Scared of MY dog?? No way! (Racial question)

what puzzles me about this topic is the inability of people to adapt to NEW enviornments.

I don't find this puzzling at all. Especially for those for whom these are childhood experiences. Our childhood experience inform our adult lives. Even if a person would intellectually understand that not all dogs are dangerous, is it reasonable to expect him to make a 180degree turn and embrace dogs with spontaneity? I do not think so. I think if he was able to accept being in the same space as these dogs he would still be very aware of their presence.

JMO
Paula

Hmm, I had not thought about the difficulty of "reading" a black dog versus other colors.  My dog tended to get picked on in dog parks alot (so we don't go anymore) and I wonder if this could have been because he is black!!  Man, even DOGS are racist!! (kidding!!)

large black dogs are usually the hardest to get adopted out from shelters, too. People seem naturally attracted to light-colored dogs and dogs with white markings on them regardless of their childhood experiences.

ORIGINAL: mudpuppy

large black dogs are usually the hardest to get adopted out from shelters, too. People seem naturally attracted to light-colored dogs and dogs with white markings on them regardless of their childhood experiences.

 
That's so funny!  And yet, as a testament to childhood experiences, my first dog was a big black Afghan hound.  We also had a black cat.  We also had a Black Lab after Alfie (Afghan hound) died.  And I eventually adopted a black cat AND a black Lab of my own.  I LOVE black dogs and cats!  []

Now that I think of it, black does have a sort of "masking" effect.
Nevertheless, I prefer black animals.
Wouldn't go as far as Martha Stewart, who kept her black Friesian horses indoors during the day so they wouldn't fade...
But love black.[]
I'll watch the crows outside my window for hours. I think they're beautiful, the way the light catches their feathers and reflects back all the colors of the rainbow.
Black dogs, cats, etc. do have a mysterious quality about them, but I like it.
Can't stand anything pure white.
Does that say something about me? []

*just realized my avvie has a black dog as well*

ORIGINAL: mudpuppy

large black dogs are usually the hardest to get adopted out from shelters, too. People seem naturally attracted to light-colored dogs and dogs with white markings on them regardless of their childhood experiences.

 
interesting you should bring that up:  the foster program i volunteer for has this exact problem.... we didn't know it was general, we thought maybe it was TX[]

ORIGINAL: paulaedwina

what puzzles me about this topic is the inability of people to adapt to NEW enviornments.

I don't find this puzzling at all. Especially for those for whom these are childhood experiences. Our childhood experience inform our adult lives. Even if a person would intellectually understand that not all dogs are dangerous, is it reasonable to expect him to make a 180degree turn and embrace dogs with spontaneity? I do not think so. I think if he was able to accept being in the same space as these dogs he would still be very aware of their presence.

JMO
Paula

 
the reason i find it puzzling is because humans have shown themselves to be the most adaptable creatures on the planet...  if we follow this logic, then no criminal could be rehabed, children from abusive homes would never become productive members of society, etc...
 
again, JMO, and i respect yours.

Callie correct...even many "black" wolves have lighter shading around the eyes and mouth to enhance their ability to communicate. The white masking seen in huskys, dingos, shibas, etc is a primative pattern that enhances expression and exaggerates it as well...around the eyes...mouth, and cheeks. Solid/low contrast faces of any color...but most esp black or chocolate...can cause issues with communication.

Badrap, I don't know if you've ever lived for a significant period of time in another country with a very different culture, but you'll see pretty quick how non-adaptable humans can be, yourself very much uncluded! When I was living in China, I probably learned more about myself than I did about China.

People have to want to change and most people who are afraid of dogs just avoid dogs and don't actually go through the work of getting help with their phobia and working on rehabilitation. Anyone who *wants* to may be able to change their mind about these kinds of things, but most people don't want to or feel they need to. If you're convinced that dogs are evil hellspawn, why would you want to get over your phobia of them?

i guess we'll have to agree to disagree, because i would cite immigration as the ultimate indicator of human adaptability.

Sure but what do immigrants do...even those first ones?
Live among primarily each other...because it's what they know. I've always thought that was interesting the way immigrant populations talk about difficulty fitting in and are quick to point out if they are "put upon" by the "natives" lol....yet they choose to isolate themselves by living clustered together, shopping in their own stores and speaking their own languages.
 
Nothing wrong with that (one shouldn't lose one's own culture within another after all)...BUT I think one also has to make the effort to educate themselves in the new culture and it's customs as well. One has to reach out to embrace and be embraced...after all.
 
IMO this is why even now we have a nation of strangers.
 
Totally OT...sorry about that.

because i would cite immigration as the ultimate indicator of human adaptability.

 
From what I've seen, I'd say that adult immigrants tend to not-adapt well at all. It's their kids that do the adapting.

whoops, double post!

From what I've seen, I'd say that adult immigrants tend to not-adapt well at all. It's their kids that do the adapting.

And this is also why children of immigrants often have a hard time. They feel stretched over two different worlds, that of their parents which is still primarily their culture of origin, and that of the culture to which they immigrated. They often feel that they have to make a choice, to either disappoint their parents and assimilate into the dominant culture, or continue to feel alienated from the dominant culture by clinging to the culture of their parents. It is not a walk in the park.

Culture defines almost everything about us, though most of the time we don't even realize it. It is not easy at all to adapt to a totally new culture. The way we walk, the way we hold our posture, the way we greet other people, what we talk about and with whom, what we eat and like the taste of, how we eat it and when, what we find fun and not fun, these are all results of our culture. And all are very fundamental things that we do without even thinking about them.

*waving my sociology/anthropology major flag* I wrote my senior seminar paper on Chinatowns and the Chinese-American experience.