Police DOG Suspended Over Charges Of RACISM [Racist Dog Alert?]

AP ^ | 2/4/04

[11th Earl of Mar]

Pa. Police Dog Suspended; Bit Black Child

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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.

In 2002, town officials ordered a two-month investigation to determine if Dolpho was singling out blacks while on patrol after the dog escaped from police vehicle and bit a 9-year-old black boy playing nearby. The dog was taken off duty, retrained for two months and returned to the force.

City Councilwoman Wanda Jones Dixon, who is black, complained about the dog in 2002 and renewed her request that the animal be retired from the police force or put to sleep.

--

[Kiss Me Hardy]

She's a cocker spaniel, but her two best friends are a border collie and a fullsize french poodle. So I figure she's picked up some intelligence by association. I know cockers aren't supposed to be smart, but nobody ever explained that to her.

[B4Ranch]

30 years ago, I stole a two year old Airdale from a man who beat and abused her terribly. She tried to attack me when I did it. LOL I just roped like you do a calf, tied her up to the truck and drove the six miles home at ten miles an hour.

A week or so of running around on the ranch and she calmed down somewhat but still stayed 25 feet away from me. Women were no problem but even with them she didn't want to be petted or hugged.

Then she had a problem with foxtails caught between her toes, feet became infected. When it got to the point where she could hardly walk I had a lady friend hold her down while I surgically removed the foxtails from all four feet. Applied some medication and bandaged them. Then she became my dog!

I could pet her, wash her, hand feed her, you name it. Figure that one out. Hate me then love me all in 30 minutes!

Move on five years, as far as I know she had never seen a black person. While waiting to unload in Portland I took her for a walk using a long leather leash. Six warehouse workers were walking towards us on the sidewalk. All were black.

She stopped, looked, when I got beside her, she forcibly pushed on my leg moving me to the building wall. The hair on her back and neck stood up, I grabbed as much leash as I could thinking she might try to attack these men. Instead she just stopped, waiting for them to attack her!

The men walked out into the street around a couple of cars before getting back on the sidewalk. All the time I'm reassuring her these men weren't from Mars and didn't mean her harm, apologizing to the men at the same time.

'Til the day she died she did not like strangers of any size or color. I was the only one she would retrieve a ball for. I was the only one who could touch her stomach or check her teeth.

Whatever happen in her life as a puppy had to be terrible.

[rmlew]

Dogs can learn to be prejudiced.
My aunt rescued an abused rottweiler. (Cigarett burns, broken ribs, ringworm... The dog was a mess.)
My sister and I came down to visit. My aunt's other dog was very friendly, but the rescued dog went crazy when we approached. It kept alternating between whining, growling, and hiding.
It seems taht it associated all men with goatees and all smokers with abuse.
I could see a dog that was abused by people of a certain race being hostile to all members of that race.

[B4Ranch]

"she'll obey the first couple (with her head cocked on one side staring at the walkie-talkie) but then she loses it and starts barking like crazy."

That is worthy of filming. Imagine playing the film and letting her listen to it. LOL

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, she doesn't know what she looks like! (When she sees her reflection in the French doors, she's convinced there's a strange dog on the deck. She'll check several times "where'd that dog go?" then give it up as a bad job, after several suspicious looks at the glass . . . )

[AnAmericanMother]

Poor lambkins! And Airedales are so touchy, too, and definitely one-man dogs. My dad as a young boy had an Airedale named (I kid you not) Sandy Angus Noble Sturibidus Sterilized Noble McGhee (he named the dog, he never could explain to us what Sturibidus meant. Noble was a favorite uncle, so he named the dog for him twice.) But Sandy Angus was a one-man dog, and so protective of my dad that he would growl at my grandfather when he spanked dad, or jump any kid who tried to wrestle with dad. Eventually he had to be sent to a cousin in the country . . .

[B4Ranch]

he never could explain to us what Sturibidus meant

Think reproduction. There are somethings Dads don't discuss with daughters, nor will I with a lady unknown to me.

Chuckle and wonder

Dave

[AnAmericanMother]

Nah, I don't think so. He was only 7 or 8 years old.

Besides, my dad taught me all the words to "The Bastard King of England" and "The Ball of Kirriemuir". You really think he would balk at a Virgin Sturgeon? (He taught me THAT song too.)

He also taught me to shoot, woodwork, and change a tire. That's what happens when you only have daughters, I guess.

[FITZ]

I had one dog that liked whites and blacks, but hated Hispanics.

I doubt dogs have any concept of race -- or breeds, I don't see dogs being at all fussy about their own "races" --- I doubt they care if another dog is a poodle or a schnauzer and they don't care about humans either --- it must be something else --- dogs have ways of sizing up people and will take to some people and not to others but it's based on something else.

[Old Professer]

There are times when even Hallmark doesn't have a card.

[CovenBuster]

You might find this interesting: White Dog (a very disturbing movie)

[SouthernClaire]

(I know already I'll be flamed for this from one group or t'other, but hey, I'm working tomorrow and won't get a chance to view it anyway. :-) )

Dogs go more by scent. It's not a colour issue.

Black, White, Hispanic, etc., etc., Male or Female, all produce different odors that humans can't pick up but dogs can. It's not a prejudice other than a prejudice to something their not used to.

You can take a pup (smarter than humans in this respect), raise him or her around a mix of races and the dog will not have a need to attack the unknown.

Dogs do not know racism (kinda laughing at myself for having typed that), and are a blessing to us in that respect.

It's simply a matter of what "smells" familiar or foreign to the pup.

You raise a pup in a Black family without ever having sniffed a White person, you'll find the dog hostile to the odour of a White, and vice versa.

Democrats, on the other hand, all dogs will take a bite. :-)

And, dog gone, you gotta love 'em for that!

[Old Professer]

C'mon...

[dljordan]

I had a German Short-Hair bird dog that would attack Black people. We didn't train him to do it and we certainly didn't encourage it. When he would see a Black person (only men for some reason) he would take off like a bullet. The only thing I could think of that caused it was the garbage men throwing rocks at his pen. I guess he held a grudge. Damn good bird dog though.

[Old Professer]

Sounds like a lot of the trolls who frequent the Smokey Backroom.

[.cnI redruM]

Gee, I thought we all just tasted like chicken. As if my last reply to this thread wasn't tasteless enough.

[FITZ]

Dogs go by scent --- but I doubt they care how we smell -- it's just some information they like to have and helps them remember. I think dogs go by body language more --- people who grow up around dogs understand dogs and communicate better with them. Dogs will take certain cues as aggressive and threatening. If a child is nervous and jumpy around a dog, the dog is more likely to bite. It's the same way with horses and other animals --- nervousness around them can get you hurt.

[Eighth Square]

My dog hates Martians but is OK with LUNA'tics!

[U S Army EOD]

Has anybody got any advice how I can train my dog just to bite Democrats?

[SouthernClaire]

You say, "Dogs go by scent --- but I doubt they care how we smell."

OK, but, but, BUT! Scent is what we smell {like}.

You say, "If a child is nervous and jumpy around a dog, the dog is more likely to bite."

And most dogs will do the same with an adult. Being a child has little (if not nothing) to do with it. And that has nothing at all to do with the point I was trying to make.

You say: "It's the same way with horses and other animals --- nervousness around them can get you hurt."

I agree. However, again, that's totally separate from my point. I can get nervous in the presence of a lawyer or in the presence of a liberal. Give me one good whiff, and I'm ready to bite, kick and scream.

Your points are valid -- no argument there. But my point still is that dogs will pick up scents (even of nervousness) and react to those, from RACE TO RACE.