My parents¡¯ first child was a dog. Fifty years after she died, I remain convinced that she was more special to them than me. (I¡¯m not sure I blame them; she was much better behaved and infinitely more useful.)
She was a German Shepherd, bred as a working dog and possessed amazing instincts. Without any formal training, she was bodyguard and protector of me and my sisters, never allowing any stranger to get between her and us and alert to any danger to the family. She was more than a pet and she left me with a powerful affection for big dogs like her.
That¡¯s why I felt a pang when I read that Beijing is promoting the use of the Chinese Kunming dog (CKD), sometimes referred to as the Kunming Wolfdog, for police work. I¡¯d never heard of the breed, which shouldn¡¯t be a surprise since it was only created in the 1950s. Cultivated through selective breeding of German Shepherds imported from Russia and Kunming indigenous village dogs, it was officially named the CKD in 1988 and approved as a new breed by the Chinese National Livestock and Poultry Genetics Commission in 2007. It¡¯s the only working dog independently developed and bred in China.
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