Dog discrimination: Why ignore a great pet because of color?
By Gina Spadafori
March 6, 2008
I take this one rather personally, since most of the dogs in my family are flat-coated retrievers, a breed commonly (but incorrectly) described as a “black golden.” (Flat-coats also less commonly come in brown, called “liver,” and very rarely, in yellow, called, “wow, is that a golden?”) See, we flattie fans know the truth: the golden retriever started as a “freak mutation” in flat-coats, and in fact, the golden was called a “flat-coated retriever (golden)” at the start.
Where was I .. oh yeah, black dogs. Pip my German shedder-brainy collie rescue is also mostly black. The only dog in my home who isn’t mostly black is The Drewbinator,my second-hand Sheltie (actually, I’m his fourth home, go figure) whose lush golden coat and white ruff and mane attract people from a quarter-mile away when we go out. Except … Drew would really rather strangers not paw at him. He’s friendly enough, but crowds just aren’t his thing. Whereas the retrievers would like nothing but people people people, except people often are a little afraid of Big Black Dogs … BBDs.
Me, I love BBDs. But …
You folks who rescue know where I’m going with this. BBDs are the heartbreak of shelters and rescue groups. No matter how nice a BBD, no matter how well-mannered, people tend to ignore or pass over these dogs in favor of the lighter-colored ones. MSNBC.com’s Melissa Dahl takes a look at the phenomenon:
To the uninitiated, the idea seems so strange — doggie discrimination? But among those in animal rescue circles, the phenomenon is commonplace enough to have earned its own name: “black dog syndrome.”
“There’s not a lot of that type of statistics on many aspects of sheltering,” says Kim Intino, the director of animal sheltering issues for the Humane Society of the United States. “But I think that every person that has worked in a shelter can attest that in shelters animals with black coats can be somewhat harder to adopt out — or to even get noticed.”
[...]
“They’re the hardest to adopt out, they’re in the shelters the longest and therefore, they’re most likely to be euthanized if nothing happens,” Bernstein says. [...]
Bernstein has plenty of theories about why people might not want black dogs in animal shelters. It’s mostly an unconscious thing, she says, which may explain why black cats have the same problems finding a home. People who are aware of superstitions about black cats (don’t let them cross your path!) may also be unconsciously harboring superstitions about black dogs.
Well, whatever. I love my ebony-coated guys, and my little Drewbie, too. And interestingly enough, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue’s folks have told me that they have no more problem adopting out their “black goldens” than their “golden goldens.” So there may be some dispute: Is it more about marketing and reaching out to people vs. a defeatist attitude towards getting pets placed, as the no-kill advocates say?
And by the way, if you have a black dog or cat, you know it’s very hard to get a good picture. Christopher Butler, who has taken pictures of tens of thousands of black dogs, has some tips.
Pictured: My boy Ben, who came to me “second-hand” at 18 months of age and died at age 11 (cancer, of course) in 2005. He never met anyone he didn’t love from the very first second he saw them, and he was so reliably good-natured and well-mannered he went to all my book-signings and public appearances. Sweetest dog ever born. … and I added a picture of The Drewbinator because his feelings were hurt.
Wow! I never thought of “color” discrimination for dogs. I’d heard of people not wanting black cats because of superstitions, but dogs too huh? I love them all! We have two black cats (we have no dogs!) and if we ever DO get a dog - it will be a little black pug! :) My preference is FOR the black dogs!
Comment by Tammy — March 6, 2008 @ 9:23 am
Gina, you forget the fact that flatcoats also come in yellow. A throwback to the days when the division was flatcoated retriever (black or brown), flatcoated retriever (yellow or golden).
You can still see the commonality betweeen flatcoats and goldens when you compare a yellow flatcoat ( http://fierymill.net/menagerie/luka/ ) and a working-type golden ( http://dev.fierymill.net/photo.....1.jpg/view ).
On black dogs, I think my mother summed up her relationship with our BBDs quite well. She finds the fact that they’re black and exuberant the main problem. And she comes from a house that has always had dogs and isn’t generally afraid of them.
