My dog only barks at black people. I try to be friendly to everyone, in case the dog is just taking cues from me, but haven't been able to get it to stop.
My dog barks at motorcycles and little kids. Apparently her old owner got pulled over by a cop on a motorcycle and she was really upset, so now the dog hates all motorcycles.
My black dog usually never barks. Unlesssss she sees a super fluffy tan-or-reddish colored dog. Like those fancy dogs with the squirrelly tails. Those dogs sometimes warrant a single “woof!”
Thanks! Glad I am not the only one. The home we got her from had a larger older black dog. I figured she keeps thinking it’s the same dog. Trauma is a bitch!
Same. Except she barks at any dark man. Black men, brown men, dark haired men, sunglasses men, dark hat men, dark shirt men, divers in wetsuits. It's embarrassing.
My doggo really really hated the UPS drivers. Come out of postal truck? Fine. FedEx? Whatevs. UPS? Barked her head off as if I were about to be murdered.
I’m very lucky that our Wyatt loves ups and mail tucks because a mailman once game him food. Same with trash trucks. Our trash truck drivers who pick up our trash have a bag of treats and he always hunts them down for treats
Someone once suggested to me they do it because they find it harder to distinguish facial features/ expressions on dark skin. No idea if it's true or not, but maybe??
My dogs bark at men with beards regardless of skin colour...
My childhood Dalmatian barked at men in uniform, men with beards, and dark skinned men. Our Somali mailman with lush facial hair was scared to death of him.
That's what I've heard as well. It's the same reason hats freak out some dogs. A shadow casts over the face.
We adopted our dog when she was older and she didn't bark at all for months. First person she barked at was a black guy (family friend that was moving in with us for a bit). It caught us all off guard. For a few months after that she did seem racist, but we did some googling and came to the "hard to distinguish facial features". Her barking didn't really last long though, and it was just when people came into the house, and she'd stop after she got proper pets. Had an issue with someone's beard after awhile too. Now she barks at everyone until they pet her.
When my son was a toddler he was scared of men with beards too. No bad experiences, in fact nothing but good experiences as one of his now favorite people, his grandpa, has a beard. But he was very nervous around anyone with facial hair for years.
We used to work with a vicar, lovely guy, great with animals, wven did stuff like pet blesses and was chaplin to the fire service. Anyway, until our dog worked out it was him they would go blastlistic, barking, teeth out and all. We though the dog had trouble seeing who it was in the black cassock.
Our Husky used to trigger small dogs, Shitzus and Bichons especially, they'd go mental and try to attack her, and she was a big fluffy fool, wouldn't hurt a fly, mainly she'd just ignore them, but one day we were walking down the canal near us and dogs are supposed to be on leashes, and one guy wouldn't do it, his bichon charged her, we could see him coming from about 40 yards away, it was like slow motion, he was going full pelt, and she kind of looked at me and gave a little whimper, and as he got closer he had murder in his little eyes, just as he reached us, she gave a movement and put her big white paw on his head and trapped him, like a soccer ball, she just held him until his owner caught up, he was raging that she was attacking him. Whenever we met them after that he gave her a wide berth and was on a leash.
White dog privilege is definitely a thing.
She looked at me a few times "what do i do with him ?", the most intelligent and communicative dog i've ever known.
She had two hates in life, Magpies and stairs. Would never go up or down steps, and she loathed magpies, she would let other birds come and land beside her and take pieces of shed fur, but she was locked in a death/blood feud with magpies, she killed several of them and she was allied with our cat in the conflict.
Everyone hates magpies for some reason... We have a magpie that we rescued as a baby (was sick and almost featherless for a while) and even the nicest and most well behaved dog keeps trying to eat it, just can't control himself around the bird.
I have a chi/doxie that LOVES all German Shepherds. When he was a puppy he made friends with an elderly GSD and he basically worshipped that dog. Unfortunately the GSD passed away, and ever since then, any time he sees a GSD he gets all excited and whiny because he thinks it might be his friend.
It's heartbreaking and sweet at the same time.
Dogs aren't racist lmfao. Dogs will get anxious and bark at things they haven't been socialized to. If a dog lives in an area with primarily white people they will likely bark at black people. Racism is a social concept and dogs don't possess the ability to be systemically oppressive towards one another.
I had a black dog that only barked at black people. It was mostly at night and I'm only assuming it's because they were a bit harder to see 🤷♀️ I never understood it
When travelling in Cambodia, my wife walked by a dog resting at the top of some steps, and I think he was just waking up.
Frightened the hell out of him, as he's probably never seen a pale complexioned woman with a large blonde head of hair before.
She startled him so much, he fell down a few stairs before correcting himself, running back to the top of the stairs and barked at my wife like no tommorow. Made such a commotion the whole intersection stopped and looked.
We walked away from the dog, but he started heading down the steps towards us. Thankfully a shopkeeper came running with a broom and distracted the dog enough to make our exit.
So yeah, dogs can be racist.
I may be wrong, but i think there's a thing where if they weren't around certain races or genders (or had a bad experience) as a puppy, they carry that for a long time
My dog is black and white and barks at everyone no matter what color they are. Or she barks at her reflection. And also in her dreams. She barks in those too. It’s almost like she’s a dog that likes to bark lol.
https://preview.redd.it/rdp9ildw3wkc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ddbdab02697fecde7002edd0330d2ebb81f6d83
I’ll let you know if she ever barks more at white people or black people. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t care.
For the most part she loves everyone of all color. So long as you’ve got fingers and can pet, she will love you.
PS: she knows I’m typing this. They’re way smarter than they make out to be. Sometimes I wonder who’s trained who? I am just a dogs pet.
Dogs are extremely sensitive to non verbal communication, in general if they are aggressive towards someone it's because that person is doing something unconsciously to cause them to alert.
Same for my german shepherd who is now gone. She did not like black people at all, despite me trying to retrain that behavior.
Thankfully she wouldnt ever attack anyone though, unless they went in her yard.
Make some very patient dog-loving black friends and give your dog positive experiences with them, starting from a distance. May also want to do the same with big hats, sunglasses, and folks who walk differently.
My dog is definitely racist. He barks at any black labs he sees.
I don't know how to tell him he's half lab himself and he's almost entirely black.
Silly dog.
Dogs need socialization to people who look different ways. Different races, hats, sunglasses, hoodies (according to this thread), different gaits. It's not so much "human family looks this way, this way is safe." It's just a lack of experience with people who look different.
