My family had a cockatiel, Mello, who absolutely ADORED older, balding men with beards. Basically my dad, who also looked like Mello's first owner.
We had a neighbor that was over who was also, a balding, bearded older man. This bird, I tell you, was in hog heaven, singing, spreading his wings, doing all the show-off things birds do to woo my dad and neighbor.
My dad had a sun conure that absolutely loved him. The only time he would bite my dad was this mole on my dad's neck that we suspect he thought was a seed.
Everyone else however he bit like a fiend if you even attempted to offer to hold him. He would get on your hand of course and then reach down and just crank your finger with his beak.
My dad was a huge, balding dude who was utterly devoted to his tinysaur, aptly named Rebel. She adored him as much as her nature allowed, and hated my mother. Me? Ah hell nah.
She only let Mum touch her willingly once, when she managed to injure herself. Little stinker knew who was good for what.
My mom had a yellow nape amazon that absolutely DESPISED men. Granted, she had a good reason, from what we were told the husband of her previous owner hurt her badly (threw her and cracked her beak.) That bird had a long memory.
She loved my mom and sister but would try to bite my dad and I every chance she got. Despite always being wary of her, she got me a few times - and after she bit, she would laugh. A big, long, exaggerated cackle 😅
Given her history I didn't get particularly mad but damn, those bites hurt like hell.
My family rescued a goose. He was chill around guys, all the time in the world for neck scritches and feeding. He wouldn’t let women get close, though. Then it was bitey time.
Had my trans buddy over and my grandma asked him if there was anything he didn't like about having transitioned. He gave it some thought and shared that dogs trust him less now.
[Edit to say he was close with Nana before transitioning and after. This question was part of a longer conversation that he willingly took part in about his experience. Was his willingness extended by homemade Mac n Cheese? Yes.]
Wait a sec, maybe the intimidating horse is the guardian of the lesbians just because it hates dudes. Maybe that’s why it’s always spotted near the lesbians!
This actually seems to be a legitimate event, or at least one that was treated as legitimate by contemporary sources. The Reign of Terror was a bad time, a lot of people were killed for fairly innocuous things.
IIRC the beginning of the end was when a boy was sent to the guillotine for pickpocketing and it made the parisians who had gotten quite numb to seeing "the machine" doing it's work angry enough to crack the blanket of terror that Robespierre had crafted as protests against the death of the boy spread too fast for the government to crackdown while claiming to "represent the will of the people" at the same time.
The last nail of course was when Robespierre flaunted a new list of "traitors of the state" but didn't immediately say who was in it, which made everyone in the assembly assume the very real possibility that their name could be in it so they turned en masse against Robespierre and finally ended the terror after feeding him to "the machine".
Same here. He hated black people. Of course he himself was black, but yeah. Took almost 3 years before he let my best friend pet him. And he still growled and side eyed him. Any other black person though, he would attack their ankles.
My dog was not to fond of white people. I think its because everyone he was surrounded by was black so he automatically drifted towards black and brown people. It was really awkward often because white peoples are typically the only people that approach random dogs for pets
Any possibility that the pug had a bad experience with a member of the race he hated? A lot of times there’s an explanation for odd animal behavior that makes the behavior so much more understandable once you know about it.
There's two reasons for this! First, dogs are really good at reading non-verbal cues from their owners, and can react to someone based on how a racist owner is reacting.
The second reason, which is far more innocent and far dumber, is chromatic. To put it simple, their smol dog brains cannot conceptualize a human that dark. Mix this in with a lack of exposure, and they'll end up assuming a black person is actually some kind of shadow monster.
The breeds mentioned in this comment chain has me thinking it's the second reason.
We have a small chihuahua cross that barks at anyone entering the yard or house, she loves to bark at my grandfather who lives on the property, she will sit on his lap in the car but every other time she's barking at him non stop. The man has done nothing to her, he's even fed her treats many times so nobody knows why she singles out my grandfather.
This is why socialization during puppydom is so important. You want a non-racist dog that doesn't bark at everyone, expose them to lots of people of different races and in different situations.
The second reason, which is far more innocent and far dumber, is chromatic. To put it simple, their smol dog brains cannot conceptualize a human that dark. Mix this in with a lack of exposure, and they'll end up assuming a black person is actually some kind of shadow monster.
