Jenna and Andrew Owens
Posted on 04/10/2010 7:26:54 AM PDT by JoeProBono
YONKERS, N.Y. -- A dog said to have a tendency to bark at minorities is being called "racist" -- a charge its owner, Paul Tocco, denies.
A year ago, the animal, Jenna, bit Andrew Owens, a black handyman at Valley Oil, a heating oil business that Tocco's family runs.
Recently, the 58-year-old Owens "egged on" the barking dog, which was chained outside the business, police said.
Owens then pulled out a 9-inch folding knife and slashed the dog across the face, through the eye socket, police said.
He admitted to the crime and was charged with felony aggravated cruelty. In explaining the incident, Tocco first told a local reporter that the dog had it in for Owens -- and other minorities, for that matter.
"The dog reacts to black people, Hispanics, anyone who is not white," Tocco said. "She always barked at him [Owens]. He was well aware the dog didn't like him, and he knew to stay away from her."
Tocco is now backing off that statement, and several other people who know and love the 4-year-old canine have come to Jenna's defense, saying she's no racist and, in fact, has many black and Hispanic friends.
"All of my friends are minorities, and the dog has never attacked any of them," said Richard Lopez, 20, a Hispanic who once lived with Tocco and helped take care of Jenna. "She wouldn't harm a fly."
Jenna and Andrew Owens
An eye for an eye comes to mind here.
Dogs react to people who are different than their keepers. Dogs owned by “minorities” are no different.
Wait, a black guy attacks and maims a dog and then barks at black guys. Maybe the dog learned something that the black guy can’t understand?
I can't think of a single reason why dogs and black people don't get along...
Oh, wait, maybe it's becuase one species treats the other like its own personal slaves, right Mike?
Dogs are color-blind, but they can sense something of the true nature of the person. They know good people when they see them, likewise they know bad people when they run across them as well. Witness what this piece of human sh!t did to this poor animal. I would say the dog had every reason to be defensive around this wretched excuse for a human being.
Dogs are not colorblind when it comes to people. Black peoples dogs will bark at white people too. I have seen it happen lots of times. I am not sure that dogs are colorblind when it comes to other colors either. One of my Jack Russel Terriers prefers his red rubber ball. He refuses to play with a green ball and an orange ball of the exact same kind. Same size same everything except color, how does he know?
Back in my grandfather’s day, there was a solution for problems like this.
Good dog! :)
Sounds like the dog is a good judge of character.
I would suspect that the dog had been teased or harassed by a dark skinned person or a person wearing black. It is not the dogs fault.
I thought dogs were colorblind?
Seriously, this is silly. Everyone knows that dogs are “racist,” and it’s got nothing to do with the way they are brought up. For crying out loud, even the trendy, intellectual, socially pretentious “Brian” from family guy is racist.
Hank Hill had a racist dog too.
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