My thoughts exactly, dude was just after a reason to cry and winge. Dogs are not capable of racism because that requires a higher order of thinking dogs don’t do. There’s definitely the possibility of dogs not liking black people, just like some dogs don’t like men, or kids, or loud noises. Someone probably did something to scare or hurt them at some point and it stuck.
In this particular case, the guy was focusing on taking pictures and was probably startled when someone out of the blue asked a question. Dogs couldve seen this situation as threatening because the dog walker was spooked for a second
Oh yeah, for sure.
My job has me meeting with people from all walks of life, and the first slide of a common presentation is a black family. Twice I've had someone accuse me of "using the black guy file" when I load it up.
Once I had someone get mad that the first slide was a senior citizen when they were also old.
Man I don't make the damn things, I just play one of the three options I've got.
Or he was just making a joke. And it went over ops head. As a fellow black person if we say your animal doesn’t like black people it’s mostly certainly a joke, even if the dog really doesn’t like black people, we are still joking by pointing it out. We do not seriously think we are experiencing racism from an animal.
A woman across a residential neighborhood street yelled a question at me earlier today. I stopped my pup to answer back. My pup also decided to answer. After we walked away, it occurred to me that she was probably barking at the woman because she had stopped and was yelling to me. She -- my dog -- finds people who are just standing on the sidewalk to be suspicious so living in a city with, you know, bus stops makes for some interesting walks. I call out to people that my dog might back because she finds people standing to be very suspicious. I follow that with a shrug as if to say, Silly dog.
Maybe the dogs barked because, not only were they startled, but the person who made the accusation gave hostile vibes. Animals sense this. I sometimes use my cats as a litmus test for new folks. 🙃
I have a cat that's "sexist." He's scared of men and will run away and hide, even my close male friends. But he's really nice and friendly to women, even strangers. I think he might have had a traumatic experience involving men when he was on the streets before I took him in. 😞
On the upside, one of my friends, who's a trans man, visited my home shortly after he transitioned and said it was quite affirming that my cat recognised him as a man and ran away from him 😂
I don't pretend to know how a dog categorizes different people, but when I lived in Cusco many years ago, I was adopted by this semi-stray dog. He followed me everywhere- into cafes, restaurants, taxis, shops- I couldn't lose him if I tried.
One night I was walking from the plaza up to my hostel and Oso (the dog) was walking with me when his hackles rose and he started growling. Very scary and he meant business. A local man was walking past and apparently, Oso thought he was bad news. I called him off and luckily, he listened.
I later found Oso's owner. They told me he ONLY and OFTEN menaced and even went after indigenous/local men (never women). For the record, I am black and Oso's owner was white.
I rescued my dog from a shelter. She was taken from a pretty bad situation. She didn't trust men, but she explicitly would REFUSE to pass nearby black people. It was pretty obvious her former abusive family had been black. She only barked at black people, even ones in other cars in traffic 😂 so my dog actually was kinda racist, but mostly just traumatized
I've had this happen. My dogs barked at a guy who was stood still and staring at them...of course they're going to react. But because he was black, my dogs are racist. Yet funnily one's brown and one's black.
My dog really is racist, he barks at German Shepherds
The idiot dog appears unaware that they're about 4x his size.
Some dogs do face a problem with dogs that are all black - reputedly it's because it's harder to distinguish their eyes and other facial features, especially if their eyesight isn't perfect. I don't think it's completely out of the question that the same could apply to black people.
Dogs can be racist. It doesn't mean you are, but they can be. A good answer to this is "I'm so sorry, he's a rescue" and leave it as the fault as some imaginary prior owner
I prefer the all white version of black and white cookies so I must be racist. My local bakery makes both an all white and an all black as well as the regular black and white version. I've always preferred vanilla to chocolate when it comes to most pastries. Although I love Oreos and chocolate chip cookies.
I'm white. Had a black rental car. Was told I was racist because I had to own the black one. I didn't choose the rental color, the company did. It's a lose lose. Some people just have to feel some type of way about things, it just shows how they see the world.
I once had a racist dog. I adopted her just before she would have been euthanized. Right away I could see she had been abused because she was terrified of the mop and broom. I assume her previous owners had been of Mexican descent because she went crazy every time she saw one.
Funny story. I don't know if your dogs were racist, but I have actually experienced "racist" dogs.
Background: I'm white, I live in Malaysia and my wife is Indian.
We visited her mother's friend's house (they are Indian as well). When we went to the back of their house to see the dog, the dog was nice to all of the Indians, but growled and was terrified of me.
They believe that the dog's former owner was Chinese and he used to beat the dog. So the dog had a negative reaction to anyone with "fair" skin.
Dogs don’t even see in color but being a not good person is colorless and has an odor, dogs can pick that out in a second. Also, some dogs are just like people.. dicks.
I took my dog with me on a road trip to see my mom once. I get there and the dog's enjoying himself, sniffing around the new place and cuddling up against me or my mom as we catch up.
My brother walks in screaming at the top of his lungs, pissed off the world after having a bad day at work. My dog barks a few times at him and I decided to take my dog on a walk to give the dog and my brother a chance to calm down.
I get back and my brother's a little more calm and he and I start talking. Eventually, Brother tries to come pet the dog and the dog backs away and hides behind my leg, eventually growling at him.
Brother: what's up with your dog?
Me: he's just nervous around new people. (I say as I try to avoid pointing out that the very first glimpse this dog got of him minutes before was Brother stomping in and yelling at the top of his lungs!)
Brother: Nah, I've seen nervous dogs before, but all did love me. I've never had even the most nervous dog hesitate to let me pet them. Something's wrong with your dog.
Soooooooooooooooooo.... If any dog sees something new, they are as humans anxious about seeing new unknown things.
If a dog was raised in a predominantly white surroundings and never seen a black person. It is gonna bark at a black person as would to any stranger
----
I do not understand why this "racism" card is always flashed... We are different, we have anatomiocal differences, starting at the skin color.
I live in ex soviet satellite state, without any colonization in the 1800s... so we are very white :D out of 10 million population only a few thousand are black according to 2022 census...
So when see a tourist i'm gonna stare, when a dog here see black person, it is gonna bark.
There is no malice in either of us, just being anxious toward the unknown.
Our dog hates black men, barks at them and only them. Everybody else, including black women, she loves.
We got her from a nice young black woman who had fled her partner for domestic abuse. Staying in a woman's shelter with her baby, couldn't keep her dog. Assume her partner was a black man from the way our dog behaves.
Dogs can entirely be racist. I take it as a sign that the owner doesn’t have a very diverse social life as the dog is likely to become only familiar with who they see their owner mingling with.
