How do we sort this one out?

MrsElle

MrsElle

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Terror pup has just turned 4 months old and is great. He is the least energetic JRT I have ever known. He is a bit timid with situations he isn't used to but his confidence will prove I'm sure.

Now for the problem. He doesn't like black people. If he spots one on TV he will run up to the TV and growl at it. He has seen one black person in real life, at quite a distance, and sat down staring at the lady intently and growling.

In an ideal world I would get a black person to feed him treats and fuss him, but where we live everyone is white. I have black family members but they live some distance away and I only see them a couple of times a year, so that is no good.

Any suggestions?

He is a bit of a wimp and doesn't like anything that isn't where it shouldn't be. Huge tractors with attachments rumbling past just a few feet away are fine as he is used to them. A bale of straw appearing on the drive, the scariest thing ever!
 
Ok, that's the first time I've ever heard of a racist dog! Lol!

Erm, I'm afraid I can't help really, but will watch this thread with interest.
 
When I lived in the desert, in Australia, white peoples dogs tended not to like the aborigines and the aborigines dogs didn't like us! That was done on smell and body language though, it is odd to do it visually. Our lab didn't used to like people wearing hi viz, but although we never made any huge effort to fix it she just grew out of it as she matured and got more sensible - I think you might have to hope for that!
 
I've known one racist dog before but it had racist owners (not saying you are, it sounds more like it's a 'different' face and that's scary with him). Said dog was trained to bark at and intimidate people of various ethnic groups (was a big GSD).

Not sure how you would fix it besides getting him to meet lots of different people.
 
I think I am just going to hope he grows out of it. We really do live in an area where to see a non white face is a very rare occurance. He is a bit of a wimp in general, but hopefully he will get braver and more accepting in time. We do try to take him out into the big wide world as much as possible, but we live and work on a 5000 acre estate, so it's all too easy to walk here and not go out into civilisation!
 
I have a racist dog. God, it's embarrassing. He's a huge black lab and if he spots someone not white he goes mad. It's bizarre because I have a dog from the Caribbean who was very racist when we lived there but now wags his tail with glee (and offers up his incredibly effeminate (oh God, does that make me prejudiced?) bark of welcome) if he sees the Afro-Caribbean girl and her family who live in the village. Whilst my black lab spends his time growling. Given that I'm from Africa and spent 5 years living in the Caribbean, I don't think I can be counted as racist.

I can only think it's down to the way dogs see the faces and interpret body language and perhaps see eyes in faces. And given my Coconut Retriever's (over)familiarity, maybe it's an exposure issue?
 
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My brothers Westie he lost last year was a racist pooch, they had 15 very embarrassing years of it. He used to react terribly to black faces in real life and on TV and no amount of training ever resolved it. He used to react the same to monkeys and bears etc on TV so we assumed maybe he couldn’t read facial expressions or something - no idea really but clearly he wasn’t as unique as we thought.
 
It's hard if you live in a predominantly white area and hardly see any black people. Obviously the more black people he saw the more one would hope he'd get used to it, but doesn't sound like that's going to happen.

You could always send him down to London to stay with me for a month, that should get him used to all ethnicities! And no, I'm not racist, my daughter is mixed race!
 
Oh dear, Bear was the same as a youngster, shameful as we passed someone non white! He was also terrible with people wearing hats, even at quite a distance, he'd bark! I'd say show him lots of black people on TV if he watches it and don't allow barking, growling, give him treats for remaining calm, like firework desensitisation. Bear grew out of it or became accustomd to different faces, we live in a very mixed area. Hope he stops soon, I know that shame!
 
Meems, you would soon send him back, he has a penchant for rolling in all things dead or smelly at the moment, it really isn't nice!

Hopefully he will grow out of it, he is still very young and getting used to things in the big wide wide world.

Glad to know it isn't just my dog though!
 
My mothers old Stafford bitch was the same. And she didn't mind Asian but not Afro Caribbean. We put it down to her not seeing people like that but not brilliant as it looks like we put her upto it.

More embarrassingly was my first Stafford bitch..she clearly hated my single status and would zone into random men when we were out and superglue herself to them...completely blanking the hapless woman with them. Now THAT was embarrassing!
 
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