# OMG! My dog is a racist!



## SophieGSD (Feb 6, 2012)

Hahahaha okay, so this has happened before and I never thought anything of it, but I'm convinced now. Sophie is racist against Hispanics. Haha now I know that sounds horrible, but I want to let y'all know that I am NOT racist in any way. I have a very diverse set of friends, so I was no influence over my dog!

The first experience I've had with this was when we first got her and we were living in Charleston. I was walking her around the complex, minding our own business, when we walked past a woman talking on her cell phone. When we approached her, she was quiet, listening to whoever was on the other line. Suddenly, she starts talking in Spanish, and Sophie stops in her tracks, raises her hackles a bit, and gives a quiet little growl. I reprimanded her immediately and we walked on, and the woman paid no attention. At first I just though it was because of the woman being a stranger, but we passed several other people and she had no problem.

The second experience I had was in downtown Charleston. We were walking her around and going to the dog park and we walked past a group of Hispanic teens. They were quiet until we walked by, and once past, started talking Spanish. Sophie whirled around and barked, and I reprimanded her again, as in the first instance. Afterwards, we didn't have any more problems.

The third experience was a few moments ago. I stay up fairly late, so Sophie sleeps on the couch while I surf around on the internet in the recliner. Well, I was watching (Of all things..) "Drug Wars" on the Discovery channel, and they were doing a documentary on Mexicans smuggling drugs out of Mexico and into California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Well, an officer was speaking Spanish with a younger guy, and Sophie jumps up from a dead sleep and trots to the TV, hackles raised, and stares at the TV while they talk. Once they were done and the officer spoke English again, Sophie calmed down and is now asleep once again.

Haha anyone have a similar ordeal? And any ideas what may have caused her racism? I know she wasn't abused as a pup from 3 months to now, since we've had her, and we're not Hispanic. We have a (He calls himself this..) "Texican" friend who came over all the time and spoke Spanish with Sophie and it never bothered her. I'm wondering if maybe, before we got her, she'd had a bad experience with a Hispanic person? Never know, I guess..

Just thought I'd share!


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## SophieGSD (Feb 6, 2012)

Also, before anyone starts "She may be aggressive towards Hispanics later in life," I'm aware of it. I'm trying to figure out if it's actually a problem, and how I can solve it before it gets bad.

She just seems to not like the Spanish language. She's met several Hispanic people and have had NO problem with them, unless they're strangers that suddenly start speaking Spanish. No idea why.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

You know, I actually had a similar experience with one of our dogs. My husband always called him boxer mixed with stupid.  He was fine with our friends and some of the neighbors who were Hispanic, but a stranger that was Hispanic would set his hackles up and him barking every time. I never connected it with the language but thinking back now I bet that was it, he didn't recognize the language and it freaked him out.


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## SophieGSD (Feb 6, 2012)

I'm kinda thinking that's what it is.

But then again, like I said in my OP, we had a Texican friend who would come over and speak Spanish in front of her, and she didn't pay a lick of attention.

Maybe it's STRANGERS that speak a different language?
(Haha, you KNOW they're thinking "Stranger Danger! Mama doesn't sound like that!")


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

Did you adopt Sophie as an adult? If yes, any idea of her past history? 

Its very possible she doesnt like the accent that comes when one is speaking spanish?


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## iBaman (Oct 25, 2011)

My parent's pit dislikes hispanics and blacks...he will growl and bark his head off when they walk by the house...(we live in southern utah, so we don't have to worry about that very often...). He was found on the streets of San Diego though, so I'm sure that has something to do with it.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Racist dog aren't really all that uncommon, it's part of the reason we try so hard to push socialization. If a dog has never seen, for example, a dark-skinned person until they reach adulthood, they may very well be aggressive and/or fearful of dark-skinned people. Same with people wearing odd clothes or in wheelchairs or walking with crutches or even speaking a strange language. 

You already know what to do-- give her positive experiences with Spanish-speaking Hispanics. Here in Texas it's really really easy to socialize a dog with Hispanic people speaking Spanish-- how difficult is it where you are? If it's difficult, I would even go so far as to call the local community college or high school and see if you could get a couple minutes of the Spanish teacher's time after school.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

To the op, would putting the radio to a spanish station or the t.v. to a spanish station for a little while each day maybe help? This would give your dog a chance to hear a varity of different people speaking the language rather than just one person.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Wow, Shepherdmom that's a really good idea.