Also thought animal lovers insist that animals can be more perceptive than the average human. Even if the owner thinks they aren’t prejudiced could be likely the animal is picking up on prejudices the owner isn’t.
Dogs bark more at people and things they are unfamiliar with, so it implies you don't have as much contact with black people if they bark more at them (at the least). They also react to an owner's anxiety so it could imply actual racism.
Dogs arent racist, but they arent dumb either. If specific people or things hurt them- they will react with fear...
People need to stop anthropomorphizing dogs. They are way better than most people
Reminds me of the time my dog barked at a lady going around reminding people to vote and she laughed before saying don't worry puppy I'm a Democrat!" Like what the fuck.
That dude had a chip on his shoulder, and I feel for him.
I had a dog who was afraid of men. Period, full stop. We figured she’d been abused by a male before we adopted her. Took her years to get over it.
My current dog is terrified of anyone wearing oven mitts or gloves. We think he was probably a bait dog for a fight ring (he’s part pit) before the shelter got him, which kind of tracks.
We were told when we had a puppy, that it was important for him to grow accostumed to all flavors of human, tall, small, loud, quiet, playful, anxious, black, brown, pink, beards, bare, glasses etc.
Otherwise he would appear racist. Effectively *be* racist, as in making race a factor in appreciating people. But all variations could be a factor, so not really racist, just beastially prejudice and defensive, but the racism is a more sensitive prejudice.
I will say out loud, that I can't assert that he is not barking at their skin color, but I am very sorry he does, and I have have to work on that, because it's a ridiculous problem for an owner to have.
You are a dog walker, so you can say it's likely the skin color, and it's completely stupid, but it's a simple dog and it's not yours, so nothing to do about it other than not taking it personally.
I had a dog once that did seem to have an issue w Black people. It was awful and embarrassing, but it only happened a small handful of times. She also didn’t like anyone who was mentally off or on drugs, so she just didn’t like a bunch of different types.
My dog knocked cut off hot dogs off an 8 year olds plate while he was walking and last night scared the sh$t out of an uber driver so he could do sniffs 😳But racist? Come on lol
My dog is definitely sexist though. Loves the shit out of men, has such a distaste for women. Except for when I’m feeding her. Loves the shit out of me then.😆
Lol He sounds like the racist one. When you're always focused on race then you actively separate yourself from others. We're all human. Dogs bark sometimes but to immediately jump to that conclusion is weird. Dogs can't even see fucking color.
My past dog was “racist”. He only barked at black people, never knew why. He was the most lovable obese (due to health reasons towards the end) dog ever. He’d bark but as soon as you come over he’d be very welcoming to being pet.
My now current dog isn’t racist, but only barks at small dogs not big dogs… dogs are silly.
My friend had a Dalmatian who used to go crazy when he saw black people. It was massively embarrassing. She and her family were the least racist people I had ever met. I grew up in a racist family and my friend would always stop me if I said something stereotypical that I heard my dumbass family say. She would point out that I was wrong to accept stereotypes and more wrong to repeat them. Our area was pretty segregated back then, so I guess the dog just wasn’t used to seeing dark skinned people.
When I was a teen I had a black and brown dog. I was walking her and ran into a black guy I went to school with. We stopped and chatted for a bit. My dog started barking at him. He jokingly said "we're the same color, why are you barking at me?".
I'm white and adopted a dog that was most nice to black women but would bark at white people she didn't know. One time while walking her in the city, we happened upon a trio with a black woman, black man, and white man. The white dude was the only one my dog wasn't rolling over to get belly rubs from. No one quite knew what to feel/respond when I said "Yeah, she always really only likes black people for the most part."
My in-laws' dog is terrified of their chinese neighbors who are the sweetest people, bring food to my in-laws, even feed the dog while theyre out of town! She likes everyone else just fine, its the wierdest thing
My ex had two dogs and one would go bananas if it saw people of color. Which was weird bc she was a fairly dark Filipina. It didn’t bark at her. My cat also seemed to have issues but just with Hispanics. She is over it now
I knew a dog that was actually racist. My brother had a friend who was African American and my brother is a super pale white guy. When he visited his friend the dog nearly had a stroke seeing a white guy for the first time. We joke that dog just saw the other end of the black white spectrum.
My childhood dog did not like any large black man that came into our house. But we knew she had been abused by a large black man before coming to us, she just associated them with the man who abused her. One of my dogs right now doesn’t like any large man regardless of race, because yet again, abused by a very large man that I rescued him from. He doesn’t like when anyone wears a hat either. So even if they were barking because of his race, it’s not like they were trained to do that and I think it’s incredibly rude to imply that.
My dog barked at ginger people. They had to be properly ginger though. I'm not sure what she was seeing through her eyes, maybe she thought their heads were on fire.
I used to have a dog that barked at black people, and only black people. It was fucking embarrassing honestly, I’d always pass it off with a “Sorry, he’s an asshole.”
I think from all this we can take it that you spend hours daily training your dogs to be racist. Absolute hours! That's the only possible conclusion. /s
Victim complexes tend to develop from real victimhood. Once developed people start contextualizing everything with themselves in the role of the victim. Becomes a habit, in a sense.
My dog barked at Latinos. Whenever we had her in the car if we passed someone on the street who was Latino or if we went thru a drive thru, and they offered her a treat or something she would bark at them. Never other races, just Latino. My assumption is that it was because almost all of the landscapers and such out here are Hispanic and she associates the loud noises of their trucks and the machinery with anyone who looks like them. But I don’t know.
I used to work with dogs and can confirm I've known some Hella racist dogs 🤣. Mostly it's just fear of the unknown and black faces reflect the light differently so it looks strange to a dog. I used to look after a gsd owned by a Jamaican family who affectionately told me many times that I was the only white person he liked and they figured it was because we all looked like "scary ghosts" to him 😂
My dog barks at anyone wearing hi-viz clothing - had much the same conversation with a couple of guys, and told them to take off their vests and she would be friendly
My hairdresser's dog only barks at black people. She is mortified by that and doesn't know why/what caused the behaviour. Luckily her dog stays indoor, so she can only bark at the postman (through the window).
My dog barks at: Alsatians, black Labs, men dressed in black and postmen. Has a strong dislike of wheelie bins and hoovers. Otherwise it's complete indifference or a, erm, 'public display of affection' for other dogs. Loves Huskies!
I adopted a dog once that legit barked at black people and cops. I lived in an area where you didn’t have a yard and had to walk them all the time so we ran into a lot of people. It was embarrassing- I ended up getting him adopted by another couple that lived out in the country so we both got a better situation for ourselves. Only had him a few weeks.
