Charity, Guide Dogs Issues Appeal: Volunteers with Tattoos and Facial Hair Wanted

The sight loss charity Guide Dogs is reaching out to the community, encouraging individuals who stand out with their unique appearances to volunteer. The call to action comes as a response to findings that nearly two-thirds of dogs display varying levels of distress or perplexity when introduced to unfamiliar human features.

The statistics present a challenge, with roughly 1.2 million dogs in the UK showing reactions to people’s facial hair such as beards and mustaches, and about 1.08 million to those donning facial piercings and ink. Even nontraditional hairstyles like mohawks have been flagged by the charity, with pet reactions notable in 960,000 cases.

Beyond personal style, common household and street objects are part of the pets’ exposure. Items like cleaning tools, bicycles, baby strollers, and even certain clothing, including oversized hats and uniforms, are on the exposure checklist for puppies, cultivating their comfort around diverse elements of human life.

With an inclusive approach, Guide Dogs is keen on involving a varied pool of volunteers – which includes not just the distinctively styled but also cyclists, parents, and fellow pet owners, all contributing to a puppy’s worldly education.

Haley Andrews, leading the puppy raising program at the charity, has compiled a socialisation checklist aimed at building a foundation of confidence and ease for puppies within the first 16 weeks of their lives. The list features interactions with people sporting facial hair or uniforms, exposure to loud noises typical within households, and experiences in social spaces like cafes.

The puppy raising initiative serves to prime a puppy for its eventual role in supporting those with visual impairments. The process stretches up to 16 months, with volunteers taking on basic training and the day-to-day care in their homes. During this period, all costs, including training and healthcare, are provided for by the charity, supplemented by expert support.

Looking ahead, the initiative is pressing due to the anticipated growth in the UK’s visually impaired community, expected to exceed four million individuals by 2050. The evolving trends in personal style across the nation, which see a rise in bearded or tattooed individuals, intensify the need for these specific volunteer profiles. Currently, more than half of UK men report having facial hair, a notable increase from previous years, while a quarter of the population possesses tattoos, with a significant number prominently displayed.

The charity’s strategy is clear: familiarize dogs with a broad spectrum of human culture by offering an array of calm, positive encounters during their formative phase. puppies adapt to life with confidence and a balanced temperament, ready to serve as lifelong companions for those with sight loss. Volunteers eager to nurture the forthcoming generation of guide dogs are thus essential to this vision, as they hold the key to shaping well-rounded, poised canines.