My dogs are racists. What should I do?

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Same. And the worst was that DH's best friend was black and was over often. The dog hated him. We felt like we did socialize the dog a lot. The black friend clearly knew the dog hated black people too. We'd have a lot of people over, but the dog would pick him out and bark.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, you need to re-train that black person = good things. Like a food treat every time you see a black person.

Our dog used to bark like mad at anyone approaching our house or anyone walking toward her on the sidewalk. Now, she makes a big exception: mail carriers. She recognizes them by uniform and even recognized and gets SO EXCITED when she sees the mail truck. Why? Because our mailman gives her a treat every time sees her. Now, mail carrier = source of happiness. No joke, mail truck was driving down street, dog sees it and pulls in that direction, sits down in that “trying to be good” all happy and wagging way, and mail truck slowed down to toss her a treat.

Now obviously you won’t have an assortment of black people giving the dog treats as you walk, but you can serve that role. Every time dog noticed black person, say treat word like “good!” and give dog treat. Lots of this over and over. You have to be alert and quick because you have to get to dig before dog starts to bark - in that moment of dog noticing but not yet reacting. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

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.

[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.

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

[Anonymous]

I think OP is trolling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think OP is trolling.

I don’t think so.
I had a dog with a thing against people wearing baseball caps.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, you need to re-train that black person = good things. Like a food treat every time you see a black person.

Our dog used to bark like mad at anyone approaching our house or anyone walking toward her on the sidewalk. Now, she makes a big exception: mail carriers. She recognizes them by uniform and even recognized and gets SO EXCITED when she sees the mail truck. Why? Because our mailman gives her a treat every time sees her. Now, mail carrier = source of happiness. No joke, mail truck was driving down street, dog sees it and pulls in that direction, sits down in that “trying to be good” all happy and wagging way, and mail truck slowed down to toss her a treat.

Now obviously you won’t have an assortment of black people giving the dog treats as you walk, but you can serve that role. Every time dog noticed black person, say treat word like “good!” and give dog treat. Lots of this over and over. You have to be alert and quick because you have to get to dig before dog starts to bark - in that moment of dog noticing but not yet reacting. Good luck!

Good advice here. I had a dog who was a protective breed, and had to use this method anytime we passed anyone on the sidewalk. Agree you have to be quick. After a while, he started looking to me any time someone passed, since he knew he'd get a treat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think OP is trolling.

I don’t think so.
I had a dog with a thing against people wearing baseball caps.

I doubt it's a troll too. Read about puppy socialization and you'll see that you need to expose a pup to all sorts of people and situations. Colors, noise, and movement matter.

I had the same issue with my dogs early on. For my dogs, it was only men of color. I am the primary caretaker of our dogs, and they generally prefer women. The more you get them out and reward good behavior, the sooner they will get over it.

[Anonymous]

For my dog, it seemed to be large women. Yeah, I don't feel great about it. Didn't come up much, so we never did any training, but if it did we would've tried to train him not to react.

[Anonymous]

When I lived on Cap Hill in law school I had only one AA neighbor who was a holdout homeowner in a gentrifying neighborhood. I adopted a dog from the shelter when I was home in Maine and we went on lots of walks and to dog parks on Cap Hill because I had no garden. The first time the dog saw my AA neighbor out walking it became very reactive - the dog had never seen a black person and my neighbor was very dark completed. He was upset at first that the dog reacted to him and I was very apologetic and asked him if he would please help me to socialize my dog. I didn’t mention race and I honestly don’t know it that was exactly what set the dog off, because my neighbor was an elder and he walked differently so it could have been just that. He was nice to the dog and they became pals whenever we ran into each other.

Dogs have a socialization window in early life and often struggle with new things they haven’t encountered before that window closes. Even well socialized dogs will often react to strange new things in their environment; the other day I was in line at the Dunkin drive through and my almost 3 year old border collie who almost never barks started barking frantically at a broom sitting in a milk crate left outside the back entrance of the building. Who knows?