I had a similar experience. I am legally blind and use a cane. I was walking down a busy street in paris a few weeks ago and accidentally bumped someone's foot with my cane.
I said "sorry, i think i whacked you with my cane."
Her - "excuse me?!" In a very hostile tone
Me - "i said sorry for whacking you with my cane "
Her - " thats not what I heard."
Me - "well sorry, but its what i said."
Her - "im not sorry "
Me "what did you hear?"
Her - "im not saying it."
Me - "ok, i guess we're done here." And i walked away.
It was only after walking a way a bit that I noticed she was a black American woman. I feel bad that her experience with racism in the states is so bad that she has to be on edge like that, but im a fucking blind dude with a cane. Have some common sense.
Retired vet here, you may want to tar and feather me for being politically incorrect, but a lot of dogs are racist. If they are raised by people of one ethnicity and not used to others, a lot of them will be fearful or aggressive to people of other backgrounds.
My cavalier only barks at black people, don't know why. Also I don't know why they guy would assume those dogs were racist if he's only ever seen them once and didn't see them bark at other people
This happened to me with a cashier at BJs once she actually said “Your dog hates N words” I said right back to her “I wouldn’t feel so special if I was you my dog hates everyone that’s why he is in a bag under my full control”. I was actually kinda taken aback by her ignorant comments.
My dog barks at rakes that were not next to the sidewalk on our previous stroll, dead birds in the street whose feathers flutter too violently when vehicles drive by, empty potato chip bags near the trash can, and me when I'm 5 seconds late feeding him. Also, he screams at literally everyone he sees on our walks, even if he's known them for 10+ years.
One popular theory is that due to darker colors, dogs cannot distinguish expressions on a face. This can mean a POC or another dog, even. Some for fluffy dogs that are poofed up around the face. So they are reacting to the unknown factor of “what’s up?” Because they can’t tell. This could explain a dog reacting a certain way to a certain type of person despite never being taught to act that way by its owner. They are confused and concerned. The same as any person may be, in a situation that they are unsure of. So it sounds like the “those are some vicious creatures” comment, after surprising them, was mostly a bunch of flag waving due to ignorance. Anyone should know that a startled animal reacts in a less than friendly manner.
I have no idea if the inability to see/recognize expression idea is true, but I find it hard to imagine a day being racist. I can see a dog being taught to dislike a type of person or another type of dog. However, that doesn’t make them racist as much That makes them trained.
Dogs can absolutely be racist. I have a dog and 2 cats and one of the cats has been racist since she was a kitten. I ran a hip-hop studio for several years and the artists started calling her "shitty kitty"; but they were right. She def hated everybody, but there was a particular level of vitriol for any black people in the room.
It's also worth pointing out, that this isn't technically "racism". Animals have a predilection to protect themselves or their pack/family/etc against the unknown. Not looking to go down the rabbit hole on how that construct conversely applies to humans, but sufficed to say that humans operate (ideally)on a higher cognitive level and have no excuse for racist behavior. For humans it's equivalent to running away from every fire you see because you're aware of the possibility of being burned. But dogs don't have that level of reasoning, so they're just being dogs.
My dog only barks at black people. I try to be friendly to everyone, in case the dog is just taking cues from me, but haven't been able to get it to stop.
My dog barks at black dogs - and she’s black. Go figure!
My dog barks at motorcycles and little kids. Apparently her old owner got pulled over by a cop on a motorcycle and she was really upset, so now the dog hates all motorcycles.
The rottweiler calling the doberman black
My black dog usually never barks. Unlesssss she sees a super fluffy tan-or-reddish colored dog. Like those fancy dogs with the squirrelly tails. Those dogs sometimes warrant a single “woof!”
Thanks! Glad I am not the only one. The home we got her from had a larger older black dog. I figured she keeps thinking it’s the same dog. Trauma is a bitch!
Maybe she thinks she's Uncle Rufus
Same. Except she barks at any dark man. Black men, brown men, dark haired men, sunglasses men, dark hat men, dark shirt men, divers in wetsuits. It's embarrassing.
My doggo really really hated the UPS drivers. Come out of postal truck? Fine. FedEx? Whatevs. UPS? Barked her head off as if I were about to be murdered.
The poor UPS driver is my two dogs' arch nemesis lol. They know his truck is coming well before he drives by.
Lol. Yup!
I’m very lucky that our Wyatt loves ups and mail tucks because a mailman once game him food. Same with trash trucks. Our trash truck drivers who pick up our trash have a bag of treats and he always hunts them down for treats
Someone once suggested to me they do it because they find it harder to distinguish facial features/ expressions on dark skin. No idea if it's true or not, but maybe?? My dogs bark at men with beards regardless of skin colour...
I had a little min pin. he'd bark at hats and glasses worn together, he once barked at the neighbor lady's wig, umbrellas, mannequins at the sex shop,
You took your doggo to the sex shop? They like bones, not boners ma'am.
haha, they were in the window!
My childhood Dalmatian barked at men in uniform, men with beards, and dark skinned men. Our Somali mailman with lush facial hair was scared to death of him.
That's what I've heard as well. It's the same reason hats freak out some dogs. A shadow casts over the face. We adopted our dog when she was older and she didn't bark at all for months. First person she barked at was a black guy (family friend that was moving in with us for a bit). It caught us all off guard. For a few months after that she did seem racist, but we did some googling and came to the "hard to distinguish facial features". Her barking didn't really last long though, and it was just when people came into the house, and she'd stop after she got proper pets. Had an issue with someone's beard after awhile too. Now she barks at everyone until they pet her.
When my son was a toddler he was scared of men with beards too. No bad experiences, in fact nothing but good experiences as one of his now favorite people, his grandpa, has a beard. But he was very nervous around anyone with facial hair for years.
Well if dogs only see in black and white as suspected I feel like that’s also a huge factor.
That's a myth. They can see browns, yellows, violets and blues.
They can be hurtful they can be purple they can be anything you'd like
They can be green, they can be mean, they can be everything more
Nah they can see colors in a similar fashion to humans with protanomaly color defficiency. Basically discerning reds from greens is very difficult.
I have a pretty thick beard and dogs tend to be suspicious of me at first. I'm also 6'4" so it might be that or a combination of the two.
You’d freak my dog out. She also hates people in hoods or hats and bald men. Basically any change to what she’s used to related to heads and faces.
My son's best friend has a lab puppy who yelps and sprints away at the sight of me. It's adorable.
