I grew up on a large and pretty isolated property in rural Louisiana. We had all kinds of dogs but usually medium to large ones and often 4 - 6 at a time that were mostly outside dogs but also free to come into the house anytime they wanted. Most of them were either German Shepherds or had significant heritage of that type. We had a Doberman and a few Alaskan Malamutes as well plus everything else under the sun.
Most of our dogs were extremely protective of our family especially when me and my brothers were little. It was a tiny town and everyone knew that you just didn’t go near our house when we weren’t home because of the dogs. I thought it was stupid because I could jump up and down on them in front of the TV but we got some official complaints from utility companies that their meter readers couldn’t do their job at our house because the dogs were too aggressive and protective of the property. One even claimed to have been attacked but I am not sure if I believe that. All of the complaints came from black male meter readers.
It couldn’t have been a pure race issue because we had a full-time black nanny and black help lots of the time so the dogs knew some black people quite well and protected them too. However, in the South at least, there is kind of a feedback loop involved. Some black people are terrified of dogs like Dobermans and German Shepherds and that sets both the dogs and the people on edge. The dogs hardly ever attack but there is just a lot of nervousness around and a bit of a standoff. I am not being racist when I say that many black people in the rural South have off fears about many different types of animals. Smart dogs respond to that sort of thing in a negative way.
My current dog is a golden shepherd. Before her, all my dogs have been very consistent: they loved or hated everyone equally. I had one dog who was a real bitch. She would bark all night long if the cops were across the street. She also would send hate mail barks to another dog two blocks away. She wasn’t even charmed by food. The only people she didn’t try to kill were registered family members, and even then there was a month waiting period.
My dog now is friendly to everybody except our Chinese neighbors, which is odd because she doesn’t bark at our Korean, White, Hispanic, or Portugeuse neighbors. Also, I think she can tell who they are by smell. Their language isn’t the only trigger (she’ll bark at them regardless of whether they’re talking or not), and she can identify them even if all our neighbors silently walk past our door one after the other. She only barks at the Chinese neighbors, and has not yet learned to leave them alone. It’s been like 3 years now. She doesn’t even bark at the other dogs in our building.
She’s not sexist though. She barks at the husband, wife, and 2 year old child equally.
Some years ago in the aftermath of a severe hail storm in Sydney a great deal of building work was generated in some of the genteel suburbs. A woman wrote to the paper complaining that her dog went crazy barking at the building workers.
She observed that the dog became particularly frenzied when confronted with bald men with beards. She wondered if these men looked to the dog as if they had their faces on upside down.
Did I say or do anything to even remotely suggest I was speaking for the board? Would you mind pointing it out to me? How does someone get to be a humor arbiter? The same way he gets to be Pit Content Arbiter?
That’s a might big hill to climb. You might want to pack a lunch.
He said he could jump up and down on the dogs and they were gentle, so he couldn’t believe the dogs were aggressive to other people. In front of the TV was just the location of all the jumping.
Ah, okay. I don’t get why you think it’s weird that your dogs, who know you, would let you jump on them but would be upset about strangers getting near the house. Why don’t you believe them about that or the attack? No offense, but you’re coming across like it was their problem, not yours.
Charley is a Pit Bull/Lab mix and she LOVES black people. If she’s inside and hears a black person talking on the street her tail starts wagging. She’s friendly with everyone, but black people get her butt wiggling a whole lot more. She also gets really excited to see obese people, regardless of race.
That’s really weird - Charley hates huskies too. There are two in our neighborhood that she goes ballistic over.
Several (white) people I knew in northern Canada swore their dogs were much more vocal when Indians/natives walked by the property. Of course, the different lifestyles and hygene options on remote reserves probably meant the dogs thought they were less a visible minority than a olefactory minority. Less of the deoderant/laundry soap smell, more woodstove and woods smell?
If someone in Cafe Society says the movie he saw was a good movie, do you demand such a caveat? If someone admits to a crush on such and such an actor, do you assume that he is speaking for the group? Really?
I have never met anyone in my life who says “that’s not funny” and means to say “to me and everyone else in the world.” It is nitpicking to the extreme not to get that when someone says “that’s not funny” he means “that’s not funny to me.” To the overwhelming number of reasonable adults the disclaimer is understood, and therefore not necessary.
And while you are at it, I’ll thank you to leave my quotes unaltered. Find some other way to make your point. Assuming you can find the point first, that is.
Remind me again why anyone should give a flying one what you think is funny, and then tell me why you felt the need to comment on whether I am funny or not? If it wasn’t funny - to you, obviously - don’t laugh, and move on.
Well, to be precise, I made no comment on whether or not you are funny. I’m surprised you missed that.
Now, to answer your questions, I have no idea why anyone should care what I think is funny. Why should anyone care what *you *think about anything?
Now, in this case, I was answering a question. I will almost certainly continue to answer questions around here when asked directly. I hope you can come to grips with that. It certainly seems like a very small thing to get all wadded up about.