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## pshah0002 (Mar 18, 2011)

shepherdmom said:


> You know, I actually had a similar experience with one of our dogs. My husband always called him boxer mixed with stupid.  He was fine with our friends and some of the neighbors who were Hispanic, but a stranger that was Hispanic would set his hackles up and him barking every time. I never connected it with the language but thinking back now I bet that was it, he didn't recognize the language and it freaked him out.


 
i dont think language plays any role. I am from India and we have max for over 1.5 months, i am trainig him english commands and my family speaks 2 different language at home. i never seen any behavior difference when we speak diff language when max is present.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

pshah0002 said:


> i dont think language plays any role. I am from India and we have max for over 1.5 months, i am trainig him english commands and my family speaks 2 different language at home. i never seen any behavior difference when we speak diff language when max is present.


Pshah, the difference is Max is used to hearing different languages. If this is the first time Sophie heard a language other than English, it's entirely possible that it could have upset her.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Emoore said:


> Wow, Shepherdmom that's a really good idea.


Thanks. I don't know if it will work, but it seems like it might.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

pshah0002 said:


> i dont think language plays any role. I am from India and we have max for over 1.5 months, i am trainig him english commands and my family speaks 2 different language at home. i never seen any behavior difference when we speak diff language when max is present.


Your dog is used to hearing both languages from you. My dog hadn't heard anything but English from us. I don't for a second believe my dog understood all of English but he recognized his commands now all of a sudden here is a stranger speaking something he had never heard before... So yes now that I'm thinking about it, all these years later, I'm not suprised he reacted.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

shepherdmom said:


> Your dog is used to hearing both languages from you. My dog hadn't heard anything but English from us. I don't for a second believe my dog understood all of English but he recognized his commands now all of a sudden here is a stranger speaking something he had never heard before... So yes now that I'm thinking about it, all these years later, I'm not suprised he reacted.


Yup, even though they don't understand the words, the cadences, the rhythm, and the tones of a language are familiar. Unfamiliar tones and cadences make us very uncomfortable. The first time Stravinsky's _Rite of Spring_ was performed in 1913, the tones and cadences and rhythms were so different from anything anybody had ever heard that it caused a riot.


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## SophieGSD (Feb 6, 2012)

KZoppa said:


> _"Did you adopt Sophie as an adult? If yes, any idea of her past history?
> 
> Its very possible she doesnt like the accent that comes when one is speaking spanish?"_


No, we got her when she was 3 months old, and she'll be a year old on March 11th.

But yeah, I think it's the fact that they're strangers speaking a language she doesn't normally hear. We speak English and nothing else.


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## DFrost (Oct 29, 2006)

Ya'll can say what ya want. Truth is, it's a learned behavior. Whether the behavior was learned by conscious or unconscious acts, none-the-less. It's a learned behavior. 

DFrost


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## GSDGunner (Feb 22, 2011)

I knew this thread sounded familiar.

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/aggression-good-bad-ugly/164961-racist-wgsd.html


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## Mac's Mom (Jun 7, 2010)

SophieGSD said:


> Hahahaha okay, so this has happened before and I never thought anything of it, but I'm convinced now. Sophie is racist against Hispanics. Haha now I know that sounds horrible, but I want to let y'all know that I am NOT racist in any way. I have a very diverse set of friends, so I was no influence over my dog!
> 
> The first experience I've had with this was when we first got her and we were living in Charleston. I was walking her around the complex, minding our own business, when we walked past a woman talking on her cell phone. When we approached her, she was quiet, listening to whoever was on the other line. Suddenly, she starts talking in Spanish, and Sophie stops in her tracks, raises her hackles a bit, and gives a quiet little growl. I reprimanded her immediately and we walked on, and the woman paid no attention. At first I just though it was because of the woman being a stranger, but we passed several other people and she had no problem.
> 
> ...


Actually I am experiencing a similar ordeal and it really sucks. This is a serious problem that we have not found a solution for. Bart, our 4 year old, is extremely friendly to everyone except for our black friend, William. The first time they met, Bart barked like crazy and scared Will. We thought it was strange but honestly didn't think too much of it. Then when Will's son was over we noticed that Bart barked at him too. He didn't bark at any of the other kids in the house. William said that he thinks Bart was abused by black people or he was taught to be aggressive toward black people. I don't know if thats true or not. I just know it really sucks because Will is my husband's best friend and his family are our favorite neighbors. Now William cannot even stop over. Last time I put Bart in the house and he stood at the window barking at Will. Its awful.