I’m not sure how much the color also increases the perception of size.
Comment by ramin — March 6, 2008 @ 9:26 am
I forgot the yellows! Fixed, thanks!
Comment by Gina Spadafori — March 6, 2008 @ 9:36 am
Just to clarify to non-Flat Coat people: Although the yellow gene exists, a dog of this color is not acceptable by the Flat-Coated Retriever Society of American and therefore, not showable in AKC conformation events. The only two colors accepted in the US are black and liver.
Comment by Shari — March 6, 2008 @ 10:25 am
My first rescue from a shelter was a predominantely black dog (possibly lab/heeler X), she was the start of my dog showing craze and was the best puppy raiser. I, now, have a golden retriever as well as 2 black Flat-coats and another shelter rescue who is predominantely black. I personally have not come across people who don’t fall for my black dogs as much as the golden. They are mostly curious about the breed. The young female Flat-coat is so outgoing and friendly that it is hard to pass her by.
Comment by ruffhouse — March 6, 2008 @ 10:35 am
As a long time frustrated black dog photographer, I can attest to the issue.
In the digital age, however, I’ll add some tips to Photoshoppers that are akin to the great info Gina linked to for film photogs’ selection of “low contrast” film.
(1) Over-expose versus Under-expose while using a fast shutter speed. It’s better to blow out whites and backgrounds and desaturate the picture, especially when you’re using a fast shutter speed (sport mode) because dogs rarely sit still. High ISO (so what if it’s grainy), Fast shutter speed, might risk overexposure (you don’t get a lot of options when you’re shooting so fast for aperture).
In the picture linked, does the background/ground and whites really matter? It’s all in the eyes and those disappear if you don’t overexpose. You need to high shutter speed to prevent blur that would happen with over exposure at normal shutter speeds.
(2) Use Photoshop to post process. These tools will help you greatly:
Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight
You can use the toggles to underexpose the blown out whites and overexpose the too dark blacks. Fiddle with contrast to make it look good.
Image > Adjustments > Exposure
The Gamma and Exposure bars are the most helpful, moving the Offset bar usually adjusts the image way too much, so use the manual entry and use very small numbers like 0.0002
Image > Adjustment > Variations
You first pick Shadows, Midtones, or Highlights
Then pick how large a change you want to make with each click with the “Fine —- Coarse” bar.
Then click the Lighter/Darker version on the right, and you can also add more color to those desaturated over-exposed raw images.
Hope this helps.
Comment by Border Wars - Christopher — March 6, 2008 @ 10:38 am
Re: Yellow flat-coats … not accepted in the show ring but more than welcome in any dog sport allowed to the breed.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — March 6, 2008 @ 10:44 am
Love black cats - especially long hairs. Love any cat or dog that’s black. Color has never been an issue for me - hopefully it never will be.
Comment by Carol — March 6, 2008 @ 11:30 am
I was involved in rescue work for a long time, and did quite a few adoption fairs. I had always heard black dogs remained in rescue for a very long time. In fact I had a black puppy - lab mix - that was with me for 6 months before he finally got adopted. He was very sweet but very aloof.
I brought my dogs (all black) to an adoption fair because I was going to a training class afterwards. I had my dogs off in a corner in an ex-pen. Everyone that came to the adoption fair that day went over and looked at my dogs in their ex-pen and wanted to adopt them right then. Sorry I told them they are mine and not available. I had four retrievers with their shiny coats and wagging tails kissing everyone willing to walk up to their pen.
So is it the black color or the attitude of the dogs?
Comment by CLynch — March 6, 2008 @ 11:54 am
I think the black dog problem related more to over-supply in some shelters. People in a shelter are often drawn to the different looking dogs and lump the BBDs together :(
Comment by emily — March 6, 2008 @ 12:05 pm
I admit, when I’m trolling the shelter or surfing Petfinder, it’s generally not the black dogs who catch my eye. It’s their multi-colored, flashier counterparts.
