Is my dog racially prejudiced?

[aha]

When my 11 year old brings home his white friends my shiz-tzu dog barks at them until they get inside the door then ignores them but when he brings his black friends over she goes nuts barking continually and trying to nip at their ankles even after they have been here a while. My son's black friends have become afraid of her (even tho she only has about 5 teeth.) Sometimes I have to put her outside to shut her up. What's up with this mutt?

[sailor]

They just look different and the dog is not blind. If the dog were in a black household it would probably do the same to white kids. That's my guess.

[Road Rash]

When I was very young, our family had a dachsund who went crazy over black folk. We lived in a white neighborhood where the only black people were the garbage collectors. The dog equated black people with noisy trucks.

There is a rather disturbing movie about this topic called "White Dog."

[Ringo]

It's a common enough phenomenon, and one I've experienced before. If the dogs are unused to people of another race, they will react with defensive behavior. My GF of many years was a show-dog breeder/handler who lived with a couple of gay guys for a few years before she finally invaded my space. Nobody under 18 was ever around. I was quite surprised at the poodles' reaction when a friend of mine came by with his 3 sub-10-year-old daughters. Pooches apparently thought some work of the Devil was upon them.

[Anti Pro]

Oh beatle, where were you when I needed you about thirty years ago??? Probably weren't born!! Right?? Never mind, let's skip making ME feel ancient again!

Our landlady had a beautiful white shepherd. He was a huge dog too, and she kept him on a chain in the middle of the courtyard. He was relatively quiet most of the time, EXCEPT when a black person walked by on the sidewalk, THEN he sounded like he was going beserk!

The landlady thought this mightily funny of course, and her attitude seemed to make him worse. She believed he was 'white' and 'recognized the inferiority of blacks' and was reacting to it. Not wanting to lose my apartment, but also not wanting to just sit there and listen to drivel either. I commented that dogs are color blind, something people ought to imitate.

Nah, I didn't lose the West Palm apartment, but she stopped speaking.........see why I still like Florida?? ;)

[Fairy Princess Kitty]

Well, I guess that explains dog who are prejudiced against white/black people. My dog happens to hate everyone who isn't hispanic/latino. I don't get it, it can't be color because I look almost pale enough to be white and my dad is really dark. But for some reason my dog is more okay with latinos, he hated my ex boyfriend who was white but he was alright with my "little brother," a friend of mine who was Mexican. Any explanations?

Kitty

[Angkins]

I had a dog when I was younger who just did not like men. He would growl at them and not allow them near anyone in our family. He had no problem at all with women and was really friendly.

Maybe he was pretty smart ;)

[MovieMogul]

but White Dog, directed by the late great Samuel Fuller, is a movie well worth seeing, despite the leading presence of Kristy McNichol.

For more info: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0084899

[Road Rash]

Another story. When in college a friend had a dog who was a generally nasty lap dog. It acted tough with me until he saw me eat. But he hated blondes.

[andygirl]

A dog my family used to have would freak out at men. The best we could figure was that perhaps a man had abused her at some point. (She was an SPCA special that had been dumped, so it wasn't far fetched.)

aha, are your kid's black friends all from the same family? Do they have pets? Perhaps some of them have pets that your dog feels threatened by. It might not be the specific person as much as the scent of other animals that they might have with them.

[dragonlady]

CAUTION WAG ALERT:
Could it be that cultural food preferences make them SMELL different? That *might* explain the dogs with Latino preferences. I'm not well versed enough in multicultural dining habits...

[Dogzilla]

Only bad owners.

I fully believe that if the owner has some hangup or fear about cultures other than his/her own, then the dog will pick up on that and react accordingly.

My dog is not remotely racist, but if a stranger walks past my house, she goes nuts. Doesn't matter what color they are. If I seem fearful, she will be very protective.

When the "intruder" is someone I know, she still goes nuts... but now she's just trying to lick them, not eat 'em.