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## SophieGSD (Feb 6, 2012)

DFrost said:


> _"Ya'll can say what ya want. Truth is, it's a learned behavior. Whether the behavior was learned by conscious or unconscious acts, none-the-less. It's a learned behavior."_


I think you're being a little silly with that comment, and I think you missed a key point in my story. We have a Mexican friend that visits Sophie regularly. We have had several Hispanic friends over, and Sophie has even met and played with several Hispanic children in our old complex.

She doesn't seem to like ADULT Hispanics, but it's definitely nothing she learned from me. As I've said before, my husband and I have no problem with other races. Blacks, Hispanics, Indian, whatever. We have several diverse friends. Sophie just seems to not trust/like adult Hispanics for whatever reason, and I think it was something she got from her breeder, because the area she was in was riddled with Hispanics and had high Hispanic crime rates. (I always look into an area's crime rates before I go anywhere. If they're high, I won't go alone or unarmed.)


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## SophieGSD (Feb 6, 2012)

Mac's Mom said:


> _"Actually I am experiencing a similar ordeal and it really sucks. This is a serious problem that we have not found a solution for. Bart, our 4 year old, is extremely friendly to everyone except for our black friend, William. The first time they met, Bart barked like crazy and scared Will. We thought it was strange but honestly didn't think too much of it. Then when Will's son was over we noticed that Bart barked at him too. He didn't bark at any of the other kids in the house. William said that he thinks Bart was abused by black people or he was taught to be aggressive toward black people. I don't know if thats true or not. I just know it really sucks because Will is my husband's best friend and his family are our favorite neighbors. Now William cannot even stop over. Last time I put Bart in the house and he stood at the window barking at Will. Its awful."_


Yeah, it's not fun. =/ But it seems like Sophie's ordeal is isolated to adult Hispanics. Which still doesn't make sense, because of our Mexican friend that visits her regularly (And is about to be living with us!). *Shrugs* I dunno. Haha maybe it's just personal preference?


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## DFrost (Oct 29, 2006)

SophieGSD said:


> I think you're being a little silly with that comment, )


I'm not being a bit silly. I'm serious as lip cancer. I've trained dogs to apprehend people for over 40 years. I've worked with a lot of breeds. Dogs don't hate, dislike have preference of, a race, ethnic group or national origin. A dog is a clean slate when it comes to preferences. Unless the dog is damaged mentally, they are perhaps among the most accepting animals on earth. I meant exactly what I said. It's been my observation, experience and therefore my opinion.

DFrost


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

>>>> all racist say this. all of my racist friends always have
a friend of another race <<<

all of your other racist experiences with your dog remember
our feelings travel down the leash. i guess feeling can travel
along the sofa since you were watching tv and experienced
a racist moment. 

QUOTE=SophieGSD;2395321]Hahahaha okay, so this has happened before and I never thought anything of it, but I'm convinced now. Sophie is racist against Hispanics. Haha now I know that sounds horrible,

>>>> but I want to let y'all know that I am NOT racist in any way. <<<<

I have a very diverse set of friends, so I was no influence over my dog!

The first experience I've had with this was when we first got her and we were living in Charleston. I was walking her around the complex, minding our own business, when we walked past a woman talking on her cell phone. When we approached her, she was quiet, listening to whoever was on the other line. Suddenly, she starts talking in Spanish, and Sophie stops in her tracks, raises her hackles a bit, and gives a quiet little growl. I reprimanded her immediately and we walked on, and the woman paid no attention. At first I just though it was because of the woman being a stranger, but we passed several other people and she had no problem.

The second experience I had was in downtown Charleston. We were walking her around and going to the dog park and we walked past a group of Hispanic teens. They were quiet until we walked by, and once past, started talking Spanish. Sophie whirled around and barked, and I reprimanded her again, as in the first instance. Afterwards, we didn't have any more problems.

