I suppose we all have them, but I really thought Fester, our dog, was unaffected by any type of human bias. He loves every human being he meets, and they love him. It never occurred to me that Fester could actually dislike anyone, but I was wrong.
Seems that he has some issues with Zelda Rubinstein, the woman perhaps best known for playing Tangina Barrons the somewhat creepy psychic lady in the first two Poltergeist films.
Last night we were sprawled on the bed, watching Poltergeist* on TMC, and I happened to fall asleep. Some time later I heard this low growling noise and found Fes pretty much eye to eye with the television, staring transfixed at her. When Zelda began her whole “Welcome, children. Welcome, welcome…” thing, and Fes began to bark. Not an “all the other dogs are doing it” bark, but a genuine, disturbed, “Mother, I’ll protect you” kind of bark. He was even shaking a little. Poor muffin!
To salvage his mental state, I turned off the television and sent him to watch various Treehouse of Horror episodes with the husband, who says he does not blame Fester a bit for being freaked out. Zelda, it seems, is just scary that way. And it was Halloween, after all.
* They also showed The Haunting, which is always appreciated.