Training to unleash possibilities for the blind

The training of two Hongkongers who it is hoped will spearhead the development of guide dogs for the blind in the city is set to begin in Britain later this month.

The Hong Kong Guide Dogs Association hopes the specialist training of Garrick Poon Kwok-wai and Cherrie Wu Ching-yee - who were selected from 50 candidates - will help secure international recognition for the organisation, one of only two groups that provide canine help for the city's blind.

There are 11,400 totally blind people in Hong Kong, but just six guide dogs. Relations between the association and the breakaway Seeing Eye Dog Services are strained.

Poon, 27, and Wu, 25, will receive two years' training from Guide Dogs UK, followed by a further 18 months on their return to Hong Kong.

The association hopes they will become the "core professionals" who will run the association after they graduate.

At present, the association has four guide dogs from the United States that serve people with visual impairment. Seeing Eye Dog Services has two. Neither organisation is a member of the International Guide Dog Federation.

Veteran US guide dog instructor Brian Francis, who was recently hired by the association to take care of training and accreditation matters, said he hoped the association would be accredited to the federation in five years, guaranteeing training and service quality.