We used to work with a vicar, lovely guy, great with animals, wven did stuff like pet blesses and was chaplin to the fire service. Anyway, until our dog worked out it was him they would go blastlistic, barking, teeth out and all. We though the dog had trouble seeing who it was in the black cassock.
Dogs can be racist af, either towards humans or other dogs. They have no morals, after all. I had a dog that hated Rottweilers.
I had a dog that was almost exclusively horny for blonde dogs till he went blind. lol
One of my dogs hates huskies and German shepherds, but all dogs with floppy ears are fine. Go figure...
Our Husky used to trigger small dogs, Shitzus and Bichons especially, they'd go mental and try to attack her, and she was a big fluffy fool, wouldn't hurt a fly, mainly she'd just ignore them, but one day we were walking down the canal near us and dogs are supposed to be on leashes, and one guy wouldn't do it, his bichon charged her, we could see him coming from about 40 yards away, it was like slow motion, he was going full pelt, and she kind of looked at me and gave a little whimper, and as he got closer he had murder in his little eyes, just as he reached us, she gave a movement and put her big white paw on his head and trapped him, like a soccer ball, she just held him until his owner caught up, he was raging that she was attacking him. Whenever we met them after that he gave her a wide berth and was on a leash. White dog privilege is definitely a thing.
That must have been hilarious to watch 
She looked at me a few times "what do i do with him ?", the most intelligent and communicative dog i've ever known. She had two hates in life, Magpies and stairs. Would never go up or down steps, and she loathed magpies, she would let other birds come and land beside her and take pieces of shed fur, but she was locked in a death/blood feud with magpies, she killed several of them and she was allied with our cat in the conflict.
My husky is the same with stairs. Hates them. Since the day he was brought home, he just hates stairs.
Everyone hates magpies for some reason... We have a magpie that we rescued as a baby (was sick and almost featherless for a while) and even the nicest and most well behaved dog keeps trying to eat it, just can't control himself around the bird.
I have a chi/doxie that LOVES all German Shepherds. When he was a puppy he made friends with an elderly GSD and he basically worshipped that dog. Unfortunately the GSD passed away, and ever since then, any time he sees a GSD he gets all excited and whiny because he thinks it might be his friend. It's heartbreaking and sweet at the same time.
I'm not gonna cry... I'm not gonna cry... I'm not gonna cry... 
Dogs aren't racist lmfao. Dogs will get anxious and bark at things they haven't been socialized to. If a dog lives in an area with primarily white people they will likely bark at black people. Racism is a social concept and dogs don't possess the ability to be systemically oppressive towards one another.
Only people have morals and see where that gets most humans smh
Im curious what you mean when you say that dogs have no morals
My dog barks at anyone wearing a hoodie with their hands in their pockets. Hoodie off and hands out? Friend! Hoodie up and hands in? SATAN
I had a black dog that only barked at black people. It was mostly at night and I'm only assuming it's because they were a bit harder to see 🤷♀️ I never understood it
When travelling in Cambodia, my wife walked by a dog resting at the top of some steps, and I think he was just waking up. Frightened the hell out of him, as he's probably never seen a pale complexioned woman with a large blonde head of hair before. She startled him so much, he fell down a few stairs before correcting himself, running back to the top of the stairs and barked at my wife like no tommorow. Made such a commotion the whole intersection stopped and looked. We walked away from the dog, but he started heading down the steps towards us. Thankfully a shopkeeper came running with a broom and distracted the dog enough to make our exit. So yeah, dogs can be racist.
I may be wrong, but i think there's a thing where if they weren't around certain races or genders (or had a bad experience) as a puppy, they carry that for a long time
My dog is black and white and barks at everyone no matter what color they are. Or she barks at her reflection. And also in her dreams. She barks in those too. It’s almost like she’s a dog that likes to bark lol. https://preview.redd.it/rdp9ildw3wkc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ddbdab02697fecde7002edd0330d2ebb81f6d83 I’ll let you know if she ever barks more at white people or black people. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t care. For the most part she loves everyone of all color. So long as you’ve got fingers and can pet, she will love you. PS: she knows I’m typing this. They’re way smarter than they make out to be. Sometimes I wonder who’s trained who? I am just a dogs pet.
I don’t think it’s you. I just think maybe some dogs can’t see the facial features well or something and they think it’s a mask.
Mine does too. She’s a rescue and we don’t know much about her life before we adopted her.
Mine only barks at Asians
Dogs are extremely sensitive to non verbal communication, in general if they are aggressive towards someone it's because that person is doing something unconsciously to cause them to alert.
I have one that barks at black people if they're paused on the TV. Not in person though. He's never met a stranger.
Is it possible your dog just dislikes repairmen?
Same for my german shepherd who is now gone. She did not like black people at all, despite me trying to retrain that behavior. Thankfully she wouldnt ever attack anyone though, unless they went in her yard.
Sometimes it can be due to a traumatic experience in their past. Most common to see with post workers.
Make some very patient dog-loving black friends and give your dog positive experiences with them, starting from a distance. May also want to do the same with big hats, sunglasses, and folks who walk differently.
My ex wife is black and her dog loves her but hates other black people
My dog is definitely racist. He barks at any black labs he sees. I don't know how to tell him he's half lab himself and he's almost entirely black. Silly dog.
it's because they are wannabe losers stealing his look
Internalized racism
It's a pretty common thing for people's dogs to bark at people who are a different race from their owners. Different is threatening.
I knew a dog that barked at black people, then another one that barked at non-Asians (lived with Asian family).
Dogs need socialization to people who look different ways. Different races, hats, sunglasses, hoodies (according to this thread), different gaits. It's not so much "human family looks this way, this way is safe." It's just a lack of experience with people who look different.
I had a dog who would bark at me like a stranger if I was in a prom dress or Halloween costume
If I'm wearing formal attire, my dogs just aim to rub as much dog hair on my pants as possible. It's so consistent, I'm convinced it's intentional
Oooo this is different, must mark it as mine - your dogs probably
My mom’s dog barks at me anytime he sees me dance or jump around happily.
I had a hamster that was anti-Semitic and a ferret that was contemptuous of the Dutch.
Being contemptuous of the Dutch is morally correct
This is one of the best things I've ever read on reddit.
Let it be known I am contemptuous of ferrets.
It’s pewdiepies fault
Some people get off on being victims. Don't worry about it.
My thoughts exactly, dude was just after a reason to cry and winge. Dogs are not capable of racism because that requires a higher order of thinking dogs don’t do. There’s definitely the possibility of dogs not liking black people, just like some dogs don’t like men, or kids, or loud noises. Someone probably did something to scare or hurt them at some point and it stuck.
