I’m in the process of socializing a puppy right now, and I have noticed that my dog reacts differently to different people. He does not like people with hats; he does not like really small people. I say “does not like” but really it’s just that he doesn’t trust them, they’re different, he’s not used to them. A few months ago he was the same with black people–or rather, black men (I’m trying to remember if they were wearing hats, which is quite possible), but then there were two black guys in his puppy kindergarten class (I mean two black owners, only one of the dogs was black), so now he likes them as well as anyone. I do always check with a person before I let my puppy approach them.
But I see just a big a proportion of black people out walking dogs as I do white people, so I would certainly never think black people don’t like dogs. Maybe in the south. In Denver they seem to like them just fine, as individuals. There are a lot of people who don’t like/are afraid of dogs and these people come in all colors.
I have heard that Muslims don’t like dogs. A Muslim woman said it’s not so much that they don’t like them but that they consider them unclean. Well, they’re right. Dogs are not very clean, they eat cat poop, they eat their own poop, they roll around in unsavory odors and track all manner of shit into the house. My dog would be happy to jump on a Muslim, or anybody, with his muddy paws, which is why he’s always on a leash. But Muslims are not a race.
The aforementioned Max was often distrustful of men, particularly if they had beards. My wife had adopted him at a shelter when he was about a year old; her guess was that he had bad experiences with a bearded guy in his earlier home. As he got older, and had more positive experiences with men (beards or not), he largely got over that problem, but it took several years. When I met my wife, Max was still in his distrustful stage; the future Mrs. Kenobi took it as a good sign that Max liked me from the start.
Someone asked about dogs that black people own - I have a lab mix, a beagle, and a mastiff (Now. In the past, there was a chihuahua, a lhasa apso etc) . I guess I could have taken the first two hunting if someone had trained them, but they weren’t purchased for their usefulness.
Hasn’t that attitude died out, for the most part? I remember people saying they wouldn’t eat food someone cooked, because that person had a dog, but I haven’t heard anything like that in years, and years.
Most poor/uneducated blacks I know still believe these things. I think. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve heard these sentiments as much recently.
It’s not about the dogs. It’s about the dogs’ owners. Dogs will instinctively act in a manner their owner favors. The way a dog treats you is the way he thinks his best friend would treat you.
'Twasn’t that sort of therapy. I have a vague memory of being chased by a dog when I was very young, but I think I was already afraid of them when that happened. My therapist was less interested in finding the roots of the fear than she was in getting past it, which involved slow acclimation to the presence of dogs.
My point is that, of the several RhymerSiblings, there are widely different attitudes about dogs, and I don’t think race has anything to do with my former fear.
I descend from redneck stock. Knowing my dad’s early attitudes towards people of color, I would not doubt for a moment that he or his dad would sic the family dog on a passing black person, just to see the look on his face. As my dad matured and met more people who didn’t look like him, he began to realize that his former behavior was wrong.
I’m convinced that most of us white folks would like to declare we haven’t a racist bone in our bodies, but just because you’re not in the habit of noticing something doesn’t mean it isn’t there. I can walk almost anywhere in the U.S. with the reasonable expectation that when I go into a store no-one is likely to follow me on the security cams because I “look suspicious”. When I step into line at the bank, nobody gets nervous or uncomfortable (unless they don’t like seeing fat, pale guys wearing shorts ;)) and if I’m waiting for the bus, people feel free to approach me to ask the time or whatever.
I’ve been made aware that a lot of the freedom we feel to go anywhere and be welcome is not necessarily percieved by people of color when they do the same things, so I refuse to say “I’m not racist”. Rather, I do my best, and remain open to correction in case I get it wrong.
Could it be a muslim thing? I know loads of Somali folks and I live in a pretty white bread city - many folks from Somalia are muslim and muslim’s REALLLLLY don’t care for dogs.
Outside working, pulling a sled, hunting for ducks? Fine. In the house, on the bed, touching them? Oh hell no!! One of my friends is a Milay muslim and she’s petrified of my little dog - specifically that he’ll lick her.
Perhaps there is a population of black muslims in your area?
And before anyone says it, in my life I have known 2 white muslims, about 800 black muslims, and about 800 cafe au lait coloured muslims.
