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Emily Tsang

Using a stick to help guide him after he lost 90 per cent of his sight left Walter Tsui Yu-hang feeling "cold and alone". Now he has help from a much warmer companion - guide dog Range.
"Holding a stick in my hands make me feel abnormal and uncomfortable," said Tsui, 26, whose vision has declined due to a congenital condition. "That is why I tried to learn more about having a guide dog."
Two years ago, he reached out to Hong Kong Seeing Eye Dogs Services, a non-profit organisation formed in 2012 to provide guide dogs.
After a thorough assessment and training, he was paired with Range, a two-year-old Labrador retriever born in Nagoya, Japan.
But for Tsui, a Chinese University economics graduate who works for a law firm, the hard part was learning to trust an animal despite never having a pet before.
"When Range tried to make a detour, I tried to walk my usual way by memory, but it did not work because something blocked my way," he said. "Gradually I built trust in Range. He is doing a great job guiding me."
Guide dogs are still uncommon in Hong Kong. A brief experiment in the 1970s ended when one of two dogs imported from Australia died in a minibus accident and the city was thought too noisy and busy for more.
Guide dog instructor Raymond Cheung Wai-man, who helped revive the idea of guide dogs in Hong Kong, said he was happy to see Tsui and Range doing so well. Finding the right pairing was one of the most important aspects in a guide dog's success, he added, and Range's lively nature complemented Tsui's love of travel.
The dogs are free to users, but the NGO needs HK$200,000 to raise and train the dogs, which come from Taiwan and Japan.
"Unlike many overseas countries, there is no government funding for guide dog services for blind people in Hong Kong. We can only reach out to NGOs, which raise funds to cover the training of the dogs," Tsui said.
Cheung said the service now had 13 dogs, of whom two were working and two more had been allocated to owners. But he says the organisation faces a financial crunch next year, as the opening of a training and exhibition centre in Kwai Chung pushes annual expenses to HK$800,000.
"We really hope the guide dog service will allow blind people to travel more and travel further," Cheung said. "We also hope to enhance an atmosphere of social caring, and to nurture the concept of animal protection."
 


Walter finds way home with Range

Range the Labrador is described as a lively character who complements Walter Tsui's love of travel. Photo: Jonathan Wong

News

Hong Kong

Using a stick to help guide him after he lost 90 per cent of his sight left Walter Tsui Yu-hang feeling "cold and alone". Now he has help from a much warmer companion - guide dog Range.