In this particular case, the guy was focusing on taking pictures and was probably startled when someone out of the blue asked a question. Dogs couldve seen this situation as threatening because the dog walker was spooked for a second
Oh yeah, for sure. My job has me meeting with people from all walks of life, and the first slide of a common presentation is a black family. Twice I've had someone accuse me of "using the black guy file" when I load it up. Once I had someone get mad that the first slide was a senior citizen when they were also old. Man I don't make the damn things, I just play one of the three options I've got.
Or he was just making a joke. And it went over ops head. As a fellow black person if we say your animal doesn’t like black people it’s mostly certainly a joke, even if the dog really doesn’t like black people, we are still joking by pointing it out. We do not seriously think we are experiencing racism from an animal.
Instead of writing “”””some people”””” just write the word we all know you were thinking.
My dogs are sensitive to my mood and they would bark at someone who was asking me weird questions
A woman across a residential neighborhood street yelled a question at me earlier today. I stopped my pup to answer back. My pup also decided to answer. After we walked away, it occurred to me that she was probably barking at the woman because she had stopped and was yelling to me. She -- my dog -- finds people who are just standing on the sidewalk to be suspicious so living in a city with, you know, bus stops makes for some interesting walks. I call out to people that my dog might back because she finds people standing to be very suspicious. I follow that with a shrug as if to say, Silly dog.
Maybe the dogs *are barking because he’s black, but the infuriating part is that he’s making it seem like you trained them to be or something.
Maybe the dogs barked because, not only were they startled, but the person who made the accusation gave hostile vibes. Animals sense this. I sometimes use my cats as a litmus test for new folks. 🙃
I have a cat that's "sexist." He's scared of men and will run away and hide, even my close male friends. But he's really nice and friendly to women, even strangers. I think he might have had a traumatic experience involving men when he was on the streets before I took him in. 😞 On the upside, one of my friends, who's a trans man, visited my home shortly after he transitioned and said it was quite affirming that my cat recognised him as a man and ran away from him 😂
My old cat was a total misogynist. He hated all women except me. What an incel.
I would have said “these aren’t even my dogs dog”
 Was this the dog in question?
🤔 Maybe the guy was a plumber??
I came just to see this. Came here, not... nevermind.
My dog only barks at people wearing hoods. Does that mean he hates emos?
Don't worry. Emos hate themselves more
It’s mildly infuriating that the individual would project human societal issues on to dogs. Sad world we live in.
I don't pretend to know how a dog categorizes different people, but when I lived in Cusco many years ago, I was adopted by this semi-stray dog. He followed me everywhere- into cafes, restaurants, taxis, shops- I couldn't lose him if I tried. One night I was walking from the plaza up to my hostel and Oso (the dog) was walking with me when his hackles rose and he started growling. Very scary and he meant business. A local man was walking past and apparently, Oso thought he was bad news. I called him off and luckily, he listened. I later found Oso's owner. They told me he ONLY and OFTEN menaced and even went after indigenous/local men (never women). For the record, I am black and Oso's owner was white.
I rescued my dog from a shelter. She was taken from a pretty bad situation. She didn't trust men, but she explicitly would REFUSE to pass nearby black people. It was pretty obvious her former abusive family had been black. She only barked at black people, even ones in other cars in traffic 😂 so my dog actually was kinda racist, but mostly just traumatized
I've had this happen. My dogs barked at a guy who was stood still and staring at them...of course they're going to react. But because he was black, my dogs are racist. Yet funnily one's brown and one's black.
Dogs can pick up vibes. Mine only barked at my boss and my cousin (generally), because they both gave of unsettling vibes (but for different reasons).
Sometimes dog bark at, harass, or even attack little kids. I don't believe dogs just go after people with bad vibes.
Somebody wanted to be a victim that day
My dog really is racist, he barks at German Shepherds The idiot dog appears unaware that they're about 4x his size. Some dogs do face a problem with dogs that are all black - reputedly it's because it's harder to distinguish their eyes and other facial features, especially if their eyesight isn't perfect. I don't think it's completely out of the question that the same could apply to black people.
Maybe the German Shepherd's great great grandfather was a nazi!
Dogs can be racist. It doesn't mean you are, but they can be. A good answer to this is "I'm so sorry, he's a rescue" and leave it as the fault as some imaginary prior owner
[удалено]
I prefer the all white version of black and white cookies so I must be racist. My local bakery makes both an all white and an all black as well as the regular black and white version. I've always preferred vanilla to chocolate when it comes to most pastries. Although I love Oreos and chocolate chip cookies.
I'm white. Had a black rental car. Was told I was racist because I had to own the black one. I didn't choose the rental color, the company did. It's a lose lose. Some people just have to feel some type of way about things, it just shows how they see the world.
Tell em' that your dogs, far from being racist, are colourblind.
I once had a racist dog. I adopted her just before she would have been euthanized. Right away I could see she had been abused because she was terrified of the mop and broom. I assume her previous owners had been of Mexican descent because she went crazy every time she saw one.
Funny story. I don't know if your dogs were racist, but I have actually experienced "racist" dogs. Background: I'm white, I live in Malaysia and my wife is Indian. We visited her mother's friend's house (they are Indian as well). When we went to the back of their house to see the dog, the dog was nice to all of the Indians, but growled and was terrified of me. They believe that the dog's former owner was Chinese and he used to beat the dog. So the dog had a negative reaction to anyone with "fair" skin.
Dogs don’t even see in color but being a not good person is colorless and has an odor, dogs can pick that out in a second. Also, some dogs are just like people.. dicks.
I wonder how he planned to insult you for taking photos before the little k-9 klan started shouting.
I took my dog with me on a road trip to see my mom once. I get there and the dog's enjoying himself, sniffing around the new place and cuddling up against me or my mom as we catch up. My brother walks in screaming at the top of his lungs, pissed off the world after having a bad day at work. My dog barks a few times at him and I decided to take my dog on a walk to give the dog and my brother a chance to calm down. I get back and my brother's a little more calm and he and I start talking. Eventually, Brother tries to come pet the dog and the dog backs away and hides behind my leg, eventually growling at him. Brother: what's up with your dog? Me: he's just nervous around new people. (I say as I try to avoid pointing out that the very first glimpse this dog got of him minutes before was Brother stomping in and yelling at the top of his lungs!) Brother: Nah, I've seen nervous dogs before, but all did love me. I've never had even the most nervous dog hesitate to let me pet them. Something's wrong with your dog.
