3 ms·
Man's Best Fiend
- xutopia 10y agoIt hurts me to read this. History just shows how horrible humans can be to one another.
- anigbrowl 10y agoHaving two German Shepherds and living in a mixed neighborhood, I've become very conscious of this. Some black people are very fearful of Shepherds, some love them (often from having worked with dogs in the army). I feel a special responsibility to be on the lookout for people's reactions and adjust my behavior to accommodate their needs when I'm out and about. As I used to intensely dislike dogs myself until I rescued one it's not hard for me to relate to people who view them with anxiety. Sad to say, there are also some people who get shepherds precisely because of this history, knowing and intending to have an intimidating effect on black people. Some of the German Shepherd Groups on facebook attract clusters of racists who delight in posting 'takedown videos' put out by police departments showing criminal suspects being caught or even mauled by dogs. Pointing out the wild statistical improbability of some people's posting patterns as an example of bias has resulted in me being kicked out of groups because my comments were 'making people uncomfortable.' It's a sad fact that some people teach dogs to aggress specifically on people of color, which is an awful thing to do not only to the people around them but to the dogs themselves. Dogs are emotionally intelligent creatures to begin with and Shepherds are among the most intelligent breeds. They think a lot and they dream a good deal; k9 police officers can't sleep with their dogs because the dogs are liable to bite in their sleep. Those who project and perpetuate their prejudice by training an animal to express it strike me as particularly loathsome people.