MAN'S BEST FRIEND

They say dogs are man's best friend. I can tell you my previous dogs, Noodles and Romer and going back to the days of growing up, Missy and Ashley, were not only man's best friend, they were every ones best friend. That's why the below classified ad I found online at the site "Kijiji" (whatever that means) was so disturbing.



"Mia would be so happy to find a loving adoptive parent to take her in! She is apparently very scared of men, which leads us to believe she was abused quite badly by a man. She needs a female to take her in and have patience to teach her that men are O.K MIA is very good in the house, she is quiet and completely house trained. She is very affectionate with women but very apprehensive with men, she also has been great with other dogs she has met."



A man-hating dog,huh? What happens when the mailman comes to the door? What happens if you take the dog for a walk? Will MIA attack? Can I really trust this dog with anyone? Kids?



Like humans, dogs do experience trauma in life. Dogs can also be trained to dislike certain things. Back in 1982, the Kristy McNicols movie, "White Dog" featured a white German Sheppard that was trained by a white supremacist to hate black people.
Dogs can be trained to do just about anything. In Jamaica, for instance, some resorts reportedly train their dogs to chase black men off the beach, allowing the white guys to get a tan undisturbed. South Africa's apartheid government bred "boerbulls" by crossing several dogs to create a very aggressive mixed breed dog. But, according to experts, dogs don't necessarily have to be trained to be evil. They can have an innate sense of hatred.



Dr. Nicholas Dodman, a professor at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine and author of several books on animal behavior, was interviewed for an article on the magazine website, Slate.com. Says Dr. Dodman, "Any behavioralist knows that dogs don't like subsets of people and though the most common subsets are broad—strange men or little children—"sometimes it can be quite specific. It could be tall men, or men with beards. It might be men who are wearing big shoes, might be as subtle as men who smoke cigarettes—which can be hard to pick up on—but it can also be black guys."

The writer of the above classified ad for a woman adoptee should be ashamed of herself. I'm guessing it's a woman, because she's already explained the dog hates men. (I'm just hoping its not some crazed lesbian women's libber.) If this lady truly wants to have the dog "rescued" then she needs to take the first step before putting it up for adoption. She needs to take the man-hating dog to a experienced behavior therapist for dogs before she puts the "affectionate, house trained" dog up for adoption.