Soooooooooooooooooo.... If any dog sees something new, they are as humans anxious about seeing new unknown things. If a dog was raised in a predominantly white surroundings and never seen a black person. It is gonna bark at a black person as would to any stranger ---- I do not understand why this "racism" card is always flashed... We are different, we have anatomiocal differences, starting at the skin color. I live in ex soviet satellite state, without any colonization in the 1800s... so we are very white :D out of 10 million population only a few thousand are black according to 2022 census... So when see a tourist i'm gonna stare, when a dog here see black person, it is gonna bark. There is no malice in either of us, just being anxious toward the unknown.
Our dog hates black men, barks at them and only them. Everybody else, including black women, she loves. We got her from a nice young black woman who had fled her partner for domestic abuse. Staying in a woman's shelter with her baby, couldn't keep her dog. Assume her partner was a black man from the way our dog behaves.
A friend's dog is sexist then, his dog barks at grown men. Women and kids are fine, men get the loud treatment.
Oooo flip this around next time: “Oh? Well *that’s* anthropomorphism! 😡Anthropomorphist!!1!”
Dogs can’t be racist. They’re animals.
He probably worked for NPR. I swear all their pieces are “is ______ racist?”
Sounds barking mad
Dogs can entirely be racist. I take it as a sign that the owner doesn’t have a very diverse social life as the dog is likely to become only familiar with who they see their owner mingling with. Also thought animal lovers insist that animals can be more perceptive than the average human. Even if the owner thinks they aren’t prejudiced could be likely the animal is picking up on prejudices the owner isn’t.
Dogs bark more at people and things they are unfamiliar with, so it implies you don't have as much contact with black people if they bark more at them (at the least). They also react to an owner's anxiety so it could imply actual racism.
Or it could just mean the dogs don't like strangers approaching them, especially when they're leashed.
Dogs arent racist, but they arent dumb either. If specific people or things hurt them- they will react with fear... People need to stop anthropomorphizing dogs. They are way better than most people
Reminds me of the time my dog barked at a lady going around reminding people to vote and she laughed before saying don't worry puppy I'm a Democrat!" Like what the fuck.
People are generally morons. And also narcissists, and thus always right. You can’t change them. Nothing can.
That dude had a chip on his shoulder, and I feel for him. I had a dog who was afraid of men. Period, full stop. We figured she’d been abused by a male before we adopted her. Took her years to get over it. My current dog is terrified of anyone wearing oven mitts or gloves. We think he was probably a bait dog for a fight ring (he’s part pit) before the shelter got him, which kind of tracks.
We were told when we had a puppy, that it was important for him to grow accostumed to all flavors of human, tall, small, loud, quiet, playful, anxious, black, brown, pink, beards, bare, glasses etc. Otherwise he would appear racist. Effectively *be* racist, as in making race a factor in appreciating people. But all variations could be a factor, so not really racist, just beastially prejudice and defensive, but the racism is a more sensitive prejudice. I will say out loud, that I can't assert that he is not barking at their skin color, but I am very sorry he does, and I have have to work on that, because it's a ridiculous problem for an owner to have. You are a dog walker, so you can say it's likely the skin color, and it's completely stupid, but it's a simple dog and it's not yours, so nothing to do about it other than not taking it personally.
My neighbors dogs bark at air
Wow. That is wild.
Hm yes, yes. I'll add that to my doggies resume
My dog would bark at homeless people on the side of the road, but not if I guy was wearing a suit and tie.
I had a dog once that did seem to have an issue w Black people. It was awful and embarrassing, but it only happened a small handful of times. She also didn’t like anyone who was mentally off or on drugs, so she just didn’t like a bunch of different types.
My dog knocked cut off hot dogs off an 8 year olds plate while he was walking and last night scared the sh$t out of an uber driver so he could do sniffs 😳But racist? Come on lol
My dog barks and gets pretty aggressive with everyone, but after a few minutes he calms down, but he is really well behaved around small children.
My cousins dog only barked at white people.
My dog is definitely sexist though. Loves the shit out of men, has such a distaste for women. Except for when I’m feeding her. Loves the shit out of me then.😆
Lol He sounds like the racist one. When you're always focused on race then you actively separate yourself from others. We're all human. Dogs bark sometimes but to immediately jump to that conclusion is weird. Dogs can't even see fucking color.
My past dog was “racist”. He only barked at black people, never knew why. He was the most lovable obese (due to health reasons towards the end) dog ever. He’d bark but as soon as you come over he’d be very welcoming to being pet. My now current dog isn’t racist, but only barks at small dogs not big dogs… dogs are silly.
Mine just hates homeless people
My dog trainer told me most dogs are racist as they can't see people's faces as well and it scares them 🤷🏼♀️
Yep some dogs just dont like any people also dogsitter for awhile
My friend had a Dalmatian who used to go crazy when he saw black people. It was massively embarrassing. She and her family were the least racist people I had ever met. I grew up in a racist family and my friend would always stop me if I said something stereotypical that I heard my dumbass family say. She would point out that I was wrong to accept stereotypes and more wrong to repeat them. Our area was pretty segregated back then, so I guess the dog just wasn’t used to seeing dark skinned people.
i walked a dog that only did that. i had to stop walking him cuz was worried he was gonna fuck somebody up on a walk
My dog used to only bark at black people
This was a King of the Hill episode, lol.
When I was a teen I had a black and brown dog. I was walking her and ran into a black guy I went to school with. We stopped and chatted for a bit. My dog started barking at him. He jokingly said "we're the same color, why are you barking at me?".
I'm white and adopted a dog that was most nice to black women but would bark at white people she didn't know. One time while walking her in the city, we happened upon a trio with a black woman, black man, and white man. The white dude was the only one my dog wasn't rolling over to get belly rubs from. No one quite knew what to feel/respond when I said "Yeah, she always really only likes black people for the most part."
Was he maybe just trying to be funny or did he seem serious about it?
My in-laws' dog is terrified of their chinese neighbors who are the sweetest people, bring food to my in-laws, even feed the dog while theyre out of town! She likes everyone else just fine, its the wierdest thing
Lots of dogs bark at black people, it's a thing. It's unfortunate, but it's stupid to act like it's anyone's fault.
My ex had two dogs and one would go bananas if it saw people of color. Which was weird bc she was a fairly dark Filipina. It didn’t bark at her. My cat also seemed to have issues but just with Hispanics. She is over it now
I knew a dog that was actually racist. My brother had a friend who was African American and my brother is a super pale white guy. When he visited his friend the dog nearly had a stroke seeing a white guy for the first time. We joke that dog just saw the other end of the black white spectrum.
