What would you do if you discovered your dog was racist?

Say you got a new dog from the kennel, spent several months bonding with it, only to discover he only liked you because you were white? (or whatever)

Would you take the time and effort to re-program whatever conditioning his Nazi ex-owner ingrained in him, or would you chuck the bigoted bowser out on his tailfeathers?

Just wondering.

A dog can be taught to bark at or be aggressive towards a particular race/gender but it can just as easily be corrected out of them. Actually, the correction is much faster. Additionally, it can be conditional, in that I've met dogs that haven't liked men because they've never been exposed to them. It's a socialization issue in those cases.

I did have that problem with a dog at one time. So I invited my black friends over frequently, to let the dog know that there was nothing to fear or be defensive about.

The father of one of my students was amazing, too. When he first came to the door, and the dog barked at him, he didn't do anything but give her this LOOK. She put her tail between her legs, then she lied down and rolled onto her back, totally submissive. I can't explain what happened...It truly was phenomenal.

I got him when a black lady, his former owner, sold him to me, but he seemed to really really hate black children. He didn't react toward adults of any color or white children at all, but he seemed to really hate black children, especially young black boys.

It went away over his lifetime though. I had enough different types of friends over some with children, some without, all different races. He eventually played with black children, but he grew a strong distaste for country music as a pup and that never went away. He would growl and grumble anytime any country music was played on television. I did to. It was a running family joke with country music. "Like like Benson." :P Good dog.

Plus, he's color-blind.

If you freak out(get nervous, start to pull them away, or hold on to their leash tighter) everytime they act aggressive towards someone of a particular race, it will reinforce the behavior. Most of these "racist" dogs weren't actively trained to be racist, they're just not used to interacting with people who look a certain way. It usually goes away with exposure.

For example, my old boss's dog was notoriously racist, but when he was off leash and just hanging out in the office, he came over to sleep by my feet. A large part of his "racist" behavior, was really just his response to the tension people had when walking him, because they were told he was racist and had to be kept away from certain people. Whatever fear of new people he'd had when he was first adopted had gone away, but nobody had noticed.

could be a business idea.

:rofl:

after innocent black people...so I think it's totally possible....

make macaroni pictures, and finger paints of people of different races coming together and living in harmony until it either A. died, or B. became tolerant.

I got him when a black lady, his former owner, sold him to me, but he seemed to really really hate black children. He didn't react toward adults of any color or white children at all, but he seemed to really hate black children, especially young black boys.

It went away over his lifetime though. I had enough different types of friends over some with children, some without, all different races. He eventually played with black children, but he grew a strong distaste for country music as a pup and that never went away. He would growl and grumble anytime any country music was played on television. I did to. It was a running family joke with country music. "Like "Jama" (me) like Benson (my country music hating dog)." :P Good dog.

Our dog doesn't seem to discriminate against people on the basis of race or ethnicity, but some people he likes right away and others he never likes. We're not sure why he likes some people and not others, because we haven't found a common thread amongst them.

In her defense, she also doesn't like very large people either. I have a friend who is about 6'3" 300-plus pounds.......the dog doesn't try to bite him. She just won't let him out of her site. She sits next to him and "guards" him, barking whenever he moves. Also, she won't go to bed if he is in the house late. She also does the same thing, to a lesser extent, when one of my African American co-worker/friends comes over to the house. Apparently, she only likes 5'8" white people like me, my boyfriend, and the other 9 people that live in our condo building. It doesn't help that she is part Shar-Pei and a little territorial......AND her two daddies coddle her.

Tape the pooch's eyelids open and make it watch 'The Color Purple' and 'Roots' a couple hundred times. That should help.

He hates all dogs, but OTOH, he likes rats.

I wouldn't call them racist, for gods sake. Most of them were rescues from black areas and were treated well in white areas. Of course they had a problem with black men because black men abused them. Is stating that fact racist?
Of course not. That's survival to a dog. My current rescue does not have any problem with whites or blacks. She's a little sweetie.

Unfortunately, it was almost ALL due to the original owner.
Sorry, I dunno any solution,but I sure have seen it.

they are equal opportunity snobs - they ignore everybody

Like, for example, kids. Black folks (we're white) and guys with trucks. ANY guys with trucks.

I think you just have to get that dog out into the world more.

had been severly abused and electrocuted by people who happened to be african american. I got her when she was 7 months old and she had been cut, beaten, electrocuted, muzzled, etc. She used to growl and get into attack mode whenever she was approached by an african american person, but now she is okay. It was very embarassing and I had to defend myself after being called a racist more than once.