To be fair, sometimes a particular type of person has abused the dog. I get all my pets from shelters or rescue organizations (or adopt feral cats) and I’ve known foster parents who will tell me straight up that a particular dog is fearful around men, or doesn’t like children, etc. It’s usually due to the dog’s history.

Which doesn’t mean the new owner doesn’t still have a responsibility to teach the dog that no, not every person of that particular race or gender or age group is a meanie.

As I wrote in this article, one dog I adopted had been used in dog fights, so she was terrified to be around groups of dogs. However, after going through obedience training and Doggy Day Care and visiting dog parks, she really enjoyed her friendships with other dogs.

So if I met a dog that, say, didn’t like me because I’m not white I wouldn’t automatically assume the owner was a racist, particularly if it was a new owner and the dog was a rescue. However, I would still expect the owner to continue socializing the dog so it experienced love at the hands of many types of people.