China guide dog ranks swell for Paralympics

A Chinese city has donated two seeing eye dogs to the nation's Paralympic team, the Xinhua news agency said on Sunday, giving some publicity to such dogs that are rarely seen in China.

Only six people in mainland China currently own seeing eye dogs, Xinhua said, quoting Wang Jingyu, founder of the first training base for the guide dogs, established in 2004 in the coastal city of Dalian.

Two Golden Retrievers donated by the Dalian city government will work with the Paralympics team at the opening and award ceremonies, Xinhua said.

China has temporarily lifted rules that effectively prevent the use of seeing eye dogs during the Olympic Games in August and Paralympics in September.

Normally bans on big dogs in cities, coupled with restrictions on walking them except at certain hours and prohibitions against taking them on public transport, make it impossible for a blind person in China to effectively use a guide dog.