In another video, some of the corgi’s toys and snacks — part of a Lunar New Year “bonus”— were confiscated for sleeping on the job and using his dog bowl as a urinal.
Dog experts said that such behavior is normal for corgis.
“That’s why they’re challenging, too, because they get distracted pretty easily. And they also have a lot of prey drive, so if there’s anything that moves really quickly, they want to go and investigate,” said Leonardo Palacio, the owner of Real Focus K9, a dog training school in Stamford, Conn., that specializes in training dogs with behavioral challenges.
He added that a corgi often moves with the confidence of “a big dog in a small dog’s body.”
Fu Zai is an unusual choice for police work. Traditionally, corgis were bred to work on farms, herding cattle by biting their ankles. In recent times, they have become popular choices for pets or companion dogs, most famously associated with Queen Elizabeth. But some have retained the propensity to nip.
That trait might dissuade trainers when assessing the suitability of a dog for the disciplined forces, said James Leung, a training director at Hong Kong Canine, who has experience training police dogs. “It’s all trainable, but that’s just one less thing I have to train,” he said. Golden retrievers and spaniels are more typical choices for sniffer dogs, because they are typically seen by the public as friendly, he added.
Fu Zai’s trainer at the Weifang police, Zhao Qingshuai, said in an interview with China’s state broadcaster that he had initially ruled out a corgi as a police dog because of the breed’s reputation for curiosity and distractibility, not to mention the short legs. Meeting Fu Zai changed his mind.
