Paralympic boost for China's blind

Updated 07.59 Thu Sep 13 2007
Keywords: china, health, blind, olympics games, olympics, paralympics, paralympic games, guide dogs

A group of guide dog trainers in China hope the Olympic Games will boost their funding.

The Dalian Guide Dog Training Centre in the north east of the country breeds and trains the dogs, then provides them for free.

"We want to use this platform to promote guide dogs" - Liang Jianlong

But the centre relies on one pet food company to provide dog food and a small amount of money.

Trainer Song Yanan said: "There is little said about guide dogs in the Chinese media. Many people never thought of donating money for this. They never knew that we needed a lot of financial help."

To raise their profile, the centre hopes to provide blind Chinese athletes with guide dogs at the 2008 Paralympics Games in Beijing.

Trainer Liang Jianlong said: "We are heading to the Olympics because we want to use this platform to promote guide dogs so more people know about them and how useful they are. We want more attention paid to the life of the blind."

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