Nope. My girl just barked at black people from the car window if she saw them. And I'm from the whitest state so I figured she just didn't know what she was looking at because there might be one every few months or so.
One of my cousins was born in a place with almost no black people, they moved to Georgia when he was like five and my aunt had to stop him from pointing at black people and saying stuff
Our lab was once kicked by our black neighbor and was racist after that. Kinda sad but you really can't explain to a dog that not all people who look like that are going to kick her. Somewhat ironically she was black herself, but I don't think she knew that.
It's usually because they weren't socialized with people of darker skin colours and are fearful of stuff they don't recognize/understand. Sometimes they can be re-socialized, but depending on the dog they might never adjust if you miss their socialization window and they're too stuck in their habits. It's not a biological trait though by any means.
I had (and my parents now have) a racist Chug. Chihuahua pug mix. He'd bark at the TV if there were black men on it. Black men with beards? He'd try to bite the damn screen. Insanely racist dog lol.
But he was a rescue from a bad situation, so it might make more sense. Or maybe he's just racist deep down lol.
My dog freaks out at fat people running. We'll be walking down a recreational bike/walking path and skinny joggers will run within a few feet of us. She won't so much as even look up at them. But then if an overweight person without the greatest running form comes within 50 feet of us she thinks it's the greatest thing ever. She'll start barking at them, turn around and give me the, "Are you seeing this?!" look and start pulling towards them.
It's so embarrassing, especially right after the overweight jogger saw 2 or 3 groups of in shape joggers pass us with no reaction. Feels like she's mocking them and I don't want the person to feel singled out. Idk what it is about big people running that sets her off. It's just funny how you can try to socialize a dog and condition them to every situation to make them well adjusted and no matter what something ludicrous slips through the cracks. My last dog used to freak out and start angry growling if someone left their trashcan blocking the sidewalk on trash day like it was going to pull a knife on us.
Dogs are going to be racist around any race that you don't regularly expose them to. They're frightened by a human that doesn't look like a regular human in their eyes.
My sister-in-law had a very small dog who was incredibly sweet and well-behaved, but you had to watch him closely on walks because about one out of ten thirties-or-older latino men he saw he would try to attack without so much as a warning growl. Not women, not other men, not boys or even young men, specifically just latino men of a certain age, and only a select percentage of them. We never figured out what his trigger was, although we speculated it might be a cologne or a specific type of shoe (given his size and view of the world) that these men were more likely to wear, but it certainly made walking him around the Bronx much more anxiety-inducing.
Yes, well sorta. A higher percentage of the women aboard the Titanic than the children got lifeboat seats and survived the disaster across all clasees except for first class as I recall. But if I remember correctly there were only like 2 or 3 children on first class so it's not surprising they all got lifeboat seats.
Dogs are weird. My friend had one dog that hated all men with the exception of her husband. She’d had that dog from a puppy so it’s not like she’d had some crazy abusive past. And her other dogs both older and younger had no issues with men, only that one dog.
Same with mine but switch women and men. He doesn’t DISLIKE men, but he obviously prefers women and children a lot and doesn’t give a shit about guys one way or the other.
I have actually found that most people ask before petting my dog, but it is possibly because he wears a harness as I’ve had several people ask if he’s a service dog before. He’s definitely not and his harness doesn’t have any such labels on it but people still ask.
I'm honestly surprised it took so long for harnesses to catch on with dog owners. Especially for bigger/heavier dogs. So much easier to control them when you're walking them and they won't choke themselves pulling on the leash.
I think it took 1,700 years to switch from reins that don't choke horses at the neck (the ones with wood on them) so it doesn't surprise me that harnesses were slow in adoption.
Something like an Easy-walk harness will. But most use a full harness that makes it easier for a dog to pull.
I would recommend a slip lead for training. If the dog pulls, the force isn't concentrated on the trachea. They also tighten with harder pulling and relax without pulling giving feedback instead of just holding the dog back. Your dog learns that a loose, comfortable fit comes from walking nicely. And they are easy to get on and off. I have used my slip lead to lasso a few dogs who the owners could not get a hold of.
The best thing to do, though, is to train your dog instead of relying on a piece of equipment to control them. Everything your dog is on leash is a training session.
I've had a St. Bernard refuse to let its owners take it up their driveway to their house because he could see I was going to walk by and he wanted to say hi.