The third experience was a few moments ago. I stay up fairly late, so Sophie sleeps on the couch while I surf around on the internet in the recliner. Well, I was watching (Of all things..) "Drug Wars" on the Discovery channel, and they were doing a documentary on Mexicans smuggling drugs out of Mexico and into California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Well, an officer was speaking Spanish with a younger guy, and Sophie jumps up from a dead sleep and trots to the TV, hackles raised, and stares at the TV while they talk. Once they were done and the officer spoke English again, Sophie calmed down and is now asleep once again.

[/QUOTE]


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

Emoore, this might not be a good idea. the might attack
the tv or radio. :laugh:



shepherdmom said:


> To the op, would putting the radio to a spanish station or the t.v. to a spanish station for a little while each day maybe help?





Emoore said:


> Wow, Shepherdmom that's a really good idea.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

DFrost said:


> I'm not being a bit silly. I'm serious as lip cancer. I've trained dogs to apprehend people for over 40 years. I've worked with a lot of breeds. Dogs don't hate, dislike have preference of, a race, ethnic group or national origin. A dog is a clean slate when it comes to preferences. Unless the dog is damaged mentally, they are perhaps among the most accepting animals on earth. I meant exactly what I said. It's been my observation, experience and therefore my opinion.
> 
> DFrost


You don't think hearing a different language would cause a dog to react? Then what would cause that? We got our dog at around 8 weeks. He was safe and protected his entire life. Our neighbors were hispanic and and he was fine with them (They spoke only English). It was only hispanics he didn't know that he reacted too. He did not react to other strangers. It couldn't have traveled down a leash because he was not on leash at the time he was on 10 fenced acres. So exactly how did he learn this behavior? My husband always thought he was was boxer mixed with stupid. Would he be one of the damaged mentally dogs you were talking about and if so why would it only be with certain people? Of course he is long dead now so there is no way to test the different language theory but I really think that is what is was.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

doggiedad said:


> Emoore, this might not be a good idea. the might attack
> the tv or radio. :laugh:


:spittingcoffee: never had a dog do that but had one who would attack the vaccuum cleaner.  Hmmm... Was the same Boxer mixed with stupid. Maybe he was mentally defective.


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

DFrost said:


> Ya'll can say what ya want. Truth is, it's a learned behavior. Whether the behavior was learned by conscious or unconscious acts, none-the-less. It's a learned behavior.


If by "learned" you mean the dog was not socialized to people of other races, I see what you're saying. If you are trying to imply that the owner somehow is subliminally teaching the dog to be racist, I'm not buying it. Some dogs are afraid of people in hats or with umbrellas. Are you going to say that is "learned" behavior also?

When I was a teenager, I was pretty racist toward Latinos because the men would always whistle and catcall at me, and it scared me. It didn't help matters any when my best friend was raped by a Mexican guy. I desperately wanted my dog to be racist as well, so that she would alert at the sound of the Spanish language and become protective of me. It didn't work. She was always either friendly or neutral to anyone of any race. So I'm not convinced that dogs automatically pick up on that kind of thing.

I've grown up a lot since then.


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## SophieGSD (Feb 6, 2012)

DFrost said:


> _"Dogs don't hate, dislike have preference of, a race, ethnic group or national origin. A dog is a clean slate when it comes to preferences. Unless the dog is damaged mentally, they are perhaps among the most accepting animals on earth."_


And who's saying that she WASN'T somehow abused BEFORE I got her, and suddenly that behavior is coming up because she was reminded of it? If you honestly have the audacity to tell me that I'm purposefully "signalling" my dog to hate certain people, then maybe you should check yourself dude. You don't know me, my situation, my issues, my dog, or my training habits.

Also, saying that dogs don't dislike certain people is bull. I have seen SEVERAL cases myself while training dogs where the animal doesn't like women or men, or doesn't like people that look a certain way, or like someone else said, they don't like people who wear hats or even certain shoes/boots.



DFrost said:


> _"I meant exactly what I said. It's been my observation, experience and therefore my opinion."_


Because, y'know, you've been around me every second that I've been with Sophie and know everything that happens between us, right? You've "observed" everything that we've done, "experienced" everything I've done with her, and formed your bullcrap opinion from your narrow or closed mind.

That's just *my* observation, experience with people like you, and my own personal opinion OF you. C= Have a nice day.


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## Mac's Mom (Jun 7, 2010)

I used to think the only group I hated was racists, now I'm starting to hate people who accuse people of being racist.


