My dogs are racists. What should I do?

[Anonymous]

I thought my dog was racist too till I figured that he disliked most men. He was perfectly happy to see my Black women friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hire a Black trainer.

Yes, hire a black male trainer to re-socialize and work on positive associations.

[Anonymous]

My neighbors dog barked aggressively at old women. She was middle aged herself and wasn’t crazy about her dog being an agist.
My dog likes all people but only likes dogs of certain breeds.

Dogs can be weird that way. And it’s one of the problems with rescues—you don’t know how they were socialized. If you get a puppy, it’s really important to try to take him around people of all ages, races, sizes, genders, and ideally people with mobility challenges as well. I met a parent with a kid in a wheelchair and she was thrilled my dog would get right up to the kid and lick his hand etc.—her kid adored dogs but she said most of them were scared of the chair and would not approach the kid. Canes are a big trigger for a lot of dogs, unless they are familiar with them.

[Anonymous]

My dearly departed cat hated white people, especially men. She was abused by a white family and I adopted her as a ten year old. Loved black and brown people. Our two cats now have no hangups around race but I think it's because we've had them most of their lives. I do think some of this behavior is learned either actively (like the abused cat) or passively (no exposure to diversity).

[Anonymous]

My dog barked at my MIL incessantly. Now, we think it might have been her perfume. We gave her special treats to give him, and met her at a neutral location several times. He loves her now even without the treats.

[Anonymous]

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.

Please. My lab is the same and the first time it ever happened I was picking up poop and didn't even see the people walking up but he did, so no, he wasn't reacting to me because I didn't know ANYONE was there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

I didn't say this to be woke. I said it because it's likely true. It doesn't make the OP racist that she doesn't socialize a lot with black folks in her house with her dogs. It's just a fact. Likely. Am I wrong, OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

PP here. Now seeing that I'm right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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).

I had a dog that would go berserk barking at men on motorcycles. I had a friend whose dog hated short men. Women and tall men were ok. Both dogs were rescue dogs and I wondered if they had been abused by someone who rode a motorcycle and a short man (respectively). But who knows? Maybe they were just unfamiliar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dog was terrified of and aggressive toward men. All men - but especially men with beards.

We had to slowly socialize him that men can be nice. Haven't really worked out the beard thing yet but slow positive low threat exposure seems like it would work.

Our trainer said that many dogs are scared of men bc they are like bears--big, furry esp with beards, and have a voice that sounds like a growl. They are instinctively afraid of bears so I guess this combo of traits doesn't help

Right because black men are super growly anf furry? So you're saying the combo of dark skin color and being male is bear like and more scary? Do you see your inherint bias here? Your inherint racism?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dog was terrified of and aggressive toward men. All men - but especially men with beards.

We had to slowly socialize him that men can be nice. Haven't really worked out the beard thing yet but slow positive low threat exposure seems like it would work.

Our trainer said that many dogs are scared of men bc they are like bears--big, furry esp with beards, and have a voice that sounds like a growl. They are instinctively afraid of bears so I guess this combo of traits doesn't help

Right because black men are super growly anf furry? So you're saying the combo of dark skin color and being male is bear like and more scary? Do you see your inherint bias here? Your inherint racism?

Neither of the PPs said anything about black men. Just men. You're the one who added black...but they're the ones with the issues? Hmmm.