Are dogs racist?

julesrtc

My friend called over with her boyfriend who is black. He loves animals and while he was rubbing the dog (he was enjoying it) but growled an odd time, i dont think he noticed as we were chatting.
So last night he called again and he would not stop growling at him with the tail curled up, i was mortified. It is the only thing i can think of is he is black. I heard before that some dogs dont like black dogs as they see in black and white therefore black dogs(people) are a blur?? I cannot understand it...

Anyone go through anything like it before??

tbh

Larry David!

julesrtc

What???

Annika30

Don't know if this is a serious question or not. No dogs are not racists.

tbh

There's a show called Curb Your Enthusiasm, the main character (Larry David) adopts a dog that turns out to be racist. It's very funny!*

It turned out that the dog had been trained by racists (i think), but maybe there was something else about your friend that the dog didn't like.




The show. Not Racism

neacy69

no dogs are not racist

although when i was in south africa my uncle and all of his neighbors had all sent their guard dogs to a training school where they learned to attack only black people

Irish Wolf

tbh wrote:

There's a show called Curb Your Enthusiasm, the main character (Larry David) adopts a dog that turns out to be racist. It's very funny!*

It turned out that the dog had been trained by racists (i think), but maybe there was something else about your friend that the dog didn't like.




The show. Not Racism

There was a movie in the 80s called White Dog which told a similar story - can't remember if it was based on fact or not.

Tar.Aldarion

Lol, that is some question!

lightening

I think its a perfectly normal question, maybe it could have been worded better. The dog might have not been used to black people and treated them with a bit of suspicion, that's all. My dog used to be very wary of down syndrome people. Another dog of mine growled and barked at an uncle of mine who had a bad stroke, his unusual look, wonky eye, limp and funny speech spooked the dog a bit.

The guys dark colour is something the dog never encountered, the dog was just being naturaly careful.

julesrtc

Well i certainly did not train him to be racist.

Maybe i shouldnt have used racist(as dogs dont know what it is) but he seems not to like him and he loves all people he meets. He never growled at anyone before.

Got this from google:
"Also, as someone as already mentioned, dogs often tend to be hostile towards black people, I think that these actions are likely to be a defensive reaction towards beings that are "different" to what the creature normally sees, possibly a result of fear"

Makes sense as he has prob never seen a black person before friends boyfriend. Will have to get him to meet him more often to stop him being like that, its not good...

lightening

Oh yeah... did the fella have a very deep voice? Some black guys I know have a barratone deep voice, that freaks some dogs (who are not used to it) out.

Cadrach

Some dogs don't like old people. Some dogs don't like kids. Some dogs don't like postmen. It is possible that your dog doesn't like black people. My dog will growl at people wearing masks - it might be the same for a dog who is not used to seeing black people. Just train him not to growl at humans.

Robbo

Surely Hitler's dog was a bit racist?

julesrtc

but thats, it he doesnt growl at humans, maybe the postman or someone who throws something into the letter box but never EVER at humans..
thats why i thought it so strange..
I gave out to him straight away and he cowered but growled again then after few seconds!!!

sickpuppy

I do beleive or dog to e racist shes an irish setter .If atraveler called to the door looking for anything the dog goes nuts hair standing on back barking mad.She was very gentle when anyone else called maybe because she has such akeen sense of smell she thought it was acorpse walking or something,and got frightened.But anytime travellers are in the vicinity or even taking her for awalk she got very aggressive.

KTRIC

My cat once attacked an old black gay guy that has had a stroke !!!, I wouldn't know where to start with that ?

lightening

KTRIC wrote:

My cat once attacked an old black gay guy that has had a stroke !!!, I wouldn't know where to start with that ?

Zambia

neacy69 wrote:

although when i was in south africa my uncle and all of his neighbors had all sent their guard dogs to a training school where they learned to attack only black people

This is true I have seen these dogs after training. It's still done today as a security measure by some whites in Africa.

It could be your friend is afraid of the dog , dog senses fear and turns to a bully.

I had this with a rottie once he bite me on the ankle a little to hard. I suddenly got scared and the dog became more agressive. So threw her in a pool...she calmed down looked a tad wet and all was well. But the dog did turn a little once she thought she was in charge.

Schlemm

Yup this can happen.

Same reason that some dogs attack kids and some dogs don't...the difference is that the dog who don't attack were socialized with kids from an early age. If they percieve different skin colours to be strange and if they've never encountered it before, they can react to it.

Dogs can see in colour too which explains why they do it...obviously it's not cos they're 'racist' per se, it's just that they're not used to the different appearance and some dogs react to it, others don't.

Or maybe the person that they react badly to reminds them of somebody who mistreated them in the past,- this explains why some dogs or other animals don't like men, for example.

Our man in Havana

Ok guys can we stop the jokes!

We rescued a very large rottie years ago in the UK - he hated coloured people & would break glass windows to get to one - he had been trained this way by his first owner!

Some dogs will take an instant dislike to people - my old german sheppard did - not coloured just some people would make him watchful & he would not let those people touch him at all!

OP try to introduce your dog to more people of all colours & age ranges & see if you get the same reactions to other coloured people if not its just a case of not liking this man.

lightening

Bond-007 wrote:

he hated coloured people

Like purple people and orange people?

podge018

"coloureds"

What's this, the 1950s?

Alfasudcrazy

I was walking the dobies in the park a while back and there was this black man sitting on a park bench with big earphones listening to music and nodding his head etc.

The dogs stared in amazement at him as they passed. It was their first time seeing a black man and it kinda frightened them.

They also stop and stare at people using wheelchairs and crutches - they just find it strange.

I think its just they find black people strange - and like anything strange they are cautious about it.

mountainyman

People who eat different food smell different and to dogs this could seem very noticeable.

MM

I-like-eggs,mmm

Well maybe... I know my cats racist:D

She came across a group of baby gerbils which i thought she may have thought were kittens... anyway, she killed the black gerbils and minded the ginger gerbils...

Our man in Havana

lightening wrote:

Like purple people and orange people?

podge018 wrote:

"coloureds" What's this, the 1950s?

Forgive me for not saying, blacks, Indians, Asians & other ethnic people!

Anymore jokes & wise cracks & I start banning & close the thread.

peasant

As Schlemm said ....it's all in the socialising.

Dogs know how to deal with what they're used to ...anything new or different gets a reaction, and if they're sufficiently befuddled by what they see, that reaction may well be defensive.

Our dogs have so far reacted to:
People carrying umbrellas
People in wheelchairs
Drunken people
People with obvious disfigurements

They are country bumpkins and it shows

nlgbbbblth

Irish Wolf wrote:

There was a movie in the 80s called White Dog which told a similar story - can't remember if it was based on fact or not.

brilliant movie. Directed by Sam Fuller. Not on DVD and rarely shown on television.

Nala

This thread reminds me of my budgie and cockatiel.

They are terrified of the two kids my mam minds.

The little girl is the only person they know with curly hair (me, my whole family and all other regular visitors have straight hair), they stare at her hair and panic.

The other day they saw the other child my mam minds for the first time. They had never seen anyone with ginger hair before and they freaked out.

It's not that they don't like kids, they do. They just don't like curly or red hair!!!

Needless to say I can't imagine how they'd react to this guy...

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/04/12/mickhucknall.jpg

lightening

Bond-007 wrote:

Anymore jokes & wise cracks & I start banning & close the thread.

Right... Just trying to inject a bit of humour. No more jokes then, sorry about that.