I haven’t read all the way through the thread yet, so maybe this is answered. But some phobias don’t necessarily have discrete causes. I’m terrified of spiders. Why? No idea. I was raised and have lived nearly my whole life in the north where any deadly or even harmful spiders are rare. It’s just an irrational reaction: I just instinctively feel that sharp stab of fear whenever I see a spider, no matter how big or small. I don’t even have any sort of “I remember one crawling on me when I was very little” story to offer up as a reason.
I’m a white female, and I’ll totally cop to not being entirely comfortable around dogs, especially big dogs that I don’t know (or that don’t know me). The dogs I know, I like and I’ll play with. But I’d be, well not scared really, but probably cautious around big dogs I don’t know. My dad doesn’t like dogs (as a doctor, I think he’s seen too many kids who have been bitten), so I just didn’t grow up with dogs and never developed that familiarity. I’m not afraid of dogs, but I do have a healthy dose of caution for them.
Well, that’s silly. It’s hard to infer anything about the motives behind the behavior of dogs you’ve never met before, and this isn’t an example that can be compared to other people reaching conclusions about the consistent behaviors of their own dogs. I would think it’s equally silly for a non-white person to assume a white person’s dog is ‘racist’ if it displays aggression towards them.
My dog is sometimes aggressive towards men we walk past. Over YEARS of observing this, I’ve noticed that when he growls, 99% of the time it’s at a guy wearing a hat, a guy wearing a hood, OR a guy not wearing anything that changes or obscures his head or face, but who happens to have dark skin.
There are regional variations, but here is my experience in growing up in the poor south in a region that is a majority black:
Blacks are more likely to have larger dogs (as in, you didn’t see as many black people walking around with purse dogs) and they are somewhat seen as security. Live in a rough area? Don’t have a security system like rich white guy up on the hill? Get two large dogs and don’t go out of your way to make sure they are always friendly to strangers.
This tends to apply to areas where everyone lives in houses (or shacks) more so than apartments or “city folk.”
I doubt if fear of dogs is any kind of a racial characteristic, but it could be related to societal memes. It may have more to do with rural-vs-urban backgrounds. Someone with any kind of rural background is likely to have grown up around dogs and other animals, whereas someone from the inner city has probably had minimal contact with them, and is more likely to fear them.
Reminds me of a quote attributed to Colin Powell after a visit to Geo. Bush’s Texas ranch…“Nothing wrong with ranches, but I don’t yet do ranch-wear very well. Hey, I’m from the South Bronx, and I don’t care what you say, those cows look dangerous”
One other anecdote might help to display the urban/rural gap overreaching racial stereotypes… When I went through navy basic training some 30 years ago, our training company was about 30% black, 70% white. When it came time for water survival instruction, the company commander told us frankly that in his experience, black trainees had a lot of trouble with water training. S’help me, he was right. The navy wasn’t gentle, you either jumped into the water or got shoved in. I’m not a fancy swimmer, but I can handle myself in water all right, and got through the program without much trouble. The majority of the company did the same. But the black guys, with a couple of exceptions, floundered, paniced, and sank. Nobody drowned, but they had a very rough time of it, and most got assigned to some kind of remedial swimming instruction.
I found out later that the two or three black guys that had performed well in the water were from the rural south and like most country folks had grown up swimming. The others were mostly from the inner city areas, where swimming facilities and chances at swimming instruction were minimal to nonexistant. Wasn’t a racial distinction at all, but an urban/rural divide.
SS
You know a topic isn’t forbidden when the Today Show covers part of it like they did this morning. They covered inner city black males once caught up in dog fighting who viewed dogs, especially pit bulls, as street weapons. Some people once involved in it have started education programs for black males to bond with their dogs, even the Pit Bulls, as pets and they have obedience and owner-pet bonding classes set up for that purpose in places like Chicago. Most black dog owners aren’t into dog fighting but it was strange to hear some of the viewpoints expressed as part of a feel good story.
I grew up in a rural area that is roughly 50-50 black and white. We always had 4 - 6 dogs at a time mostly German Shepherds and crosses with other larger breeds. Both my parents taught at an all black school. The word on the street was that our dogs were bred to be racist and would attack any black person that stepped foot on our property. I am not sure how to interpret that. Our black nanny was there almost all the time and my parents did teach black kids all day long but it was still nice to know that our dog’s reputation alone for being horribly racist killers protected us from 50% of potential criminals. One black meter reader reported to his supervisor that he couldn’t go to our house anymore because it was simply too dangerous. We had to read it ourselves for a few months until someone else would do it.
Excuse me, but this entire thread is personist. Did anyone take into account the races of the dogs? Because it is well known that white dogs prefer white people and black dogs prefer black people. Hint: Look at the skin, not just the fur. Geez.
My dog (a 25-pound puggle) is a babe magnet. LOTS of women approach me when we’re out to ask me about him and/or remark how cute he is.
About 2/3 of black women ask up front if he bites. I don’t recall any white women–or men of any ethnicity for that matter–asking me a question like that.
I’ve never gotten the impression that black folks don’t LIKE dogs–most African-Americans I know are dog owners–but there’s definitely a higher sensitization to the bite potential among black women.
FWIW, I used to run into the same thing with my ex’s 10-pound poodle.
I, too, have noticed this more with African-American women than men. However, there have been plenty of times when big, burly guys have given me a wide birth when they see my dog, or have asked if he is “vicious.”
Look, the answer is simple. It’s you white people who are the weird ones. We minorities have the default position that any dog that isn’t our dog (or maybe even if it is) is unpredictable and potentially dangerous. This IMHO is the sensible way to go about life. So you better bet we’re gonna make sure your dog don’t bite. That’s if we have any interest in your dog to begin with. Which is why you are probably hardly ever approached by Asians at all in the first place. We don’t really care about your dog.
But white people love all dogs on a whole different level. Cite.
Stuff White People like should be called Stuff Upper-Middle Class Yuppies like but it is basically dead-on. I could take some ridiculous videos of that just by taking a stroll around here. My ex-wife (22 years old at the time) rode with her parents to go to the store with their Standard Poodle. The police responded to a frantic call from a woman that a dog was left locked in a car at night in 60 degree weather in a parking lot. When they responded, there was the poodle and my ex-wife sitting in the back of BMW. She explained that they had been sitting there the same way the whole time but the situation apparently made the caller extremely anxious…about the dog’s condition.
If you don’t have a dog in your youth , you are usually going to be apprehensive in their presence when you are an adult,regardless of your face. You must not travel very much, OP, as numerous African-Americans in the rural American South have dogs for hunting, protection and as pets.
Most African-Americans in urban environments either grew up disadvantaged or their parents did. Usually when you are poor, you don’t have a dog as it is another mouth to feed. Since the parents didn’t own a dog when they were younger, they often forbid their children from owning one.
Going forward, you might want to look around a little more. You might be surprised at what you’ll find.
I had no idea this was considered a racist topic, but honestly I’ve had three dogs who went nuts around my black neighbors, even the children. I always assumed it had something to do with their eyes or how they see things? But that doesn’t make sense given that my neighbors have dogs and surely they aren’t being attacked by their own pups.
Right now I’m trying to find a new home for my Shadow because I’m scared he will get loose and hurt a child. He acts like he’s going to break through the fence every time he sees a neighbor kid (they are all black), yet he does not act like this when my pale-skinned friend brings her daughter over. Yes he is a pit (mix), but I am not in any way a redneck, nor were my parents or my grandparents. I’ve always had relationships with people of every shape, size and color and I don’t consider myself racist. I disagree with the saying, “everyone’s a little bit racist”. I think everything is cultural, not about skin color.
