordsmith]

Thanks but the problem is SHE was not on the lead - she was happily running after the ball I'd thrown and then suddenly veered off course when she saw this lady. I think I could have controlled it if she was on the lead in the way you suggest - but it was like she was possessed! She wouldn't come back and it was only when I told the lady to stand still, then positioned myself between her and the dog and told the dog to sit in a firm voice did she sit and let me reattach the lead.

I think she probably could do with a little extra training. Someone told me that her age is like adolescence in humans and they can go off the rails a bit.

[TheSlaveAKAMummy]

I've had a seriously good chuckle at these comments but all jokes aside, your dog sounds like he may be slightly unbalanced. You say that you're not anxious however while you may not realise it, your dog has sensed it approx 5 mins before you actually feel any anxiety. Also, dogs have amazing eyesight, they can see all kinds of things that we don't particularly take any notice of, which means he's spotted said person long before you have and is preparing himself for your reaction, which then leads him to feel anxious. The signs you need to look for are his tail wagging (side to side = perfect behaviour, up and down = stress and must be corrected), ears pinned back or maybe a head dip. Again all of which need correcting, whether it's a sideways tug of the lead to break the tension or complete distraction. After a while it won't bother him and if it does then you'll know how to deal with the situation. The lead also needs to have no tension, this is what connects you to your dog and basically when there's tension he feels that all is not well... It's a bit long winded but very effective. I went through something similar with my boxer, he was fine for several years and all of a sudden became very protective and didn't like anybody approaching us. Even more so when ds accompanied us on walks. I tried everything and then read a hell of a lot of books to get to this solution. It's also the reason why I've decided to take up dog training to help others with the same pet difficulties. It might not necessarily work for you but worth a try.

Apologies for the essay

[ragged]

I had a racist dog as a kid, we never cured her of it. Also disliked men with beards and anyone on a bicycle.

[Wordsmith]

So I am beginning to realise! But what's the solution?

[DontDrinkandFacebook]

I've heard lots of people say this before. Dogs see 'normal' and anything outside of their 'normal' can spook them. It might be a very dark skin colour (or white skin if their humans are all black) or hats, or people on bicycles or men with beards or any number of things that immediately look outside of 'normal' to them.

[Wordsmith]

No of course I didn't mean to be rude, but I was responding to the tone of your post which wasn't exactly friendly and completely ignored some key facts I had already stated: the dog was off the lead and wasn't reacting to anything I did. And from what I've read and other people have pointed out, the fact that she probably wasn't exposed to people with dark skin in her formative weeks may be behind the issue now - the same way my friend's dog has an issue with bikes and runners - it's nothing to do with them being fast. And it's not 'obvious' either - if it's your first dog how are you supposed to know that? I didn't know about exposing her to men with beards etc - and I don't think I know any men with beards - but when she's met beards she's been fine!

My dog isn't an aggressive dog normally - if she was I could perhaps understand a bit more - but you seem to be ignoring what I say and just assuming that I am in some way passing on tension to my dog. That really can't be the issue - I would acknowledge it if it was, believe me. She's only just started reacting like this, and I just wondered if anyone had any experience of this with their dogs.

[TheoriginalLEM]

Wow - do you actually mean to be so rude? So the dog sees them before you - then your dog is a racist - well done. I was actually trying to help.

[Wordsmith]

That's amazing - are you a psychologist? The thing is, my dog sees these people before I do. Nevertheless, thanks for your insights...

[TheoriginalLEM]

A Joke? Really? and there was me thinking you were serious Maybe your friends jack russel had a thing about bikes because they travel quickly, and the runners were running? Just a thought....... But hey, if your friend wants to pay a behaviourist to tell her the obvious then thats her look out.

You are probably sending the dog very subtle messages, i see it all the time with people with dog aggressive dogs. They see another dog and think, oh fuck my dogs going to be grumpy - they either walk the other way or shorten the lead, change their tone of voice - all these subtleties the dogs pick up on and think, hmm, owner is changing his attitude here, ooh look theres a dog, its upset my owner - fuck you dog im gonna kill you. So even though you don't feel anxious, you will see a black person approach and subtlely change your demeanour and your dog picks up on it. You wont have noticed the change yourself but the dog will.

Not sure nigella has the same effect

[Wordsmith]

Lol at calling her Nigel - maybe Nigella as she's a female dog. (Hence me calling her 'she' )

Just for the record she did do puppy training and is completely socialised with all sorts of people and other dogs. She's normally a fine upstanding member of the community and I'm beginning to think she needs some training in political correctness.

[Wordsmith]

TheoriginalLEWM - you do realise the comment about black labs was a joke, don't you? And I'm not anxious - until she starts gong crazy!

I think it is social conditioning. A friend of mine's Jack Russell has a thing about joggers and people on bikes - a dog behaviourist said it was probably because when she was 16 weeks old she broke her leg and therefore missed out on a lot of the early walking/human socialisation puppies get at that stage.

However with my dog this is a fairly recent thing - it's only happened a couple of times and I'm pretty sure she's encountered people of colour before with no adverse effect. I'm at a loss to imagine what's caused it.

[SukieTuesday]

There's a bit in the Perfect Puppy book about getting them to meet men with beards and people with glasses during the 8-12 weeks window so they don't end up reacting to that. They should also include nuns .

[Skivvywoman]

My dog hates my neighbours dogs both golden a lab and a retriever he goes crazy teeth bare the lot! I thought maybe the same kind of dog had hurt him before we got him?

And he doesn't like my neighbour much either or his wife but I can understand that

[Houseworkavoider]

I had a racist dog!
We never did figure it out
Our neighbour was Gambian and really quite fond of dogs. Was embarrassing!
I've met other owners of racist, hi-vis jackitist and hatist dogs.

[TheWildRumpyPumpus]

My Mum's dog goes insane every time she sees a black man, full on barking, running round like crazy if off-lead. She has no such reaction with white or Asian men.

My Dad is black and she gets on perfectly well with him, so it's not an anxiety or 'hatred', maybe she recognises the skin colour difference and thinks it's my Dad... It's strange.

[YiIKEA]

Mine is very umbrellaist.

I think op, you may want to get a consult with a behaviourist as sometimes the one nervous reaction multiplies and your plan on introducing the two whilst your dog is held is more likely to cause more nerves. If you reassure them they they think they were right to be worried!

[IrianofWay]

I wonder if dogs are aware of 'difference' ie that human has got black skin but all the others have got pinky-grey skin. Weird! Threat? Mine doesn't react to black people and is the friendliest dog to the majority of people but there is a man with learning difficulties in our street who has got into the habit of putting all the neighbours bins away after the bin lorry has emptied them. My dog dislikes him with a passion - he had different mannerisms and movements to other people and I wonder if that is the issue.

[IvegotaCaveTroll]

My dog hate brown labs and gets upset and barmy when Asian people walk past the house. But she is fine with my Asian friends. I think it's because she associates with a man who delivers takeaway flyers. Funny as my dog is brown herself!

[NiceCupOfTeaAndALittleSitDown]

My dog's the same Wordsmith
He's a rescue so don't know what his experiences have been but he barks at black and Asian people. Plus people with florescent jackets on. And cyclists (he's even been known to bark at a pedestrian who was walking to his bike, was impressed at that insight). And buses.

[insanityscratching]

Eric doesn't like black labs, he barks at them, I'm pretty sure it's because, when in the vets, a black lab came and licked his face when he was a tiny pup on my knee as he was most affronted at the time. As for people, I've never met anyone he doesn't like.