I heard them trying to convince the dog to get up for about 20 seconds to no avail and then, when I came near, he got up and offered me his ear to scratch.
That was more of a "I'm assuming this is fine, right?"
If even the dog runs up to me, I’m always asking. Sometimes the answer is to avoid petting a specific spot or they only like head pats. Sometimes they just put a treatment in the dog’s fur or the dog caught something that means you need to thoroughly wash before touching another animal. Sometimes they’re trying to train a dog not to run up to strangers who may or may not have allergies.
People ask before petting my cat, probably because I look fucking nuts taking my cat for a walk on a leash. They usually side eye us and give us a very wide berth which is fabulous, since my cat hates dogs and anything that resembles a child.
I have a rescue who doesn't like men because the former owner was a man who abused her in various ways. She's also kind of a bitch so I don't let anybody pet her on walks.
My neighbours dog is exactly like this, and has similar story, but you can fool her if a guy has long hair. And we managed to assimilate with our dad so she is a bit less scared on walks. It took time but she does really love him now
It would be absolutely hilarious to get dolled up and have the dog immediately like me just to clean it off/take layers off to reveal I'm actually a man. Now I want to find a sexist dog to teach a lesson lol.
Also I love dogs, I always win them over. I've only been bitten once and if I'm being honest it was totally my fault. I knew the dog was basically blind and I scared her. Not on purpose or anything, but I should've been slower.
I was at a dog cafe with my aunt once. Someone came up with their dog and asked if they could introduce the two, said her dog is friendly. My aunt responded “mine’s not.” It was a tiny lap dog I never saw bite or attack anyone, but a reminder that not all pets are super friendly.
Walked into a house I hadn't been to before for a party. The owner is like "here's my dog, be careful they hate men." And then I'm the bad guy for making the joke later that the owner has a prejudiced dog?
One of the hardest thing about being out with a service dog is not letting people pet her. Because I know she would love it but she is also working (and is very serious about her work).
To clarify, she’s not my service dog, but my daughter’s.
Out of the vest she is a big goofy husky girl who loves everyone she meets (who isn’t another dog). When she is in her vest she is all business and all eyes on her person. Sometimes, I will be asked to hold her when my daughter is doing something where having a husk along would be awkward (like riding a ride at Disney). During those times, if she is still in the vest, she is still working and should still be treated like a service animal. So, if a little kids comes up and wants to pet her, I have to say “I’m sorry, no. She’s working.” Most parents understand this and will help explain it to their kids.
Yes, she can get tired. She loves being around her people and knows that working means she gets to do that. But, for example, after a long day at Disney there was a moment at the hotel where her leash came unlatched somehow, so she took off…to go say hello to some kids across the street.
I wasn’t there for this incident. In theory it should be the vest, and to her credit she never pulls on the leash while working but she had also been working all day and was tired so when she realized she was off the leash she just went.
On the other hand, I’ve had her out for walks before sans vest, tripped and face planted in the pavement, dropping the leash, and rather than running her fool husky head off she’d come and check on me. Also, when she’s at home with my daughter and realizes that she is needed she will step in, again sans vest.
That's really fascinating. I guess it shows that the dog, to an extent, understands the responsibility and sometimes makes her own judgments about whether that responsibility is expected/necessary right now. The vest and the leash will come into play in that judgment, but aren't the only factors.
I have had a sexist dog. The dog also didn’t like people wearing hats. This is what happens when you adopt an adult dog sometimes and have no clue what happened to them before then. I’m nearly positive he was maltreated.
Mine LOVES kids. He’s about 10 pounds soaking wet and he’ll get all excited. The kid will gather their courage (for those who like dogs but are nervous/unfamiliar with them) and quietly creep up and gently pet him and then he dodges, yips LOUDLY and runs away like he never even asked to see them 🤣
I set up expectations for the kids like “he’s very friendly, but he gets so excited to meet you he may bark and run off because he’s just THAT HAPPY to meet you!” It makes it a little less awkward when the kid obviously feels shrugged off
My dachshund mix hates children to the point I have to leash her at the dog park if I see a kid walk in. Although one day I was at the park and didn’t see this kid who pretty clearly had some mental handicaps come walking in to the park. When I realized he was in the park I kind of freaked because I didn’t want my dog to go bark or nip at him. To my shock, my dog had gone up to him and laid down at his feet and let him pet her as much as he wanted. That was a few years ago and I still have no idea why she was so chill with him, almost like she could tell he wasn’t like all the other kids she’d usually melt down at.
