Guide Dogs UK has a very important announcement for anyone with tattoos, a beard, an unconventional hairstyle, etc. You are needed to play with puppies.

"We’re issuing a national appeal for volunteers with distinctive characteristics to help socialise the next generation of guide dogs. Our new research shows that 1 in 5 (20 %) of dog owners revealed their dogs have shown signs of fear or confusion when encountering unfamiliar physical attributes." https://bit.ly/3PgRTOc

@yingtai Now I wish I had an unconventional appearance. I wanna play with puppies. I'm basic AF. 😒
@slcw Maybe worth checking if they want you to play with their puppies anyway? :)
@yingtai I'd have to do it over Zoom because I'm in the US. πŸ˜‚ Or, they can FedEx me a puppy, and I'll return it once it's been trained on my face!
@yingtai
Step 1: get more ink
Step 2: play with puppies.
Step 3: Who cares? Go back to Step 2.

@Daveosaurus @yingtai Most folks with ink I know would circle all the way back to step one even without the promise of puppies!

Ink is almost addictive.

@yingtai I wanna play with puppies, too.
@yingtai I was born for this! πŸ€©πŸ•
@yingtai yet I'm sure they are better off than face recognition softwares 😜
@yingtai
Ja das ist in der tat oft ein Problem, wenn tiere von anzug Menschen mit Krawatte erzogen und ausgebildet werden.
Gerade die farbe schwarz ist oft problematisch.
Viel Erfolg bei euren Experiment, Projekt
@yingtai
That is a great initiative 😍
@yingtai All the fun of being with a dog and none of the hassle. I wish I could participate.
@yingtai Today's most wholesome post.
@anarchiv I really cannot take credit, I saw it on Bluesky and thought it needed to be on Fedi!
@yingtai what is the aim of this campaign
@MoneyMaster100 I wrote a reply, then I realised you're a crypto guy and the strange question was probably an attempt to get exposure. I hope others are smart enough not to take the bait.
@yingtai @MoneyMaster100 Hmm. An instant block for any crypto scammer.
@yingtai
Oh no, why did I leave the UK? 😭 Now I can't join this call and play with cute puppies... 😭
@yingtai Can we do this for humans as well
@yingtai It's a shame they didn't have any details about the people in this photo; especially the guy with the totally tatt'd head.
@yingtai I once had a dog with an aversion to anyone named Jeff
@yingtai
Ok but why are they all in the same clothes then?
@Antiroo according to the image descriptions, they're uniform scrubs. I wonder if they're required.
@yingtai I wonder if I’ve got time to grow my very conventional beard into something more whacky for them…
@peteralee I checked the original text on Facebook, and they are happy with any beard at all!
@yingtai this is simultaneously adorable and sad.

@yingtai I had an aunt with a racist dog, due to the dog being terrified by a black guy as a puppy. They could never really get this trained out of the dog.

I hope people take this seriously and help with this.

@yingtai This is such an awesome idea! When I was raising my lab from a pup many years ago, I followed the great guidance of Ian Dunbar on raising dogs, and one critical thing he taught was to expose puppies to as many different stimuli as possible before they reach the fear phase of development. He included a checklist of things to try to find…we had a blast trying to find all different types of people, sounds, places. We even had a puppy party to have people over. Was so helpful!

@yingtai

Just clicker the dogs to be friendly to strangers and enjoy being petted. No need to make distinction in unfamiliar actitudes.
(tried , tested and aproved)

Well, you might save those efforts about "signs of fear or confusion when encountering unfamiliar physical attributes" for the owners, in particular from the right spectrum, that might give some results ..

@yingtai My assumption was always that these were mandatory traits if you wanted to work with animals.
@yingtai some people should have been send to play with unconventionals when they where little
@yingtai if I was back in the UK, all you’d hear are my footsteps as I ran to re-dye my hair and get the clippers out.

@yingtai You mean if I were in the UK, I could tell people that I'm growing my beard due to requirements for guide dog training?
And then go and be around guide dogs for a good cause?

That'd be a proper win-win scenario.
Is that a thing in Germany, too? πŸ€”

@yingtai this is so frickin awesome I’m hyped!!
@yingtai @BongoMcnulty I sorta mistook the tattooed guy as... Drax the Destroyer and spent a minute trying to figure out what the Guardians of the Galaxy were doing with cute puppies. :p
@yingtai and hats maybe? we've noticed men with hats especially can be a problem for some rescues