And yet somehow I have two used black pit bulls (one from a shelter, one from rescue), both of whom were chosen for reasons that had nothing to do with appearance (which is as it should be). I probably wouldn’t pick a black dog, if everything else were even, but when is everything else even?
I love my black dogs.
Comment by katie — March 6, 2008 @ 1:19 pm
I really hadn’t realised that. I have had cats and dogs as pets in my life thus far and have never really thought about them in terms of colour. They were rainbow colours and I loved them all!
Comment by MoMo — March 6, 2008 @ 1:26 pm
In a poorly-lit shelter, it’s hard for a black dog to stand out.
And the typical quality of Petfinder/shelter website photos doesn’t do much to show off a black dog.
In my non-show-dog breed, it seems to be harder to move pups that have no “flash.” Black and tan pups, or tricolor/black & white pups with no white blazes on their faces, are often the “last to go” when breeders allow buyers to choose by photos. (I do most of the placing myself, so don’t have that problem — but then, I’ve also only had a few dark-faced pups.) There’s no “judge” to please for 99%+ of this breed’s owners.
I think the problem is mostly unconscious. People’s eyes get drawn to flash. And darker faces are more imposing. My dark-faced GSD bitch was the kindest soul to ever walk the earth, but she intimidated many people — a combination of being dark and being serious in nature, I think.
I once delivered a pound pooch on a transport to a small rescue in Illinois that specialized in black dogs.
I can’t find that one online now, but here’s another one: http://www.blackpearldogs.com/
Comment by H. Houlahan — March 6, 2008 @ 1:28 pm
@Christopher: As an active (amateur) photographer, I cringe at the thought of blowing out the whites (intentionally over-exposing too much). In the picture you linked, the detail of the white fur has been lost and the blown out highlights cause excessive chromatic abberration where white meets black. Sorry, I know I’m nitpicking.
With lots of experience in shooting black dogs with lighter dogs or black dogs on the white snow, I’ve learned that using the modes in the camera that give you more control are better. Using aperture or shutter priority and adjusting the exposure to under-expose the automatically metered value when the shot is mainly dark or over exposure when the shot is mostly light generally gives a fairly good balance.
The idea is to get a shot with neither the blacks or the whites lost. The commenting section here probably isn’t the place to discuss the matter though, sorry Gina.
And on the yellow flatcoats, in Finland and other FCI countries as in the States, entering shows is of no good but all other activities are open. Of course in FCI countries at least, becoming a champion in any other topic is also out of the question. And of course no one cares what color flatcoat you go hunting with ;)
Comment by ramin — March 6, 2008 @ 5:45 pm
I keep hearing the stories, but are any stats on the “black dogs are harder to adopt”? And if there are stats, is it across the board or are there regional preferences?
Admittedly, I can only speak for where I live (Southeastern PA), but I don’t see a distaste for black dogs around here — if a mutt looks like it’s mostly Lab, it seems to get adopted out pretty quick — around here, people still consider Labs the “ultimate family dog.”
I never met Pepper’s brother Tucker who was all black, because supposedly, he was so gorgeous that at his first “Puppy Day” with the rescue’s “Meet Our Dogs” at the local feed store, everyone wanted to adopt him and he went quickly.
Now, out of the 3 puppies, Pepper was put onto PetFinder because she had the traditional BC white collar/tail and white feet with spots — you could actually see what she looked like in the PetFinder picture. Her sister Shyanne is a stunningly beautiful, fluffy black dog, but her picture on PetFinder looked like a solid black square — you couldn’t see what she looked like at all.
So, I’m wondering in these days of PetFinder, if the difficulty of photographing black dogs is having an affect on their adoptability.
I’m wondering if the “black dogs can’t get adopted” is another myth that needs to be exploded — or if more salemanship will “raise all boats” and simply get more dogs adopted — maybe Tucker would have been languishing in rescue if he hadn’t been taken to a regularly scheduled “meet and greet” where everyone could see what a great dog he was.
Comment by Dorene — March 6, 2008 @ 7:37 pm
My current dog is small,fluffy, and white, but my first, beloved, perfect dog of my childhood and teen years was a nearly-all-black border collie. She was sweet and wonderful, and I picked her out of the litter and said, “That one, Dad!”
