[nagdu] First guide dog in years hits streets with master

[marilyn]

Hi Ginger,
what an interesting article. I hope the dog Iris is matched too. then Hong 
Kong will have 2 guide dog teams. We don't realize what goes on in other 
countries with guide dogs. When I lived in Hawaii they weren't allowed there 
many years ago as there was a 6 month quarantine so I am glad that law has 
changed.
Marilyn and Anna
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ginger Kutsch" <GingerKutsch at yahoo.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 7:09 AM
Subject: [nagdu] First guide dog in years hits streets with master


> First guide dog in years hits streets with master
>
> Hong Kong News Watch
>
> Lo Wei and Ada Lee
>
> Jul 19, 2012
>
> Source:
> http://topics.scmp.com/news/hk-news-watch/article/First-guide-dog-in-years-h
> its-streets-with-master
>
> Google poses with his trainer Raymond Cheung in Sai Wan Ho after his
> graduation yesterday.
>
>
>
>
>
> Hong Kong's first guide dog in more than 30 years - a Labrador retriever
> named Google - graduated from training yesterday even as rival guide-dog
> groups continued to war over who his rightful owner is.
>
> Despite the ownership fight, the one-year-old retriever was capped with a
> mortar board and handed over to his delighted new master, David Wong
> Man-chiu, 62, who has been blind for 20 years.
>
> "I attended Google's birthday party last year just because I was curious 
> to
> learn a bit more about guide dogs," Wong said. "I had only seen one on TV 
> 37
> years ago. I never thought I would own one one day."
>
> Guide dogs have been non-existent in Hong Kong since the last one was 
> struck
> by a car 36 years ago and an expert deemed the city too noisy and crowded
> for their safety.
>
> Wong said he was pleased that Hongkongers seemed to accept Google's 
> presence
> as the pair trained together.
>
> "When I took the MTR with Google for the first time, I was relieved that 
> he
> did not cause any panic among passengers," said Wong. "I took him to the
> elderly centre where I work as a volunteer and it was all right, too."
>
> Google will live with Wong until death or scheduled retirement at age 11. 
> At
> that point, Wong will have to decide whether to keep him or send him to 
> live
> with another family.
>
> Handing Google to Wong should for all practical purposes end the 
> months-long
> ownership fight between the dog's trainer, Raymond Cheung Wai-man, and
> Cheung's former employer, the Hong Kong Guide Dogs Association.
>
> Nonetheless, both sides continued to claim ownership of Google, as well as
> another guide dog, Iris.
>
> The dispute broke out when Cheung - the city's sole licensed guide-dog
> instructor - left the association and, with Google and Iris, set up his 
> own
> group, Hong Kong Seeing Eye Dog Services.
>
> The association blamed Cheung for a collapse in mediation talks and would
> not rule out further action. But Cheung said Wong and Google could not be
> separated.
>
> "This won't change, no matter what the result of the mediation is," Cheung
> said. Copyright (c) 2012. South China Morning
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nagdu:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/t21114%40optonline.net
>