Vanity: My Dog always gets upset when we see Arabs/Muslims; Islamophobic dog or owner?

July 15, 2002 | me

[Michael2001]

I own a 5 year old Siberian Husky. She doesn't come into much contact with Muslims where we live, but when I take her for walks in the city we sometimes come across Arabs/Muslims, they're usually pretty distinguishable the way they look and dress.

Whenever we come across one, her tail straightens out, her fur stands on end, and she goes into "attack mode" similar to what she does when she sees a bunny or a cat. She'll usually keep looking at them till we pass.

I say it's because I have a smart dog, but my wife says it's because my dog can sense my own reaction. The people at my Church say it's sensing my reaction, and the people at my work say smart dog. So it's a tie. I bet my wife a massage, we're letting Freepers break the tie.

[Michael2001]

BTW I don't like giving massages so I want y'all to remember how much I love you guys. Also note this article:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/716334/posts?page=2

The use of dogs is also sensitive to Muslims, as well. Dogs are considered ritually unclean, and Muslims must wash to erase the impurities that result from coming into contact with the animals.

Muslims don't like dogs, dogs don't like Muslims. I'd say the feeling is mutual

[neutrino]

Dogs are fine, intelligent animals. One should respect their reactions.

[sheik yerbouty]

The dog senses their smoldering hostility.

[Bahbah]

Trust your dog.

[per loin]

Breed the dog!

[joesnuffy]

Muslims dont like dogs.....
http://www.submission.org/pets/dogs.html

[NativeNewYorker]

Remember Classic Trek's The Trouble With Tribbles?

[lonestar]

Give the dog a bone!

And a pat for me.

[general_re]

My guess - the dog's most likely taking its cues from you. However, there's two other possibilities I can think of. One, some people or groups of people have distinctive body odors that some dogs will object to. This is a slim possibility, but a possibility nonetheless.

The other possibility is that the dog has had a bad experience in the past. Obviously, if you've had the dog its whole life, you'd know if that's the case, but it is possible in general.

As an example, I used to work with a guy who had adopted from a shelter a dog that had been abused. And this dog was generally very sweet and friendly, unless you were a particular sort of person - this dog would invariably try to rip the...package right off of men who were between about 5'10" and 6', and who had dark hair and a moustache. It was the oddest thing - if you fit that description, and only that description, that dog was going to try to kill you.

From this, we deduced some facts about the dog's previous owner, obviously. So, it's possible, in my experience, for a dog to develop a dislike of some sorts of people based on past experiences...

[LibKill]

Dogs have a the ability to sense hostility in humans.

[Drew68]

Bump for the best thread I've read all day!

And for the record, I think the dog senses your understandably justifiable disgust towards mohammedans. The dog probably doesn't like the way they smell either.

[CARepubGal]

Good Dog! Give that pup a nice pigs ear! :-) Dogs do have good intuition.

[socal_parrot]

Funny how you zeroed in on that massage thing....

You beat me to it.

[woofer]

The dog senses their smoldering hostility.

Ahhhh...I see you too have spent time in closed quarters with an ay-rab. They can get very (ahem) pungent.

[mseltzer]

Is your dog for sale?

[Chad Fairbanks]

I've always wanted a dog that would profile ;0)