China’s first police corgi will do anything for food.
With a keen sense of smell and legs that seem too short for his body, Fu Zai has won a huge social media audience that has followed him doing official duties since he started as a sniffer dog last fall. He was a pet puppy when a dog trainer spotted his potential at a park and recruited him to the Weifeng Public Security Bureau, in the northern coastal province of Shandong.
A love of earning treats as rewards has earned Fu Zai strong performance reviews. But it’s also proved a challenge, as his trainer has found that keeping him in line is not easy.
Fu Zai was caught on camera recently grabbing a bite of a sausage in a child’s hand during a street patrol. Officers have since tried to train him to better resist food, but many social media users offered support — and free sausages — for Fu Zai the next time he patrolled the streets.
In another video, some of the corgi’s toys and snacks — part of a Lunar New Year “bonus”— were confiscated for sleeping on the job and using his dog bowl as a urinal.
Dog experts said that such behavior is normal for corgis.
“That’s why they’re challenging, too, because they get distracted pretty easily. And they also have a lot of prey drive, so if there’s anything that moves really quickly, they want to go and investigate,” said Leonardo Palacio, the owner of Real Focus K9, a dog training school in Stamford, Conn., that specializes in training dogs with behavioral challenges.
He added that a corgi often moves with the confidence of “a big dog in a small dog’s body.”
Fu Zai is an unusual choice for police work. Traditionally, corgis were bred to work on farms, herding cattle by biting their ankles. In recent times, they have become popular choices for pets or companion dogs, most famously associated with Queen Elizabeth. But some have retained the propensity to nip.
That trait might dissuade trainers when assessing the suitability of a dog for the disciplined forces, said James Leung, a training director at Hong Kong Canine, who has experience training police dogs. “It’s all trainable, but that’s just one less thing I have to train,” he said. Golden retrievers and spaniels are more typical choices for sniffer dogs, because they are typically seen by the public as friendly, he added.
Fu Zai’s trainer at the Weifang police, Zhao Qingshuai, said in an interview with China’s state broadcaster that he had initially ruled out a corgi as a police dog because of the breed’s reputation for curiosity and distractibility, not to mention the short legs. Meeting Fu Zai changed his mind.
Mr. Zhao said that after first encountering the dog by chance in the park and chatting with his owner, Fu Zai had come running after Mr. Zhao called his name. When offered treats, he was a good sport in games like spinning on demand. “He could not resist food, an indication that he has a strong drive to work for food,” Mr. Zhao said.
He later invited Fu Zai to train at the police base to assess his skills. Over the next few months, the corgi excelled in detecting explosives. Moreover, he could fit under tight spaces some other dogs couldn’t reach, making it easy to sniff out the bottom of vehicles and inspect the underside of bus seats.
“His short legs have actually become an advantage, allowing him to perform tasks that larger dogs can’t,” Mr. Zhao said.
Fu Zai, whose name means something like “Lucky Youngster,” became a full-fledged member of the Weifang police in October. He has since been beamed around the Chinese internet as a friendly face for the regional force, making frequent appearances on the Weifang Public Security Bureau’s official account on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok. A separate account the department maintains, named “Fu Zai and his comrades,” has more than 400,000 followers.
The videos show a glimpse of police dog life: practicing drills, patrolling a regional kite festival and riding on the back of a motorcycle, doggy shades on. (His former owner pays him regular visits, according to videos on her Douyin account.)
But the drive for food that helped him land the job also gotten him into some of his troubles.
While a working dog needs enough self-control to consistently follow instructions, it is also important that it keeps its natural drive or instincts, said Vivien Chin, the owner and principal trainer at Active K9 Academy, a dog training school in Singapore.
“You want it to be a bit more independent and a bit of a go-getter to actually go out and get the guy, or to brave all the different environmental obstacles that may come its way,” she said.
Whether as temptation he can’t resist or a treat used in training, there will probably be more sausage in Fu Zai’s future. And whatever his performance review says, his status as a social media star is unlikely to fade.
Jiawei Wang contributed reporting from Seoul.
Tiffany May is a reporter based in Hong Kong, covering the politics, business and culture of the city and the broader region.
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