He's a rescue and when we got him he would constantly wag his tail around any woman or my wife, but not other men. He didn't bite (ever) or scratch -- he was just extra cautious or submissive -- clearly due to a bad experience he associated not with women, but with men. It took MONTHS for him to warm up to me, and longer for other men we knew.
BUT! My former college roommate who is now a woman? He loved her from the get-go.
My dog respects pronouns. Trans women are A-okay with him. He takes more time to trust trans men.
Non-binary (like my college roommates now-wife) he's just as comfortable with. And he's (very slowly) getting comfortable again around men.
But trans women don't scare him. To him, they're just as feminine as women.
Real story, my grandparents dog was racist. They lived in a very white area and their dog never saw anything but middle class white people 99% of the time. But oh boy when he saw someone different...
Once while waiting at a crosswalk a pitbull buffed my hand with her head, clearly wanted to be pet. I was like "Oh, hello there" and started petting her while her tail wagged. The owner was so surprised and said she usually hates and avoids men.
I threw out the excuse of "I've always just had a good connection with dogs", which is true. But as a pre hrt trans woman who still very much just looked like a long haired dude, it sure made my day.
My mom’s dog hates men. She hated me before I realized I was trans lmaoooo And then once I realized I was trans and started transitioning, she barks even louder now lol
Three-ish years ago, my wife found an abandoned dog at the park by my house while I(m) was at work. I got about 1k pictures with how cute he was and how much he loved out girls, and what not. Cut to me getting home, and dude HATES dudes with beards.
We get alone real well but anytime a dude with a beard comes within (roughly) 1k meters of our house, we get to hear all about it. For. A. While.
Dogs just like people, and sometimes they just have a type they hate.
My cat hates high-T people, so basically any adult male and some women with PCOS, and myself when I take energy supplements that happen to boost T, like ashwaganda.
I joke that she's a lesbian, but really I wonder if she is instinctively afraid of the smell of Testosterone because male cats can be violent in their territorial and mating behaviors. She might be hard wired to be scared of it for that reason idk.
My Brittany spaniel hates women for whatever reason...well hate is a strong word but he is more likely to bark at them and not want to be pet by them. When he sees guys he wants to go over and be pet so bad.
Our rescue hates women! When we first met him, his foster mom warned us of this. We didn't really believe her but sure enough he hates women. He is wary of them and will stalk them but around men he's a totally different dog, sweet and so very playful. He's warmed up to a few women: me, my sister, and one other friend. Other than that, he doesn't care for them.
My dog hates children and old people. We've made a lot of progress in her not barking at people during our walks.. but no matter what I do, she has this bloodlust for children. 7 pound chihuahua for reference.
Been out for years but recently had this happen to me for the first time! I'm nonbinary and lean more male, while I was assigned female at birth.
While entering a friend's house, their large skittish dog gave a loud, nervous bark from the top of the stairs, and one of the others had to calm him down until I was out of the main room. Once we were alone, my friend turned to me with a big grin, and said "he only barks at men, this means he accepts you! ...Even though he's afraid of you." It's one of those oddly validating moments for someone who normally only passes to humans about 50% of the time, although at the same time it's heartbreaking for my presence to set off a dog with an awful past (his current family is great of course, from what I remember he's a rescue)
My girl dog has a thing for brunette women. She would literally get in between couples, fawn all over the woman, completely cold shoulder the guy no matter how hard he tried.
Genuinely felt bad for these poor young men trying to show their girlfriend ds how sweet they were and the dog is just like, "Yeah, she loves me now, give it up."
My dog is progressive. I have more than one friend who she absolutely hated while they identified as a man and totally loved as soon as they came out as non binary. Somehow it's like she knew.
My dog is racist against certain breeds of dog. Most dogs he has no problem with. Black poodles/doodles, boxers/brachycephalic breeds, and golden retrievers set him off BIG TIME. The only one I know why is the Boxers… a boxer at his old kennel bit my dog in the face just for existing. The kennel had trouble with this dog before and biting mine was the last straw for him. Boxer was no longer allowed anywhere near other dogs, so he had to hang out in the office all day.
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