There’s a good piece in Slate about whether or not dogs can be racist. I suspect most dog owners already know the answer. Dogs owned by whites oftern have problems with blacks and vice versa. This has to do with the way dogs learn about “others.” There’s nothing sinister about it.

Dogs can also be sexist. Cosmo, for example, likes the ladies but has got serious problems with men, especially young men. He’ll growl at young black guys and at young white guys while he’ll work the magic with women of any race. We’ve also noticed — and I’m not making this up — Cosmo particularly dislikes skeeves, skate rats, and other males with aggressive hair and pierced faces. He just doesn’t like them and, truth be told, I’m quite proud of him for it. Whenever my lovely bride and I see anti-war protestors and the like, we’ll say “Oh, man Cosmo wouldn’t like those guys.” (As long-time readers know this is hardly shocking since the Wonderdog is rumored to be a Scoop Jackson Democrat and Straussian). Meanwhile, I have another take on dogs and racism, which was published in Slate — eek — four years ago.