I signed Miss Riley Annabelle up for puppy training, since she is a little monster dressed in fuzzy fox’s clothing. At the first class, we were given this handout on things that a puppy needs to be introduced to. Notice the bottom, left hand corner.
I have so many questions.
- Did the Caucasian instructor think anything of this when she handed it to my Asian husband?
- Is said husband “Asian” or “Oriental”? I mean, WHAT? Why does it even say that? What is the difference, other than one term is socially acceptable and the other is not? I don’t even know where to begin.
- Is this really necessary? Aren’t dogs mostly color blind? Don’t they really just see primarily in shades? Why doesn’t it say to introduce my dog to a blond and a brunette, if this is necessary?
- Racism insanity aside, am I really supposed to go find horses and turtles, and take my puppy to the airport and a sporting event? Are puppies allowed in the Moda Center now, and I’m just out of the loop?
I kind of skipped this homework. I just don’t even know what to say. It is true Riley is afraid of everything, but this list is kind of blowing my mind.
Am I overreacting?
Jillian
I am in my thirties, which is hard to believe. Time goes by fast. Since that is the case, I have decided to write about it. If I can't slow it down, I can at least share with others and get help along the way! 
How To Be Myself 
Shes cute ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Soooo cute
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s disturbing. When I did canine good citizen training with Sassy, she just had to tolerate action around her, so in class we created distractions like people running by her, people on crutches and in wheelchairs, people on bikes and in baby carriages, etc., we didn’t expose her to the actual environments listed here. But, that “ethnicity” stuff on there is really out there. I’ve never heard of this. Is it possible the teacher is just bonkers? Can you take her somewhere else? That alone would undermine the instructors credibility to me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
She’s a good citizen? Good for her 🙂 🙂
I wish I could switch, but they don’t let you have any of your money back after the class starts. I won’t be recommending this insanity, that’s for sure…
LikeLike
Is this a different class than Kuma went to? Why didn’t you take her to the same one? Did the shiba rescue place reccomend this instructor? Just wondering how you found them. Weird!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a different place, it’s supposed to be the best place for puppies!! It was really expensive, too. I think I got robbed.
LikeLike
The only thing I can think about why it would be relevant is that it would help them understand who is coming to the classes…to adjust the marketing demographics in the future. All about the money, would be my guess.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s not a survey, it’s our homework. We’re supposed to go find all these things and people and introduce our dog to them!
LikeLike
That said, I have just looked at the form a bit closer, and it seem like they are asking questions about potential visual triggers. Might be relevant…maybe. I dunno, I’d actually ask them next time; might be something genuine that makes sense.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I may email about it. If I ask in class, J will be so mad at me. He hates confrontation.
LikeLike
Ahh, I understand now! I also think I understand why they might ask – they seem to be asking you to expose the puppy to as many different visual and…smell..ial?? stimuli as possible. Asian to me is Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi where Oriental (whilst not particularly sensitively named…) would be an entirely different appearance to that.
For my money, I think dogs are more likely to go, “stands-up-straight-less-legs-then-me” than they are to recognise different gradients of skin colour, but I think I get where they are coming from. Still, I think it merits the question, and perhaps some gentle guidance about more appropriate things to put on their forms 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hmm. Perhaps you are right on the distinction…
LikeLike
No, she took the class but failed the test. She’s bad citizen 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol! I thought when we first started that I wanted to do the good citizen thing. Riley is so scared she can barely even walk in to classroom. It’s soooo not happening.
LikeLike
I hope I don’t get attacked for having a racist dog, but Nebby has never been as friendly with Mexicans as he is with others. I don’t know why that is, but it’s absolutely every Mexican person he meets (although he does warm up to them when he sees they’re nice) and he doesn’t do this to anyone of any other group. So, yeah, dogs can be bigots. And I’m feeling like a total jerk, because I honestly didn’t realize Oriental was offensive. I would have guessed it was just old fashioned. So, thanks for saving me from the possibility of making THAT mistake!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Eh, I don’t think everyone finds it offensive. J doesn’t seem to care much, I think I’m more bothered by it than he is.
That’s so interesting about the dog though… Why?! Why do they feel that way? It’s so crazy to me. A friend also texted me and said she had a dog with similar issues. I guess it is a thing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know Nebby was beaten and kicked by the boyfriend of his last owner. I know nothing at all about him, but I’ve always wondered if he might have been Mexican. That maybe could explain his reaction? Or maybe Nebby is just a racist pig.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Awwww that is so sad 😦 poor dog 😦
LikeLike
You are not overreacting! I know you would lose money but sometimes its the !@#$% principle and you just have to take the loss, because racism is never okay. Have you addressed your concerns with the instructor? How has your husband reacted to this paper work? How does he address his own ethnicity- does he prefer be called oriental or Asian or something else? I shared this with my little humans and they were like wow dogs can’t be racist and I informed them not to my knowledge. They think you should write a bad review on every website like Google and Yelp.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I haven’t said anything, because J hates it when I make “a big deal” out of things. He doesn’t seem to care about it at all, it’s just me.
I’ve never heard him refer to himself as anything other than Asian, so I guess that’s what we’re going with.
I will definitely be writing reviews!!
LikeLike