Link Real Estate Investment Trust : Six Guide-Dog Puppies to be named by students of 60 Primary Schools A special wish for the Year of the Dog

In celebration of the Chinese New Year of the Dog and to promote public awareness of the needs of the visually impaired, students from 60 primary schools will get a chance to name six new puppies in a naming campaign organized by the Hong Kong Guide Dogs Association (HKDGA) and Link.

The six adorable jet-black babies comprising two male and four female pups were born last December to mother Fleur, a black Labrador specially imported from Australia, the product of a successful painstaking programme to breed guide dogs locally.

The 'Guide Dogs Breeding and Education' programme is sponsored by The Link Together Initiatives, which also funds overseas training for two vets in trans-cervical insemination and the maintenance of the puppies and the breeding mother dog until guide dog matching is completed.

Guide dog services are in high demand. HKDGA estimates about 170,000 visually impaired individuals in Hong Kong, with an estimated 1,700 people in need of a guide dog.

Results of the naming campaign could be announced as early as next Monday (February 26).