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Hong Kong needs 1,700 guide dogs for the visually impaired, but where can the animals be trained?

Trainers say outdated laws and insufficient public awareness prevent them giving the canines full exposure to city

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Meicy Choi and Don Don, a guide dog that she is caring for. Photo: Edward Wong

When Meicy Choi took her four-month-old Labrador retriever named Don Don out on a sunny Saturday in December, she did not expect to get into a row over going to the park with her canine buddy.

Don Don is not an ordinary dog. He is training to become one of fewer than 50 guide dogs in Hong Kong, and Choi is registered as a host to care for him.

But a staff member at Lai Chi Kok Park stopped her from entering the park and asked to check her documents.

“Even if you are blind, you can’t take the dog in!” the worker said.

A handful of onlookers, mostly middle-aged women, gathered and confronted Choi.

How a guide dog led a blind Hong Kong athlete to a better life

The commotion frightened Don Don, causing the dog to become uneasy, Choi said.

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