I don’t see how hard it is to comprehend that a dog could be trained to attack a certain group of people based on physical characteristics.
This case seems to have a little more to it than simple “racism” but the concept seems absolutley plausible. I found a few articles which address this, most taking place in South Africa. Many cites also seem to be first-hand accounts as well.
It’s fairly easy to distinguish between black people and white people in black-and-white films. Dogs are supposed to have keener eyesight than humans anyway, so even if colour-blind, as a WAG they would certainly be able to at least pick dark-black skin against pale-white.
I don’t think the dog should be killed, just retired and given a home with responsible people who are used to handling agressive dogs. And I speak, btw, as someone who has been maimed by a dog and carried facial scars for almost 30 years.
And relevant to nothing at all, I once had a cat who was a total whore around men. She couldn’t give two shits for women (except for me, obviously, she was an affectionate pet) but if a man came over, she was all over them, trying to climb their legs, etc. It was really quite odd.
I know that has nothing to do with race-color, however the misconception of years past that dogs only see in black and white was discounted and even may change in the future - perhaps they see even more shades of color than we know now.
Dogs would have to be trained to discern race by smell. They really don’t care otherwise. Their values and perceptions in life are not human.
Yes, dogs are smarter than geneticists.
My dogs target the mailman. That is because he comes to kill us all every day but Sunday. It is a reinforcing behavior. He comes. They bark. He leaves. Thus, they must be scaring him off and protecting us from the evil mailman from Hell.
I believe it may have been the excitement of the situation that caused the dog to act. The dog should not be an officer. Hopefully a rescue group could take him in.