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## SophieGSD (Feb 6, 2012)

I agree. I'm honestly NOT racist at all, but it really pisses me off when someone who doesn't know me comes in and infers that I'm an idiot, and that I AM racist and am transferring that feeling to my dog. Seriously? If I were racist, I wouldn't have the diverse group of friends that I have.


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## DFrost (Oct 29, 2006)

SophieGSD said:


> And who's saying that she WASN'T somehow abused BEFORE I got her, and suddenly that behavior is coming up because she was reminded of it? If you honestly have the audacity to tell me that I'm purposefully "signalling" my dog to hate certain people, then maybe you should check yourself dude.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


First, you would have to show me where I said that you personally have done anything. If in fact your dog had been abused, then that would actually reinforce my opinion. I don't know why you are taking this so personal. I've not addressed my remarks to you or to anyone specifically. I've given an opinion of canine behavior, based on my experiences with dogs, literally thousands of dog handlers of every ethnic background you can imagine and situations you can't imagine. If you didn't want anyone to have an opinion that differs from yours' then perhaps you should state that in the beginning of your post. 

DFrost


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

>>>>you know feeling go down the leash.<<<<

>>>> all racist say they have a diverse group of friends.
diverse is the code word, the cover word. you're friends can be diverse
but that doesn't mean they're a different race.

  :crazy: :laugh:



SophieGSD said:


> I agree. I'm honestly NOT racist at all, but it really pisses me off when someone who doesn't know me comes in and infers that I'm an idiot, and that
> 
> >>>>I AM racist and am transferring that feeling to my dog.<<<< Seriously?
> 
> >>>>If I were racist, I wouldn't have the diverse group of friends that I have.<<<<


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## mharrisonjr26 (Feb 10, 2011)

Are there seriously racist people on this website..why cant there be one place we dont talk about it.. The *term black's* is the only thing that sounds racist so far the correct term is african american.
I happen to be African American and i dont take her comments as being racist I can explain my observation. Every caucasion person I know "I have a very diverse group of friends"..feels the need to explain that they are not racist to prevent being accused..*Why? *because white people treated everybody like less then human for ever. All because of race so I dont take that as a sign. Most racist are pretty undercover when it comes to buisness and anybody can be racist. just to put in my two cents but i do agree it can be a learned behavior or maybe poor genitics not saying your case is from either at all but nobodys perfect. I always make it a point to get my pups around difrrent people animals sites and sounds so I've never had this problem.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

African American is so wimpy. we be Black.

>>> you don't happen to be African American, it's i'm African American.
don't water it down.<<<<

>>> white people didn't treat everybody less than human. geeze.

>>> my white brotheren, you can call me black. <<<

lighten up my brother


mharrisonjr26 said:


> Are there seriously racist people on this website..why cant there be one place we dont talk about it..
> 
> >>> The *term black's* is the only thing that sounds racist<<< so far the correct term is african american.
> 
> ...


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## mharrisonjr26 (Feb 10, 2011)

Im not saying that i cant be called black if your talking about us as a whole blacks sounds racist and since we brothas you know what im talking about everybody wants to clear any doubt which only causes doubt when if people wouldnt have a reason to clear the air then they wouldnt and europeans and early americans treated everyone else like crap. Its in the past to me but i was just saying thats the reason. I love everyone that shows me love period so everyone just stop trying to show your not racist by saying your not because in alot of cases it makes you sound lot seem racist.


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## GSDolch (May 15, 2006)

Do you have any one that speaks OTHER languages that you could test with? It could be that its a new thing, so that is why she is reacting.

Hispanic speaks English..normal. Hispanic speaks Spanish...OMG WHAT IS THAT!!.

If you could test it with other language it would be interesting to see if that also causes a reactions. If it does then I would bet money its the change. Voice/tone and speed are also factors to.



FYI: You can be white and African American as it pertains to regional areas..


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## SophieGSD (Feb 6, 2012)

GSDolch said:


> _"Do you have any one that speaks OTHER languages that you could test with? It could be that its a new thing, so that is why she is reacting.
> 
> Hispanic speaks English..normal. Hispanic speaks Spanish...OMG WHAT IS THAT!!.
> 
> ...


