My dogs are racists. What should I do?

[Anonymous]

My chihuahua is afraid of men. I get dates to give him treats. He is slowly coming around.

[Anonymous]

The dog is racist because you don't socialize with black folks. Plain and simple.

[Anonymous]

If by some chance OP isn't a troll, ask your friends with darker complexions to come over and give your dog a treat as they approach you and your dog. Then lots of praise to the dog if they don't bark. If the dog barks, you and friends turn around and ignore. Repeat this many times with as many different friends and in different locations. You could even ask people at the dog park saying you are trying to create positive association with strangers. Most dog owners are kind enough to help out.

[Anonymous]

There was a movie about a dog trained to attack black people--I remember reading about it when I was a kid (I'm also black, so I wasn't sure what to make of it). Here it is:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084899/

[Anonymous]

1) teach your dogs about the "quiet" command
2) see if you can find ways for them to associate AAs with treats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was a movie about a dog trained to attack black people--I remember reading about it when I was a kid (I'm also black, so I wasn't sure what to make of it). Here it is:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084899/

Oh god. I saw that movie on tv as a young teenager. It was so horrid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The dog is racist because you don't socialize with black folks. Plain and simple.

Eye roll.
OP your dog is not woke enough for DCUM. Might I suggest you read him some Kendi?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Normally when I walk them outside in a leash, they are well-behaved. However, every time they see an African-American person, they start barking and get very aggressive. It’s really embarrassing, and I don’t know what to do about it.

Is there some kind of diversity/racial sensitivity training that can be done with dogs?

I had "racist" poodles as a kid. It was super embarrassing as they would only bark at people of color. And only when out of the house (we had friends and neighbors who are black and when they were over it was a non-issue). There was nothing i could really do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate to say it, OP, but they could be picking up on your tension. At this point, you are expecting your dogs to go nuts and so you tense up, inadvertently triggering the very reaction you want to avoid.

+1. OP, you’re the racist, and your dog is really just exposing it. Re-educate yourself.

Oh please. That’s not what the pp said at all.

Maybe not. The point still stands. The dog has learned to distinguish between races, which was obviously taught somehow. They aren’t born knowing that distinction.

They certainly are born recognizing distinctions, particularly in smell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate to say it, OP, but they could be picking up on your tension. At this point, you are expecting your dogs to go nuts and so you tense up, inadvertently triggering the very reaction you want to avoid.

+1. OP, you’re the racist, and your dog is really just exposing it. Re-educate yourself.

Oh please. That’s not what the pp said at all.

Maybe not. The point still stands. The dog has learned to distinguish between races, which was obviously taught somehow. They aren’t born knowing that distinction.

They certainly are born recognizing distinctions, particularly in smell.

They totally are born recognizing that different things look different. Beards, hats, skin color, larger people, people on bikes, etc. Different things set dogs off.

One of my dogs is afraid of bikes and scooters. I've had fosters that were terrified of trash cans, but not people. One of my dogs loves all people and the other is set off by men with darker skin (but strangely, not if they are bald).

[Anonymous]

For my dog, it’s all men. And he was / is around my husband all the time and is fine with him, just no other men.
We think one of the men at doggie daycare abused him when he was a puppy.
We don’t actively socialize anymore (COVID), but used to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate to say it, OP, but they could be picking up on your tension. At this point, you are expecting your dogs to go nuts and so you tense up, inadvertently triggering the very reaction you want to avoid.

+1. OP, you’re the racist, and your dog is really just exposing it. Re-educate yourself.

Oh please. That’s not what the pp said at all.

Maybe not. The point still stands. The dog has learned to distinguish between races, which was obviously taught somehow. They aren’t born knowing that distinction.

They certainly are born recognizing distinctions, particularly in smell.

What are you saying here?

[Anonymous]

OP here - I am not a troll. I am a pet owner who genuinely is looking for advice on how to stop by dogs from barking aggressively at Black people. Our neighborhood and our social circle is unfortunately not very diverse. So there aren’t a lot of darker conplected people the dogs come across on a regular basis. I agree that desensitization (ie having black peoples give them treats) might help. But given that we don’t know a lot of black people, it seems strange to ask the few that we do know to give our dogs treats. Especially now, during Covid, when we are really not having close interactions with anyone outside the household.

[Anonymous]

Hire a Black trainer.

[Anonymous]

When I was growing up, my Pomeranian was racist. Turns out it’s breeder, a woman born at the turn of the century was actively racist and probably taught her puppies to react to black people.