Luxury apartment building in New York City accused of 'dog racism'

Dog
(Image credit: Carl Court/Getty Images)

Residents of a luxury apartment building on New York City's Upper West Side are unhappy with the building's co-op board for demanding that they prove the breed of their dogs, sometimes even with DNA tests. One angered resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity over fears of retaliation by the board, told DNAinfo, "It's like dog racism essentially."

Why is the co-op board demanding such proof? Turns out it believes certain dogs are a menace:

The board members want to know the pet's genetic make-up because it has a long list of dogs that "are not permitted to reside in the building based upon documented information regarding their tendency towards aggressiveness," the policy says.The list of outlawed pooches includes such pint-sized breeds as a Maltese or a Pomeranian. [DNAinfo]

Outraged residents are reportedly banding together to consider a "formal protest."

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Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.