Yeah, we have a "Texican" friend (Haha he calls himself that. He's a Mexican from Texas.) that speaks English and Spanish fluently, but Sophie's been around him quite a bit, so I don't think it'll do much good or make much of a difference. I could be wrong though! My husband and I will be moving to FL soon, and our friend will be moving there too (Yay military families! Haha), so I'll see if he'll help me test Sophie when we all get there.

I also occasionally speak German, but that doesn't seem to phase her. Then again, she is a *German* Shepherd. Huurrr, bad joke.

Other than that, I don't know how else to test her. Haha I'd feel kinda funny asking a random person "Hey, can you speak Spanish really quickly so I can see how my dog reacts?"


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

DFrost said:


> I'm not being a bit silly. I'm serious as lip cancer. I've trained dogs to apprehend people for over 40 years. I've worked with a lot of breeds. Dogs don't hate, dislike have preference of, a race, ethnic group or national origin. A dog is a clean slate when it comes to preferences.


Not sure I agree with this. My dog went through a 2-week period where he hated people wearing hooded sweatshirts. I'm pretty sure that he wasn't picking up on my 2 weeks of racism against people in hooded sweatshirts. No, it was because it was the first cold snap since we'd gotten him and he'd never _seen_ hooded sweatshirts before. Once he got used to them he was fine.


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## SophieGSD (Feb 6, 2012)

Emoore said:


> _"Not sure I agree with this. My dog went through a 2-week period where he hated people wearing hooded sweatshirts. I'm pretty sure that he wasn't picking up on my 2 weeks of racism against people in hooded sweatshirts. No, it was because it was the first cold snap since we'd gotten him and he'd never seen hooded sweatshirts before. Once he got used to them he was fine."_


Sophie had the same deal at first, too. She was born in the summer, so she'd always seen people in t-shirts and shorts, until winter came around. She was nervous the first time I put a hood over my head.

I think DFrost just likes to talk, even if he's being ridiculous. (On this topic anyway.)


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## DFrost (Oct 29, 2006)

SophieGSD said:


> I think DFrost just likes to talk, even if he's being ridiculous. (On this topic anyway.)


He does indeed. More importantly, he likes to debunk myths associated with canines. 


DFrost


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## TheNamesNelson (Apr 4, 2011)

On a less serious note, perhaps you should learn spanish and speak it to your dog. She will be conflicted because she hates spanish speakers but loves you, so naturally she will begin to love spanish speakers. Or perhaps she will then hate you...


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

DFrost said:


> Ya'll can say what ya want. Truth is, it's a learned behavior. Whether the behavior was learned by conscious or unconscious acts, none-the-less. It's a learned behavior.


Not exactly. It could be a lack of socialization with that particular type of person or thing that can cause a dog to be aggressive or fearful.

Or it is possible the dog has had a past experience with something that is similar to the person/place/thing... For example a dog who is attacked by a Border Collie may act aggressively or fearful if they see another similar-looking dog. 

My neighbor's dog, who they've had since he was 8 weeks old, is terrified of men in hats. Does that mean his owners hate people with hats? Nope. Does that mean he was abused by someone in a hat? Nope, they had him since he was a puppy and I can assure you they do not hit their dog. 
All it means is he was just not introduced to that particular thing as a puppy.

My dog sometimes barks at people wearing long overcoats, suits and hats. Does that mean I hate people in overcoats? No, she does it because a lot of people dressed that way walk past our house, and she perceives them as trespassing on our property.
This is the same reason a lot of dogs don't like mail carriers, and sometimes generalize it to people in uniforms in general.


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## DFrost (Oct 29, 2006)

Chicagocanine said:


> My dog sometimes barks at people wearing long overcoats, suits and hats. Does that mean I hate people in overcoats? No, she does it because a lot of people dressed that way walk past our house, and she perceives them as trespassing on our property.
> This is the same reason a lot of dogs don't like mail carriers, and sometimes generalize it to people in uniforms in general.


Apples/oranges. The color of skin, an accent, words a dog doesn't understand, as in foreign language, is considerably different than a bulky coat, hat, and other objects a dog may not recognize. Probably the majority of PSD's are now coming from Europe. Funny the difference in languages doesn't seem to affect them when purchased, in the thousands, by military, police and SAR units. Military and police come in all different colors, dialects, languages etc. In 40+ years, I've never heard of a dog having to change handlers because it didn't like the particular color, dialect, language etc a handler speaks. Keep in mind we're talking adult dogs with little known history, not puppies raised in a home. In the case of hats, coats etc, it is a nerve issue. sometimes it can be overcome, sometimes it can't be. As for mailmen etc, it's more of a territorial issue than the uniform. As was said; "she perceives them as trespassing on our property." Is that not more of a territorial issue, rather than an item of clothing? 