I think, if your dog is reacting negatively to people who are different than you, perhaps you should examine your own personal belief system. I think we train our dogs how to react to people. Are you really as tolerant and accepting as you think you are? Or are you sending vibes to your dog that [insert racial bias here] people are "bad"?
Just a theory to think about.

[Shirley Ujest]

Originally posted by aha
. What's up with this mutt?



Aha, have you considered trying to camoflage your kids friends by having them all wear yalmalka's? (sp?)





(Back to reality: Why not pick up some Freeman Beautiful Skin Blackberry and Tangerine Mud Masque ( about $3-4 at any store) It's purplish/black on your face and is great for scaring the kids and dog with. I bet if you put this on the family members and act normal ( as possible as an Aha household can) I bet you could get your five toothed beastmaster there to become acclimated to seeing people of different skin color. (Bonus points too is that this masque gives " over stressed skin a new vitality and healthy radiance" LIke my skin fills out tax forms or something...

Anyways, the first time I wore this masque my 85# dog just stared at me for the longest time until I started talking. She then proceeded to ignore me in the usual fashion until it was time to open the door and let her out. Let her in. repeat, repeat, repeat....

[tomndebb]

I think, if your dog is reacting negatively to people who are different than you, perhaps you should examine your own personal belief system. I think we train our dogs how to react to people. Are you really as tolerant and accepting as you think you are? Or are you sending vibes to your dog that [insert racial bias here] people are "bad"?

Nah. I will freely grant that someone who actively expresses hostility toward any particular group will influence a dog to look on members of that group as outsiders and maintain its own hostility. I don't buy the idea that the dog picks up subliminal messages and "translates" a person's own repressed hostility.

We have had one dog who was more likely to growl at black visitors than white ones, but the only black visitors we had (and the only time we encountered black people in her presence) was when we had over people we actively liked.

She always settled down after a bit, it just took her longer with black visitors. She also barked at me the first time I walked into the house with a suit and tie. (My company went business casual a long time ago.)

I vote for "strangeness." Our current dog always challenges little kids. Being a boxer, she really just wants to herd them (and lick them to death). However, the first sets of small kids she met were really afraid of her and she now has developed the habit of barking until they throw their arms around her neck.

In the case of aha's kids' friends, there is probably a feedback loop established, now. Perhaps the first kid remained fearful of her throughout the visit and she projected that onto the next kid and didn't settle down. By remaining hostile, she has now developed a fear response in the kids that feeds into her "if you fear me, you must have a reason so I will continue to harrass you" response.

[Kvallulf]

Our dog, yeras back, loved our neighbor. The dog would do the whole submissive, your the greatest act whenever he came over. Well, one halloween, he showed up as Abe Lincoln and our dog had to be restrained. Apparently she did not like anyone with facial hair.

[Stoid]

I've had it explained to me that when dogs are not raised around black people, they can sometimes find them upsetting because they can't read their faces. Dogs are very tuned to our expressions, and if they aren't used to it, a dark face can be hard to read for a dog, whose vision aint' that hot to begin with.

But that's just what I heard. My mother, bleeding heart liberal that she is, explained to me that the reason it seemed mostly blacks were terrified of my Great Danes was because dogs were used against black people in the civil rights riots of the 60's. Yeah, right, mom.

[Mojo]

I had assumed that it was for the same reason that a dog will typically bark at a person in uniform. What's the reason? Dunno, possibly fear of the unknown. But I've seen this behavior in lots of dogs, even those with (IMO) unprejudiced owners.

[Hanna]

All three of our dogs are fine around people except uniform-wearing people. Then they spaz and go on major defensive alert. Mail carriers, UPS delivery and the meter-readers are the offenders. What is it about the uniforms that sets the dogs off?

