I would definitely recommend getting the dog out more and around friendly people. They need to lose their ability to distinguish the punishment from the source, meaning they have to start being rewarded when they think they'd be punished or have the stimulus controlled a bit better. If there are more asian folks around, and they are friendly, and they get rewarded for playing, it will mess with the wires for you.

I giggled a bit when I read the title of this post. A dogs version of racism is just bad association with things. It doesn't necessarily even have to be a person. It can be nail clippers or a hair brush. Something has happened where they've had a bad experience with whatever or whoever it may be. Much like a child learning to ride a bike positive reinforcement is a huge thing. My dog hated children. I have three boys. His previous owner had children who were never taught boundaries around him. With my kids I let them bond with him one at a time and they slowly but surely earned his trust. Now he loves the boys and will go in their rooms on his own. Perhaps befriend a person who is the race your dog isn't meshing with. Have them come around and make sure they are calm. Slowly bring your dog around this person, maybe even have them armed with a treat. Let them earn his trust.

I would agree with what everyone has said here. Behaviorism is a broad subject, but for a dog that has a bad experience with a particular gender or Race, it is best to associate it with pleasant experiences to break the mentality. Socialize the animal with friendly people of the orientated problem. Have them offer treats, don't push them too far in one go. Usually a bad affiliation with a specific type of person is due to trauma, and they are suffering from PTSD. It takes a lot of patience, and a lot of TLC to break the cycle, but if you play your cards right with a firm gentleness, a lot of treats, and deprogramming activities, soon your "racist" doggy will be back to the innocent pup they were meant to be!

We have a dog who was abused by a former member of the household. We don't know what that woman did to her exactly but Marshie became very afraid of any human contact. She barks and growls at anyone who attempts to touch her. She even bites us who have been with her for a long while. She almost bit my kid one time as well. So it's safe to assume that she has become racist to all humans. Well... Except for my cousin, since she's the only one who can touch Marshie. Sadly, she moved out of the house already and just visits from time to time.

To be honest, we've tried everything. We've tried playing with her and giving her care but she still won't let us touch her. She just has become so afraid of any human contact for fear that someone might hurt her again. So we just let her be and advice visitors to refrain from getting close to her.

[USER=17]@Theboysmom04[/USER] I agree it can be anything that the dog associates with a bad experience. I think my dog, Bella, is now associating the bath tub with a bad experience since I just gave her a bath and it was not her favorite thing in the world. She went in the bathroom while my daughter was taking a bath and came over and looked at the tub then backed up quickly and was out of the bathroom. Before having her bath, she would lick the tub and come up to you and nudge the shower curtain open, but I do not think she will do this anytime soon.

I never though that racists dogs were a thing until I meet my cousin's dog that he got from a shelter. He told me to come over because his dog hated black people and was barking at the mail man. I was 100% sure it was just because it was the mail man and he wanted to get him, but when I saw that cute little bull dog turn vicious against some black kids who lived down the street, I knew the dog had a racism problem! You have to untrain all of that racist training and it is very hard to do!

You see that's a characteristic inherent to dogs I believe. Just like a guard or police dog, he somehow senses if a person has good or bad intention. Or maybe sometimes, they just like to bark at you. Did you have that experience when a dog just growls and snarls at you for no good reason at all or even when you're just passing by? Me and my friends did. Probably the vibes I guess? Or could be with past bad experiences as few posts stated above. I don't know. I am thankful that my dog doesn't have that attitude. Otherwise it would be hard to deal with. By the way, I got very confused when I read the title. It's all good after I read the post 😀

The title made me laugh a bit. Back when I was in high school, my best friend had a chihuahua named Bacca who hated men. Particularly Hispanic/Latino men. Of course, when she was in a relationship with a Mexican, the dog was not very happy and would often pee on anything her boyfriend left laying around. It was quite hysterical.

But do I believe that dogs can actually be racist? No. Nononono. Dogs don't see 'race' as humans do. Dogs learn through association. If they learn that the fly swatter is dangerous, they will be afraid of the fly swatter and anything that looks like it. Bacca, for example, only disliked the boyfriend because of her previous run-ins with my best friend's Puerto Rican father. I think it was angrily spoken Spanish that truly alarmed her.

Well everyone is of course correct when they say there's no such thing as a racist animal, as they don't see people with the differences that us humans do.

A dog will act more on its senses, and if it doesn't like a person, that's more to do with the feeling it gets towards them rather than anything like race or skin colour.

Casper was a very nervous rescue. He had fearful/nervous reactions around a lot of things but the three we discovered fairly quickly were - children from preschool size to puberty, anyone wearing any kind of cowboy hat (even me!), and people who had recently eaten anything with curry (again, including me). The trainer we were working with said that dogs who seem to be "racist" are often reacting more to the scent of ethnic food that is commonly eaten or towards a type of clothing than to the color of skin.

I fixed the issue with children by giving every child we came in contact with really good treats, like pieces of cheddar, cubes of cooked chicken breast, or hot dogs. Before my daughters friends came in the house, they were given treats. Every child we met on the street or in a store magically had treats. They weren't allowed to try to pet him if he was scared but they seemed pretty happy to just feed him something. We'd sit on a bench by the playground and I'd read and he'd watch the children warily...and treats happened just by being around them. He got treats for any reaction to a child that was not cringing (he was never aggressive unless cornered, just terrified) and attempting to flee. Any sign of curiosity was rewarded. We worked hard at it...and within a few months, he was no longer afraid of any size child, in fact, he would zoom straight to them, pounce on them if not restrained (like inside the house), and begin sniffing for the expected treats. He would eagerly run towards loudly playing children. I had essentially trained him that kids had the best treats. Then we had to teach him self control and polite greeting but those things couldn't have been developed if he was still afraid of kids.

I kept cowboy hats around the house and would wear them myself or put them on people he knew well...and treats would happen. This was faster and easier than with kids because it didn't have to be as perfect. I wanted him to be comfortable with kids. I just needed him to not panic when he saw a stranger wearing a cowboy hat.

I have to admit that I stopped going out for indian food. I don't have any very close friends or family members who are fond of curry anyway and it's pretty hard even broach the subject with acquaintances without sounding rude.

Lol this reminds me of the racist dogs sketch by Key & Peele
[video=youtube] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBT3MUxEum0 [/video]

I don't think there are racist dogs though, maybe they're just naturally aggressive?

I put them in the right place. Sometimes I just stay away from them because I don't want to hear them talk rubbish about dogs.

They became aggressive because of some humans with no soul keeps on hurting them. And I think all victim dogs can be cured and they can trust again humans. Just show them how sincere you are and feed them love them. Only times matter and the dog will trust again human and he will be no longer a dangerous aggressive one.

It's really sad that your dog passed through such kind of experience in the past. The thing that many people have failed to understand is the need to keep their dogs happy no matter the situation at hand. The way some dogs react to different set of people might be as a result of the past experience they have had which happens not to be pleasant at the end of the day. Petting the dog at such situations is necessary and one that is needed to make some adjustments in their behavioral pattern.