DFrost


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## SophieGSD (Feb 6, 2012)

DFrost, we understand that you have some point to prove, but insinuating that I'm a racist and the rest of us are idiots and stupid owners is really getting on my last nerve, and the only thing it's proving is that you're rude, narrow-minded, and talking to you is like talking to a wall. You have your set ways, and by God, you are NOT budging with them, even if it's a learning experience.

I may not have ancient training secrets like you, but that doesn't mean I'm an idiot or any less of a parent than you are. Lighten up dude. My original post was mostly as a joke, but like I said in it, I know it can turn into a serious problem and we are currently working on it.

If you have something to say that requires you being as rude as you've been, then private message me and we can duke it out there. But saying that I'm channeling some racist feelings to my dog and implying the rest of the posters are idiots because they are trying to look at a possible angle is just.. Wow. Especially since, like I've said once before, you don't know ME, you don't know my DOG, and you don't know our training habits, so you can't make any assumptions on what's going on unless you spend every living second with us to actually make a hypothesis. Otherwise, you're just blowing it out a specific place where the sun doesn't shine.

Kindly get off my post please, unless you're going to give *constructive* advice that *doesn't* pertain to how you know everything about everything about dogs and training them. Because even if you've done this for 40+ years, you will ALWAYS learn something new. Nothing is EVER set in stone, especially with dogs who have personalities and YES, PREFERENCES of their own.


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## DFrost (Oct 29, 2006)

SophieGSD said:


> DFrost, we understand that you have some point to prove, but insinuating that I'm a racist and the rest of us are idiots and stupid owners is really getting on my last nerve, and the only thing it's proving is that you're rude, narrow-minded, and talking to you is like talking to a wall. You have your set ways, and by God, you are NOT budging with them, even if it's a learning experience.
> 
> I may not have ancient training secrets like you, but that doesn't mean I'm an idiot or any less of a parent than you are. Lighten up dude. My original post was mostly as a joke, but like I said in it, I know it can turn into a serious problem and we are currently working on it.
> 
> ...



"Kindly get off my post please, unless you're going to give *constructive* advice that *doesn't* pertain to how you know everything about everything about dogs and training them. "

If you don't want opinions that disagree with your own, perhaps you should preface your posts with that requirement. When it comes to dogs, I have nothing to prove; I can truly say -- been there done that. I'll only say again, I've not inferred, you or anyone else is a racist. I gave an informed opinion on a post, nothing more. You can be as defensive as you like and disagree as much as you want. Personal comments towards me will not make me change my opinion. However, as you requested, I am now "off" your post.

DFrost


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

DFrost said:


> In the case of hats, coats etc, it is a nerve issue. sometimes it can be overcome, sometimes it can't be. As for mailmen etc, it's more of a territorial issue than the uniform. As was said; "she perceives them as trespassing on our property." Is that not more of a territorial issue, rather than an item of clothing?



Well she has no problem with people weird hats, coats or weird clothing (or even really odd things like people wearing huge mascot costumes) but she has barked at someone dressed that way once or twice if they came to approach us when we were on a walk (but she ignores them if they're just walking past us). I don't think this is nerves since she is fine with other people dressed weirdly. I think it's just that since she always perceived them as trespassing she is now starting to be alert to them in other situations, the way some dogs are with people in uniform after they've seen the mail person "trespassing" every day. We happen to have a lot of people dressed that way walk past the house.
She's done the same thing with my neighbors. The people that live on one side of have their walkway to the door which goes really close to our house and their backyard walkway goes right next to our fence. Bianca seems to think they are trespassing so she barks at them because they are coming so close to our property (she used to live in the sticks where the property is much bigger). She has now started barking if she sees them other places too. I discourage that and we're working on it. However she never barks at the neighbors on the other side, whose walkway is not right next to our windows and whose backyard sidewalk is on the opposite side of the yard.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

I think there was an episode of King of the Hill about this.


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