Stray dogs to get 'jobs' in Taipei — report

Stray Formosan dogs found in Taipei's streets may find "jobs" as guard or rescue dogs, where they can put their aggressive but loyal nature to good use. The Taipei City government said this would also save many of the animals from “being put to sleep," Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) reported Saturday night. “We hope the new program will help save the lives of hundreds of dogs per year," said Yen I-feng, the city's Animal Protection Office (APO) director. “Instead of trying to have Formosan dogs adopted as pets, training them for specialty work gives them a better chance of survival," he added. The APO and the Taiwan Coast Guard Administration have devised a “rework program" to train the Formosan dogs for guard or rescue duty. Under the program, the dogs will be able to go on patrol with Coast Guard officers or to guard public areas after four to five months of training. Formosan dogs have a reputation of being aggressive but loyal animals. The CNA report said many healthy and intelligent Formosan dogs are put down because of their fierce nature. He said that of some 7,000 stray dogs are placed in the Taipei City shelter per year — around 4,000 are adopted and the others are put to sleep. The CNA report quoted Chen Yung-hao, an APO dog trainer with 200 hours of training, as saying that his job is very rewarding. He said he has learned a technique of teaching dogs to train other dogs. "There is a hierarchy in the dog community. You can use that to train dogs with the help of the alpha dog," he said. Chen narrated an incident last January where in a trial training program, he and his dog partner “Lottery" found a 1.5-meter snake at one of the venues of the Taipei International Flora Expo. "We are buddies, and in fact, Lottery picked me rather than I picked him, kind of like how Ikran picked its master in [the movie] Avatar," he said. — JE, GMA News