Pa. police dog suspended for potential racism (Salon:subscription needed)

[plurality]

http://www.salon.com/mwt/wire/2004/02/03/dog/index.html

Feb. 3, 2004 | MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. (AP) -- A police dog has been suspended while investigators try to determine whether the animal has something against black children.

The dog, a German shepherd named Dolpho, was cleared two years ago of attacking a child because he was black. But Dolpho was removed from duty on Monday after biting another black child.

Dolpho attacked a 14-year-old black girl on Jan. 28 during a crime-prevention demonstration at a school but did not break the youngster's skin. The girl's parents said a white student petted the dog without incident before he attacked their daughter.

Did the government start slipping acid into the water without telling anyone, or is this really what we've devolved to as a nation?

[Alenne]

1. It doesn't matter if he has something against black children.

How many times is he going to be allowed to bite innocent children?

[cosmicaug]

2. My grandmother had a supposedly racist dog.

My grandmother had a supposedly racist dog. She got it from an aunt who lived in Minneapolis and couldn't keep him (my grandmother lives in the country so it wasn't a problem having a large dog). He was, apparently, preferentially agressive towards black children.

Oh, by the way, the dog was a black standard poodle (and despite the self hatred thing, one of the best dogs I've ever known).

[leesa]

5. Sometimes dogs are taught things by their owners.

[Zero Gravitas]

8. Agreed

My first impulse was to laugh at the story as a silly over-reaction, but dogs are very social animals and take their cues from the humans around them. On reflection I recall several stories about "racist" dogs. If their owners show hostility to blacks the dogs can pick up on this and behave in the same way as the owner.

[cosmicaug]

9. Sure.

leesa wrote:

Sometimes dogs are taught things by their owners.

Of course this can (and does) happen but it wouldn't have been the case with this particular relative (I do have relatives and pseudo-relatives who have a problem with being racist but she isn't one of them). The dog was apparently teased by kids who happened to be black.

[Chicago Democrat]

3. Dogs bias - My dog doesn't like uniforms

My dog is very friendly, except he hates cops and pretty much anyone in uniform. Its a real drag when I get pulled over. The dog barks aggressively at the cop I'm trying to be nice and polite to! So I could see a dog singling out black children or some other obvious visual difference.

It sounds crazy but dogs have individual biases or modes of behavior; these can be altered or channeled but it comes only after training.

[Taeger]

12. It's YOU

When you get tense, the dog can literally smell it. You are transmitting your anxiety to the dog.

This is why people who have anxiety about their dog meeting strangers ALWAYS have problem with their dogs meeting strangers. If you get them away from the owner in a dog park ... they're fine.

[Scurrilous]

4. I thought dogs...

...saw people and things in shades of grey, not individual colors. How did the dog differentiate between races?

[Alenne]

6. white is lighter

and black is darker even in gray. The 14 year old was dark skinned.

[Exultant Democracy]

7. My house adopted a racist dog

Apparently the dogs previous owner was a real ass and used to abuse the dog, I have no clue how someone could train a dog to be racist but this dog was. It hated all the black house members and any black guest that came over.

[LosinIt]

10. We had a Dobie who was a racist, but he came around.

I think it was that because the few black people he came across were "different" than Mom and Dad. It was a real embarassment. We had two of our black friends feed him pieces of meat every time they came over. After a few times, they were his favorite visitors.

[Taeger]

11. I would offer an observation

Please, nobody take this the wrong way. But I've noticed on MANY, MANY encounters with black folk and my harmless dog that they were afraid of dogs. With dogs, that's a self fullfilling prophecy. Dogs can smell fear and it is indistinguishable from aggresion. Then a kid reaches for the dog with the culturally ingrained but rude head pat ... you have a bite.

And BTW. If the dog didn't break the skin, it wasn't a bite. A German Sheperd has the jaw strenth to snap your bones in two. If they were just "mawed", that was a warning thats effectively the same as slapping the kid on the hand.

[RUexperienced]

13. It IS a GERMAN SHEPHERD after all.

Or is it a Byrd dog? lol