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WeRateDogs Twitter account criticised for ‘white-washing’ dog names

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iStock/Getty Images/ Twitter

In news that will please absolutely no one, the much-loved 'WeRateDogs' Twitter account has been accused of "white-washing" pet names.

The account, which has close to 7 million followers on Twitter, is best known for its humorous and amusing takes on lovable dogs, often giving them impossible ratings like 14/10.

Yet in a sad turn of events, it appears that the account has been changing the name of some dogs in order to get more likes and shares.

This came to light after a Twitter user noticed that an image of a dog named Kanan, which had been submitted to the page, was later changed to George.

After highlighting this the user in question, Mary Wagner discovered she had been blocked.

WeRateDogs is run by Matt Nelson, who later clarified on his own personal account that he has been changing the names of the dogs since he started the account and that he always checks with the owner before doing so.

As you can imagine, this slightly problematic approach to naming dogs and avoiding names of an ethnic origin hasn't gone down particularly well on Twitter, especially as this felt like an otherwise wholesome account.

In response, Matt has confirmed that he will no longer be changing the names of the dogs and that the "white-washing" of their names was not intentional and that "it will never happen again".

HT The Daily Dot

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