BEIJING - A project to train stray dogs to assist elderly people and those hard of hearing has been launched in the capital.

The China Beijing Hearing-Dog Association plans to select dogs from an animal shelter in northern Changping district that is managed by the Beijing public security bureau, and to invite dog trainers from Japan.

"We'll choose young dogs, because it's easier to train them," project leader Wang Yue said on Monday. "The breed of dog is not so important."

To date, 24 residents have applied to become students in hearing-dog training.

"We prefer applicants with some experience of training dogs and that have great passion for dogs," Wang said. "The selected people will learn hand-sign language first from the Japanese instructors.

"After a 180-day training period, the selected stray dogs can signal reactions to various sounds, such as knocks on a door and water boiling. The trained dog will then act as an 'intern' in deaf or old people's homes for 30 days."

The association will continue to liaise with the public security bureau during the project. Wang added that the police can vaccinate the selected stray dogs, which will save the association time and cost.

However, she did not reveal how much it cost to train a hearing dog.

Wang Bin, director of the veterinary management department at the Beijing municipal bureau of agriculture, welcomed the project and thought it a good way to deal with the problem of stray dogs.

However, though the police had opened their shelter to the public and welcomed the adoption of stray and abandoned dogs, he said there were still dogs with good work skills left idle there.

This is the first time such a project has been tried in China and will be based on those in other countries.

A base for training guide dogs for the blind has been established in Dalian in Northeast China's Liaoning province.

However, Wang Liqun, founder of an animal rescue organization based in the capital, does not believe the new project will work in Beijing.

"Training a guide dog costs at least 200,000 yuan ($31,720) and needs professional trainers, but China is short of dog trainers at present," Wang said, adding that only certain types of dogs can be trained as hearing assistants.

Some stray dogs are old and diseased when they were sent to the shelter and are not suitable as working dogs, she said.

"The key to the management of stray dogs lies in enhancing care and affection towards these animals, not investing a lot of money on such an immature project."

But Gu Mengxi, a 23-year-old book editor in Chaoyang district, begs to differ. She lost her beloved pet poodle two years ago.

"I used to train Tuan Tuan to pick up balls and do some other tricks at home. He was clever and related well to people," she said, believing he would have made a good candidate for training as a hearing dog.

China Daily

(China Daily 02/07/2012 page5)