Comments on: Is your dog racist?

By: Kim

Kim — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 21:16:27 +0000

Thanks Terence, I’m definitely going to check out the movie. It looks like there are some copies floating around out there and the premise is interesting.

No doubt dogs have been trained to attack certain people, but I swear we love our Uncle

Kim

By: Terence

Terence — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:41:06 +0000

This is the silliest conversation this black man has ever heard. Like children, I think animals pick up behavior from their “parents” or from previous experience. The reactions described could have more to do with either differences in diet that may produce different body smells the animals react to, or some history with someone similar. However, I would point people to a great old Samuel Fuller movie, “White Dog”, about Paul Winfield trying to train a dog that’s been trained to attack blacks…controversial and shelved for years, it is a fascinating look at the idea of “racist animals”…

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:11:48 +0000

Hello All, I’m looking for some pets to participate in a segment I am working on for a National TV Show. This segment is about animal behavior. If you think your pet prefers women over men, if your pet act aggressively towards a different race, if you think your dog is attracted to the same sex dog, etc.. If you think your pet has an abnormal behavior and want to find out why, please contact me as soon as possible at NationalShow07@yahoo.com

Thanks, Paul

By: dog rain jacket

dog rain jacket — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:47:10 +0000

i have a poodle and she doesn’t want to mingle with mongrels. she hides everytime she sees one outside. weird.

By: Gill

Gill — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 04:18:58 +0000

My five year old lab, Bella, definately prefers women. when we encounter random people on the trial during walks, she is obviously uneasy around “strange” men and shows no fear towards any woman we meet. this has been the case with her forever. My husband and I got her at 12 weeks, she’s never had any bad experience with men (or with any person). Quite the opposite, she is a spoiled princess. I am not fearful of people I meet on the trail (men or women of any description) so I don’t think she’s picking up on anything from me. I do believe that dogs will pick up on their person’s fear, for sure. My girlfreind gets nervous when the dogs play which can lead to fearful behavior on the dogs part or can escalate it, I think.

By: Kati

Kati — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:20:30 +0000

I used to work with dogs, and knew one who was actually trained to dislike people who have dark skin. This was because where the owners used to live (outside of the US) the people with darker skin were usually from the desert and were usually criminals.

But I have also known dogs who hate people wearing hats or glasses, or hate men. It’s not unusual.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 00:09:45 +0000

I don’t think there is any way a dog can be racist. I do believe they pick up on the energy of people. Maybe the African American postman was leery of dogs and gave off that nervous energy prompting the dog to act protective. Maybe the Native American kindly uncle secretly disdains little dogs. I think dogs are just too wonderful and loving to be so pathetically limited to be racist. That’s why they are man’s best friend. Not white man’s best friend.

By: Poodleskiss

Poodleskiss — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:22:38 +0000

My poodle barks at Asian people in traditional costumes,its embarrassing but he is very friendly to Hispanics…..go figure.

By: Mar

Mar — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 04:37:25 +0000

I really can’t believe what I am reading. In the year 2007 there are actually people out there who will assign “racist” behavior to a pet. In my life time I have raised about 127 dogs and at least 20 cats (I show them). In all of that time I have not encountered a single animal that had any inate racist behavior. Animals pick up “Vibs” from the humans in their lives. An animals sense of smell is so heightened that they can smell if a handeler is nervous before a show. If an animal you own is behaving a certain way towards one group of people or another, check your own hidden feelings because your not hiding these feelings from your pet.

By: Vin Sie

Vin Sie — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:57:46 +0000

Hmm… after reading this article, now I realized my dog is racist. She will really bark at the postman because he is black. She is more friendly when she sees Chinese.

By: Dog Training

Dog Training — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 08:16:21 +0000

My female Border Collie has always been a bit of a loner. One thing I have noticed time and time again is that she is “racist” towards tall, white males especially if they are wearing “hoodies” She barks, backs away and shows her teeth. Yet any other male, especially elderly gentlemen, she will run up to giving cute little whines and fuss round them. Curious!
Regards, Marion

By: Dog

Dog — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:19:45 +0000

I noticed my dog being a “racist” since he was a puppy and he is now 11 years old. I told all my friends about his behavior but no one’d believe me. I notice that he’d only bark at African Americans or Hispanics but not to Caucasians or Asians. Also he is not quite as friendly to overweighted people as to skinny people. Interestingly he seems to like guys better than girls.

By: Kim

Kim — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:29:34 +0000

Voted for your pup Suzan! Kiku would vote for him/her to because of her preference for the similar fur as mentioned above.

Yep, it is weird that a dog living in a diverse area can still be “racist”. I understood Muffin’s behavior since we grew up in the suburbs of Milwaukee, but those racists city dogs are something else! That must be a little embarrassing, hey?

Kim

By: ParkSlopeBoy

ParkSlopeBoy — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 21:33:22 +0000

I read this article yesterday and it really got me to think. I used to have a Chow, who i had adopted from the pound when she was just 12 weeks old. At that time, i used to live in San Fran (before i moved out to Park Slope in Brkln) in the heart of the city where there were people of all ethnic backgrounds. The strangest thing was that my Chow just did not like African Americans. She would mostly shy away or sometimes bark at any African American (male or female) that she saw on the streets or any of my friends that came over. The odd thing is that i’m BROWN (of Indian origin) so i just didn’t understand where/how she picked up this attitude. I also had a St. Bernard who grew up side by side with the Chow and he was a peaceful loving guy – never any problem. I just don’t get it. Can you be born a racist?!

By: Suzan Buckland

Suzan Buckland — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:29:02 +0000

I’ve been in Morroco last summer with my husband and our 7 year old son and a curious thing happened. Our friends who live there have a dog, a female Yorkshire, and curiously she was very excited and happy by our presence although she didn’t like strangers. Our friends told us that the same thing happen when the go in holidays in Spain, their dog (called Madonna) played with any other dog whereas she never did in Morroco. Strange…

If you have time, vote for me at http://fidoduo.ca/u-sbuckland

Good day!