I hesitate to participate in this thread, but I would suggest three possibilities:
Dogs don’t like anything different.
Dogs notice if their owners tense up.
Confirmation bias.
The best thing is, you can arrange them in several orders to make a positive feedback loop. Dog barks at first person who looks different/owner tenses up thereafter expecting dog to bark, or Owner tenses up, dog learns to bark at different people, or Owner tenses up/ dog barks first time / Owner notes all further barking around black people
My dog, whom I usually refer to as Attackdog, but who is basically a big tribble, was relaxed with South Asians, Chinese* and Europeans, but once, as a puppy, barked at a black woman, who very kindly stopped and hung out with us for 5 minutes or so, teaching him the lesson that black people are very very good at ear scratching. I note that there are lots of South Asians, Chinese and Europeans in Vancouver, but very few Black people.
*For some reason mobs of Chinese girls would approach us to take pictures with him. It was like walking around with Bill Murray, or maybe Pikachu.
My neighborhood has a large African-American population and a large Ultra-Orthodox-Jewish population. I see blacks (and others) walking dogs all the time, but I have never seen one of the Jews walking a dog. I think they’re too busy having more and more kids to own a pet. Plus, it’d be very time-consuming to be always removing pet hair from those long black skirts and coats.
I’ve also noticed many black people seeming fearful of my dogs (one of whom is large and part German Shepherd), but I live on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Within city limits a lot of people have larger, potentially dangerous (bull and guarding breeds) dogs which are used as watch and guard dogs. A lot of people in the Philadelphia area are black, and a lot of them have their own dogs. I just thought anyone who grew up around many of the neighborhoods I have walked through where almost every dog you see has teeth that could rip out your neck and snarls and lunges when you try to get by it, is rightfully wary of strange dogs on the street. Most black people I know were raised within the limits of Philadelphia, most white people out here in the burbs were not, so I’m not sure if that wariness applies equally to white people from the same neighborhoods…
My aforementioned large German Shepherd mix is ‘shy’ and has displayed some aggression towards men in the time I’ve had him. He’s the worst with the aggression at night (I’m more on edge then too of course), I’ve also noticed he’s generally more fearful/aggressive towards dark-skinned black men, but more so any man/boy wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, also almost any sort of hat. I think the key for him that he’s a very visual dog (I know that from other habits) and is fearful of anything that seems ‘different’ about a man, or obscures his reading of their body language (such as where they are looking). When someone has very dark skin, it’s harder to read their facial expression at night.
We live in a very white neighborhood and he grew up someplace even whiter, so I think it’s just a familiarity issue. I feel as certain as a white woman can that I have no special fear myself of dark-skinned black guys (or men wearing hoods). I get pretty guarded and watchful around all strange men, especially those who have sexually harassed me before, of which there are a few in my immediate neighborhood, but my dog doesn’t get shitty towards those guys (what use is he?!).
I suspect that in at least some cases, whites who think their dogs react badly to black people are correct. But it’s probably because the dog picks up on their own apprehension and thinks there’s something to be wary about.
I once had a dog who was not the sharpest animal ever. One day she started barking at me, which was puzzling until I realized I was wearing a baseball cap. I took it off, she stopped barking and looked abashed.
This past weekend I was walking my black Labrador. We approached a home where a young black couple was out in their yard along with their own black Labrador. They waved at us (I tried to wave back, but I was carrying a full poop bag so it was awkward), but their black Lab started growling and briefly charged us before they called him back.
Recent personal experience: my father lives in a nursing home, and I regularly visit him with my dogs; both elderly, medium-sized, very friendly white and black furballs. The staff in the rehab unit, mostly white, all come out to greet and pet the dogs. In the living area, where most of the staff is black, a couple will be friendly, but otherwise they’re indifferent or scared.
Jews of all modern movements own dogs, but you’re right; Haredi and Hasidic Jews tend not to have them. There’s no restrictions in Judiasm about keeping dogs, but a section from the Talmud declares that one shouldn’t keep an animal that scares other people. My late grandmother on my father’s side was Modern Orthodox, and there was always a dog in her household. I regularly saw moderately Orthodox Jews (kippot, beards, but in regular street clothes) at the dog park in my old neighborhood in suburban Cleveland.