[aha]

Dogzilla
I think, if your dog is reacting negatively to people who are different than you, perhaps you should examine your own personal belief system. I think we train our dogs how to react to people. Are you really as tolerant and accepting as you think you are? Or are you sending vibes to your dog that [insert racial bias here] people are "bad"?
Just a theory to think about.

:rolleyes:

[redtail23]

There's a reason mailmen are afraid of dogs...dogs don't like 'em. Why? He comes to your house every day and takes things away. Or messes around with that box & makes noise - he might be taking things!!! And this is usually the uniform your dog sees most often.

Ditto with meter-readers - dogs just don't like strange people messing around in their space. These guys don't act right - they don't go to the door & ring the bell, they go wandering around the yard!! And if you call your dog in so he doesn't bother the meter-reader, you've confirmed his suspicions that something sneaky is going on out there.

The fact that lots of uniformed people know that dogs don't like them & react accordingly doesn't help any, either.

[Badtz Maru]

There is also the possibility it is related to the dog's sensing fear. I have noticed that my black friends seem to be more afraid of dogs in general than my white friends. It's probably because in black neighborhoods almost all the dogs are raised for guard work or as fighting dogs, while white seem more likely to keep dogs as friendly companions.

BUT I did have a black friend who had a chow that would go nuts whenever white people came over. I've never been afraid of dogs and this was the first one I've encountered that didn't stop barking when I got close to them.

[Hanna]

Originally posted by redtail23


Ditto with meter-readers - dogs just don't like strange people messing around in their space. These guys don't act right - they don't go to the door & ring the bell, they go wandering around the yard


We have asked our meter readers to ring the doorbell before they walk into our fenced in yard--so we can bring our dogs indoors for their (meter readers) protection. I should start a pit thread about NSP...those idiots. Anyway, I think another reason dogs get upset at uniformed people (I was just thinking about this in the shower I took after I posted) is that these mail people and such, in their day to day journeys, go to many houses and encounter lots of different dogs. Maybe my dogs smell strange dogs and think uniforms=strange dog smell.

[redtail23]

Boscibo - yeah, hadn't thought about that. These guys are tromping around all day picking up strange smells.

When I was little, we had a large, extremely protective German Shepherd. This was in the days when Shepherds were the current craze for 'bad vicious dog'. My mom was home one day, looked out & saw the meter reader, and went to call in the dog so he wouldn't get chomped. The guy saw her as she came out and asked her to go back inside immediately without calling the dog. After he read the meter, he stopped by the house & explained that the dog was used to him - as long as he walked straight to the meter and straight out without touching anything, she left him alone. "We have an understanding. If you call her in while I'm here, she'll think I'm up to something and I'll never get back in again." I think he was a smart dog-owner, meself.

[Whammo]

There are 3 dogs in my household, the youngest one is a Bichon, a small pure white dog. My roomate and I have a friend who is black and when she comes in that little cracker goes NUTS. Even after he calms down he growls at her if she looks at him or talks to him. And hes FINE with her husband who is white so I dont think its cultural differences in food intake as was mentioned earlier.

As far as mailmen go my dog at home (back in missiouri) absolutely LOVES to hate the mailman. Everyday around 11am he gets ready for the mailman and watches out the window for his truck to pull in up the street. When it comes he gets excited and watches the mailman go from house to house slowely getting closer. Tail and butt wagging excitedly and smiling all the way. It looks like hes going to burst with glee. Finally the mailman makes it to the house and he goes absolutly uncontrollably NUTS with growling and barking and snapping at the door. Mailman moves to the next house. Dog is now normal everyday dog again. Its freakin weird and funny.

[Hanna]

Originally posted by Whammo
Mailman moves to the next house. Dog is now normal everyday dog again. Its freakin weird and funny.

I keep coming back to this thread...IANADP (I Am Not A Dog Psychologist) but I think your dog is doing his job at successfully keeping the mailman away. Doggie barks=mailman goes bye-bye. Dog thinks barking=mailman turning tail.