i’d have to disagree with owner’s prejudices being given to the pet through our feelings.
I’d say I’m slightly racist and my parents are too. Not to the point of hating other races to a point I’d want to kill them. If my dog could have sensed that inkling of racism no matter how small or evil, she would have acted upon it. She didn’t. I was practically more racist than she ever was. She was a Black and Tan miniature pinscher that weighed less than 20 pounds. I’m of Korean descent, raised in Canada all my life with pure korean blood in my veins. Me having racial prejudices had no bearing to what my dog perceived. She could care less of skin color, racial dietary habits that created certain odors or even hair length. She seen me with longish hair, shaved head and my normal shorter length hair. She’s seen me talk with other dog owners and pet other dogs. She’s seen black people, white people, asian people, hispanic people, arabic people, indian people, probably not so much native american people. Not once did she react to them based purely on their race.
The people we walked close to react differently though. The arabic or indian people seemed to not wanna be close to my dog. Even though the leash i used wasn’t the retractable ones and i had two hands firmly on the leash.
The only time my minpin would react to a person would be if i were yelling at them and I initiated aggression, if they were walking with a limp. There was this guy who was to my view, filipino somewhat mentally handicapped and walked with an apparent limp that my minpin found not too nice. I had no fear of this guy because i’ve seen him around the neighbourhood doing his walk around it. She apparently didn’t like him for some reason and acted aggressively towards him. I would avoid creating contact if I saw that guy near us or in the field of view.
Another funny thing is anyone the size of my mother or sister-in-law, with somewhat the same walking gait would get my minpin to think it was them and she’d wanna go to them with a whining type voice. I could goad my minpin to think that my mom was around the bend and she’d react the way she usually did and want to see for herself. She was oblivious to race, it was size, person’s gait and their voice that would matter to her.
If i sicced her on something she’d know the type of voice i’d use. If i wanted her to come to me she’d know by the higher pitched excited sound i’d use to get her to come. I assume she’d think that me yelling isn’t a good thing and she’d join in on the loud barking i was doing. She hated when people raised their hand to something. If she saw my hand raised to strike someone either in jest or softly she’d react with a growl bark and sometimes a whine bark like she disapproved.
Mind you, my minpin was an aggressive dog. She used to chase bigger dogs in the parkette. She’d be the first one to try and sniff butt. She’d react to aggressive small dogs by being aggressive back, she’d take control of submissive dogs by sizing them up over and over. Big aggressive dogs she’d cower and let me take lead. I always walked her, never once picking her up in any distressing situation I deemed walkable. She acted like a big dog because I treated her like a big dog. I was most likely the pack leader of the family too. She’d know that if you cross me, there’s hell to pay, she’d cower to my mom for comfort, from me she knew who was boss. I was mainly the person who did the most discomforting things with her, like trimming her claws and taking her to the vet. She never greeted me at the door when I came inside because I didn’t want her to do it I tried to get that boisterous energy out of her, but my parents didn’t do the same so she greeted them with energy everytime. Consistent training matters. She wasn’t crate trained, she had regular walks, house broken, she had full range of the whole house. I don’t know what else I can type to give the impression that she was a good dog and me an average dog owner.
I was the racist one, she was the indifferent one.