Taiwan to soon welcome its first indigenous dog as a police canine

Taipei, April 19 (CNA) "Jaguar," a 9-month-old canine, could soon become Taiwan's first police dog of an indigenous breed.

According to Ma Ching-chi (馬清基), head of the K-9 unit under New Taipei Police's Criminal Investigation Corps, Jaguar is currently being trained to detect explosives such as gunpowder and C-4.

Ma told CNA on Thursday that this is the first attempt in Taiwan to train a Taiwan Dog, also known as the Formosan Mountain Dog, to become a police canine.

Police dogs are typically trained from breeds such as German Shepherds and Labrador Retrievers.

Ma said he had always wanted to train dogs indigenous to Taiwan to become police dogs, and he had chosen Jaguar from the puppies his colleague's dog gave birth to, for trial training.

According to Ma, Jaguar performs well during training, as it can precisely locate explosives and is not afraid of loud noises or unfamiliar situations.

He added that Jaguar's performance in all aspects has exceeded expectations and is not falling behind that of German Shepherds or Labrador Retrievers at all.

If all goes well with the training, Jaguar will become Taiwan's first indigenous police dog and start going on duty around the age of two, Ma said.