Hi Blacksheep. Nice to hear you knew Joe "Come here chick", as he taught us to pronounce it. Quite a character.
Watching the film last night, I'm not convinced it was at 150 ft. Either way, still scary. The producers did an excellent job I thought. left the film alone as regards shots and dialogues, but they must have virtually cleaned it up frame-by-frame. So clear, and a big screen to boot.
As regards the name. It wasn't racist, even at that time. It was the name of a much-loved black Lab. Anyone reading any racial hatred into that is sick.