Fu Zai is a dog with a local police department in China. He’s being billed as China’s very first police corgi, and he has more than 400,000 followers on social media.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now we head to China to hear about Fu Zai. Fu Zai is a dog with a local police department there. His breed is unique for that kind of work. He is being billed as China’s very first police corgi.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
A corgi. My 9-year-old is going to love this story. These short-legged dogs have a reputation for being curious and highly motivated by food. They’re also easily distracted. But they have an advantage, according to Fu Zai’s police trainer, Zhao Qingshuai, who spoke with Chinese state-run CCTV video news agency about his new trainee.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ZHAO QINGSHUAI: (Speaking Mandarin).
INSKEEP: He says corgis’ short legs make Fu Zai an ideal candidate for sniffing out explosives in hard-to-reach places like under vehicles or under train seats. This corgi also has, quote, “remarkable interaction skills.”
MARTIN: Corgis originated in Wales and are small herding dogs. They do have their critics. Lance Nogosek runs Ultimate K9 Dog Training based in Maryland. He used to train military dogs. He says corgis’ small size is a disadvantage.
LANCE NOGOSEK: The bigger a dog’s nose is, the more olfactory sensors they’re going to have in their nose. A bigger dog, like a shorthair, a German shepherd, a bloodhound, is going to have more olfactory sensors, and that’s going to make them more capable.
INSKEEP: If, in the end, Fu Zai’s police career doesn’t work out, he can become a social media influencer because a social media account for him has 400,000 followers.
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