"Stop. Sit. Go!" You Liang, 33, instructs "Stone," a Labrador
Retriever, at a simulated crossing in Dalian.
You and Stone are taking training courses at the China Guide Dog
Training Center, established late last month, in this city in
northeast China's Liaoning Province. The center is the first of
its kind in the country.
Six adult dogs are currently undergoing training courses,
including Stone. In the near future, Stone will become the guide
dog for You, a singer for the Dalian Disabled Art Troupe, who is
blind.
You is able to live and do housework by herself, but she needs
help whenever she goes out.
"I hope the guide dog will help me a lot and relieve my mother
of the burden," You said.
"Guide dogs are in great demand in the country and we are doing
pioneering work," said the center's director Wang Jingyu, an animal
behavior expert.
The dogs currently being trained will be presented to chosen
individuals free of charge, Wang said, adding that he hopes the
center can provide guide dogs for people who take part in the 2008
Paralympic Games in Beijing.
He said he hoped the center could train 20 dogs every year in
the coming five years.
When the establishment of the center was first reported last
month, the center received an active response from both home and
abroad.
"Quite a few people want to donate dogs to us," he said.
Xia Jun, a businessman from central China's Hunan Province, said
he was prepared to send his golden retriever by plane.
He said he had refused a friend's offer of 100,000 yuan
(US$12,500) for his 9-month-old dog and insisted that the dog be
donated to the center as soon as he learned the news.
Wang said the dog would undergo a medical examination and an
evaluation before the training began, as is standard procedure.
Early next month, Wang said he will go to Beijing to receive two
puppies given by the Japan Guide Dog Association.
"We'll choose from among hundreds of puppies for would-be guide
dogs," Wang said.
Some of them will be donated and others will be purchased.
Once accepted, the puppies will be raised in foster families to
begin social and obedience training.
They will learn to take orders to walk, sit, stop, distinguish
traffic lights, walk across zebra crossings, avoid barriers, and
take blind pedestrian walks.
Last month the local government decided to list the center as
one of the scientific programs for financial support.
"We are glad to have support from the whole of society to expand
our non-profit course," Wang said.
However, Wang said there are "also some worries and
concerns."
Many people may feel their lives intruded upon when people enter
public places with their guide dogs.
"With a guide dog, a visually impaired person could come across
some trouble if he enters a restaurant or a hotel, or wants to take
a plane," Wang said.
(China Daily May 29, 2006)