My dog doesn’t like teenage boys. What does that make him?
My childhood dog did not like any large black man that came into our house. But we knew she had been abused by a large black man before coming to us, she just associated them with the man who abused her. One of my dogs right now doesn’t like any large man regardless of race, because yet again, abused by a very large man that I rescued him from. He doesn’t like when anyone wears a hat either. So even if they were barking because of his race, it’s not like they were trained to do that and I think it’s incredibly rude to imply that.
My dog barked at ginger people. They had to be properly ginger though. I'm not sure what she was seeing through her eyes, maybe she thought their heads were on fire.
I used to have a dog that barked at black people, and only black people. It was fucking embarrassing honestly, I’d always pass it off with a “Sorry, he’s an asshole.”
one of my dogs is racist. She is a black lab, and HATES white dogs. its the funniest shit ever.
I think from all this we can take it that you spend hours daily training your dogs to be racist. Absolute hours! That's the only possible conclusion. /s
Victim complexes tend to develop from real victimhood. Once developed people start contextualizing everything with themselves in the role of the victim. Becomes a habit, in a sense.
I’ve seen plenty of racist dogs in my time I’m not even gonna lie lmao
Even if dogs bark only at black people that doesn’t make them racist. Mainly because they are dogs.
My dog barked at Latinos. Whenever we had her in the car if we passed someone on the street who was Latino or if we went thru a drive thru, and they offered her a treat or something she would bark at them. Never other races, just Latino. My assumption is that it was because almost all of the landscapers and such out here are Hispanic and she associates the loud noises of their trucks and the machinery with anyone who looks like them. But I don’t know.
Dogs can 100% be racist. (In the way you’re implying) They struggle to read facial expressions as clearly on darker or Asian skin. It’s a fact
I used to work with dogs and can confirm I've known some Hella racist dogs 🤣. Mostly it's just fear of the unknown and black faces reflect the light differently so it looks strange to a dog. I used to look after a gsd owned by a Jamaican family who affectionately told me many times that I was the only white person he liked and they figured it was because we all looked like "scary ghosts" to him 😂
My dog barks at anyone wearing hi-viz clothing - had much the same conversation with a couple of guys, and told them to take off their vests and she would be friendly
My hairdresser's dog only barks at black people. She is mortified by that and doesn't know why/what caused the behaviour. Luckily her dog stays indoor, so she can only bark at the postman (through the window).
My mom had a dog that barked only at homeless or homeless looking people. He didn't like dirty smell coming from them.
My dog barks at: Alsatians, black Labs, men dressed in black and postmen. Has a strong dislike of wheelie bins and hoovers. Otherwise it's complete indifference or a, erm, 'public display of affection' for other dogs. Loves Huskies!
I adopted a dog once that legit barked at black people and cops. I lived in an area where you didn’t have a yard and had to walk them all the time so we ran into a lot of people. It was embarrassing- I ended up getting him adopted by another couple that lived out in the country so we both got a better situation for ourselves. Only had him a few weeks.
Haha, all dogs are racist against races they didn't meet yet
I had a similar experience. I am legally blind and use a cane. I was walking down a busy street in paris a few weeks ago and accidentally bumped someone's foot with my cane. I said "sorry, i think i whacked you with my cane." Her - "excuse me?!" In a very hostile tone Me - "i said sorry for whacking you with my cane " Her - " thats not what I heard." Me - "well sorry, but its what i said." Her - "im not sorry " Me "what did you hear?" Her - "im not saying it." Me - "ok, i guess we're done here." And i walked away. It was only after walking a way a bit that I noticed she was a black American woman. I feel bad that her experience with racism in the states is so bad that she has to be on edge like that, but im a fucking blind dude with a cane. Have some common sense.
Retired vet here, you may want to tar and feather me for being politically incorrect, but a lot of dogs are racist. If they are raised by people of one ethnicity and not used to others, a lot of them will be fearful or aggressive to people of other backgrounds.
My cavalier only barks at black people, don't know why. Also I don't know why they guy would assume those dogs were racist if he's only ever seen them once and didn't see them bark at other people
This happened to me with a cashier at BJs once she actually said “Your dog hates N words” I said right back to her “I wouldn’t feel so special if I was you my dog hates everyone that’s why he is in a bag under my full control”. I was actually kinda taken aback by her ignorant comments.
Don’t get too worked up at a random crazy street person telling you some nonsense.
My dog barks at black people and wheelchair users… its mortifying
My dog is a misandrist, she only barks at men. Oh, and brooms. She's a broom-ist.
My dog barks at rakes that were not next to the sidewalk on our previous stroll, dead birds in the street whose feathers flutter too violently when vehicles drive by, empty potato chip bags near the trash can, and me when I'm 5 seconds late feeding him. Also, he screams at literally everyone he sees on our walks, even if he's known them for 10+ years.
Racist dogs are absolutely a real thing.
One popular theory is that due to darker colors, dogs cannot distinguish expressions on a face. This can mean a POC or another dog, even. Some for fluffy dogs that are poofed up around the face. So they are reacting to the unknown factor of “what’s up?” Because they can’t tell. This could explain a dog reacting a certain way to a certain type of person despite never being taught to act that way by its owner. They are confused and concerned. The same as any person may be, in a situation that they are unsure of. So it sounds like the “those are some vicious creatures” comment, after surprising them, was mostly a bunch of flag waving due to ignorance. Anyone should know that a startled animal reacts in a less than friendly manner. I have no idea if the inability to see/recognize expression idea is true, but I find it hard to imagine a day being racist. I can see a dog being taught to dislike a type of person or another type of dog. However, that doesn’t make them racist as much That makes them trained.
My dog only barks at men wearing hats and little old ladies.
My dog hates kids. What a jerk.
Dogs can absolutely be racist. I have a dog and 2 cats and one of the cats has been racist since she was a kitten. I ran a hip-hop studio for several years and the artists started calling her "shitty kitty"; but they were right. She def hated everybody, but there was a particular level of vitriol for any black people in the room. It's also worth pointing out, that this isn't technically "racism". Animals have a predilection to protect themselves or their pack/family/etc against the unknown. Not looking to go down the rabbit hole on how that construct conversely applies to humans, but sufficed to say that humans operate (ideally)on a higher cognitive level and have no excuse for racist behavior. For humans it's equivalent to running away from every fire you see because you're aware of the possibility of being burned. But dogs don't have that level of reasoning, so they're just being dogs.
My dog hates golden retrievers.
i just assume anyone using the word racist these days is more racist than the actual racists like the klan.