My sister favors black Labs, and her current one is the first not to come from a shelter.
Generally, cats or dogs, when I have gone in thinking I had a strong preference in color, every single time I’ve wound up with a cat or dog of exactly the color I thought I least wanted. Including this most recent time, when the one thing I sure I didn’t want was a white dog…
Comment by Lis — March 6, 2008 @ 8:43 pm
I think there stata will be there, but as I mentioned for areas where black genetics are common and so black dogs are commen enough to form an excess. I have certainly walked through shelters with row upon row of black dogs. But for actual statistics I believe there is some stuff on JAAWS. These days it is more often the pit mix that is the excess.
Comment by emily — March 7, 2008 @ 7:00 am
This post makes me happy I have two black dogs. :)
Comment by Georg — March 7, 2008 @ 12:30 pm
I’ve definitely seen this phenomenon, especially in the shelter with larger dogs. People do find them scary, their faces don’t stand out as much and they don’t have any kind of pattern or markings to make them stand out. It’s not so much that people dislike the black dogs, but rather they tend to be more drawn to colors.
I have a wonderful big black dog and probably always will, because I’ve grown to love them. Especially when they get older and start to get white around the muzzle and other places. So handsome!
For the unskilled point-and-shoot photographer I suggest taking pictures outdoors on a cloudy day or in the late afternoon, in other words avoid bright sun/dark shadows. A colorful background/environment helps, rather than neutral tones. Something like green shrubs, flowers etc. seem to help. And get close enough to show some detail on the face and eyes, sometimes a head shot is better.
Comment by Anne — March 7, 2008 @ 5:34 pm
I’ve volunteered at our open admission rural county shelter since it opened over three years ago and have never noticed or heard from staff that there is any particular issue with black dogs not getting adopted due to color.
Like in many places, people love those labs, which tend to be black.
The border collies generally are out the door within a week and are usually mostly black. Ditto the kelpie mixes.
Black pits with “boston terrier” type markings? Seem to be extra attractive.
Mostly black rotties? No problem.
Recent border collie/corgi cross, all black (Think border collie head and body on corgie legs. You had to see him….)? Flew out the door within three days.
I really think that it is a kind of urban myths, one of those things “everyone knows”. And probably a sub-conscious excuse for not making an effort to get dogs adopted.
Comment by Susan Fox — March 7, 2008 @ 6:41 pm
@ ramin -
Of course the ideal photo is neither under nor overexposed and has detail in the deep blacks and bright whites. My point is that if you’re going to risk error, aim for overexposure, especially when you’re using a fast shutter speed and you don’t have nearly the number of choices of aperture (you’re likely going to be moving in +/- full stops).
It’s a simple matter of weighing blown out whites versus informationless blacks, and since you care more about the dog than the ground, or the greater share of coat than any white highlights, lean towards exposing more versus less.
Underexposed photos of dark dogs in harsh situations are boring.
The several stops overexposed photo I linked to the first time is still nice to look at, frame, whatever. The underexposed photo in this comment has no details in the face and is boring, despite the background being perfectly exposed (and perhaps in better focus).
Both are really nasty conditions, bright sunlight, colorless dogs and backgrounds (black and white pool / on white concrete in front of a white wall. Neither are properly exposed. But I’ll take the one that is several stops over versus several stops under any day.
The other issue is trying to learn by trial and error how the metering system in your camera works, and which one to use and where to aim it.
Now, Gina’s picture on this post is excellently focused and exposed, but she also has what I imagine was an overcast low contrast day (ideal) that are so common in the bay area.
Comment by Border Wars - Christopher — March 8, 2008 @ 2:08 pm
Yep … it was shot at Christie’s old place in the redwoods north of SF, where the sun rarely shines.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — March 8, 2008 @ 3:15 pm
When I started “shopping” for a kitten two plus years ago I had so many choices. But there was a little black kitten with a bent and scarred ear that would call out to me when I came into the cat room. I noticed that when people came into the cat room they just walked right on by her cage. I thought she was cute and I wondered what would happen to her if I didn’t take her. I waited a week and came back and she was still there while others of a lighter variety were off to new homes. It weighed heavy on my soul what might happen to her if I didn’t take her, so I did. And glad that I did. I wonder if there is a nondiscriminating factor at play in peoples choices—I have noticed that it is more difficult to read the expression on my cats face because she is black. The light needs to be good otherwise she can look like two eyes. I notice the same thing in black dogs. Maybe people choose other than black because they cannot “read” the animal as well.
Comment by shawnnie — March 10, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
I know how true this is. I’m a flattie owner myself. With a wonderful ‘Teenage’ boy who just loves people, but, I’ve run up against people who are scared of him because he’s a male black dog. I’ve had an instance at the local high school at a football game, I was asked to take him away from the little children; even though I know that he is perfect with little kids. He just stands there and lets them pet him, or he will lick them. But he’s NEVER been aggressive.
In fact, he’s sweeter then the female flattie we lost about two months ago. Cancer as well.
I also have a black cat, who is a little monster. She was a rescue. Just like every other cat we have was. We had one cat who was dumped off at a farm with a little of three kittens, the kittens found homes, but since she was mostly black no one wanted her. I begged my parents, and she turned out to be the best cat we ever had. Hunter yet indoor kitty. She would follow me around just waiting for affection, she was my shadow and companion.
To me, black means nothing, I look at the animals personality.
Comment by Blake — December 18, 2008 @ 9:01 am
The yellow colored wavy-coat that begat the golden retriever wasn’t a freak mutation. He was the result of interbreeding some kind of yellow or reddish colored setter into a line of wavy-coats. I’m sure there were many yellow and reds born before Nous, but most of these were culled. Nous only survived because his owner, who was a noble (whose name escapes my memory at the moment) owed a cobbler a debt. The yellow puppy was given to the cobbler. The 1st Baron Tweedmouth saw this dog at Brighton and purchased him. He proved to be such a good working retriever on the Tweedmouth shooting estate near Tomich, Scotland, that he was the founding sire of the yellow wavy-coated retriever line that became the basis for the golden retriever. This line bred back to black wavy-coats, an extinct retrievery water spaniel called the Tweed water spaniel, and some red setters. It was part and parcel of the way-coated breed.
The wavy-coated breed is the ancestral stock for both the golden and the flat coat. The golden was, as you said, a color variety of the flat-coat originally. But it was usually registered as a liver flat-coat or a flat-coat “Of any other color.” In 1908, the yellow color was recognized in the flat-coat as a standard color, but it is not a standard color now.
The yellow gene still pops up in flat-coats because a early sire in the breed, Don of Gerwn, carried the yellow gene. Although liver-colored, his grandsire was descended from Nous, known at that time as “Tweedmouth’s strain.” Another source for the yellows in flat-coats is the Culham line of golden retriever, which was bred by Lord Harcourt. This strain was one of the three founding lines of golden in the first “black and brown dog free” studbook. For a while, you could register a dog based upon appearance, not pedigree, so flat-coats, goldens, and Labs were often born in the same litters! These dogs were registered as flat-coats originally and bred with black flat-coats. They were doing so when the golden was split off the flat-coat in 1911. After 1911, they had several litters in which black puppies were registered as flat-coats and the yellows. The blacks more than likely carried yellow genes.
However, the Culham dogs were very dark, much darker than most modern goldens and darker than any of the yellow flat-coats I’ve seen, so my guess is Don of Gerwn is main the source for the yellow color. His grandsire was said to be “cream-colored,” which meant light gold at the time. I’ve seen photos and paintings of Don. He’s got lots of gold shadings on his really thick ruff. He’s a liver dog, but he’s definitely got some gold in him. He won one of the first International Retriever trials, and he became a heavily used stud in both flat-coats and goldens. This was in the early 1900’s.
Comment by retrieverman — December 19, 2008 @ 10:15 am
“Freak mutation” = flatcoat joke.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — December 19, 2008 @ 11:53 am