ByCANGWEI inNanjing
[email protected]
W
uQiwas deeply intro-
vertedwhen hewas
veryyoungandrefused
to talk to most people,
until one day he found a newborn
puppyinatrashcan.
Now, the 38-year-old is cheerful,
optimisticandknownvariouslyasa
“dogwhisperer”,ananimalbehavior
expert and the founder ofChina’s
first animal-assisted therapy pro-
gram.He is also called “UncleDog”
bymanyautisticchildren.
Afterhefoundthepuppy,thetwo
became good friends.He took care
of the dog through elementary and
highschooluntilhewenttoNanjing
UniversityinJiangsuprovince,from
his home in Zhejiang province, to
furtherhisstudies.
“Ioften talked to the dog and
sharedmylifewithit.Itchangedmy
introverted personality and helped
makemethepersonIamtoday,”he
said.
Wuwas heartbrokenwhen the
dogdiedpeacefullyathome.Afterhe
graduated from university in 2003,
he owned another dog and learned
howtocareforanimalsscientifically,
includinghowtotrainthemtobetter
fittheirenvironment.
Helefthisjobasacomputergame
designer to enter the pet industry,
which fascinated him and provided
himwith sufficient time to bewith
animals.
Wu’s civil servant father and his
mother, a teacher, strongly opposed
his decision to quit awell-paid job
toraise pets. They thought his new
occupationwas “humiliating” for a
well-educated man, andweptwhen
theytalkedtohimonthephone.
Wucontinuedwithhisnewcareer,
but encountered many difficulties.
He failed in running two pet shops,
and in 2010, he had nothing to his
namebutsixdogs.
With friends’ support, he start-
ed to run a pet-training school in
Nanjing’sJianye district in 2011. To
improve his dog-training skills, he
visited experts in places such as the
United States,HongKongandTai-
wan.
He gradually learned the mean-
ings of different sounds that dogs
make, improved his training skills
and became known in the industry.
Televisionstationsinvitedhimonto
theirshowsandhestartedtoreceive
phonecallsfromaudiencemembers.
“Seven years ago,Ireceived a call
from awomanwho asked if she
could bring her son to the training
school to see the dogs. She said the
childloveddogs,andIagreedtoher
request,”Wusaid.
“But laterIfound it strange that
the childwas interested in nothing
but the dogs.He refused to talk to
meandignoredme.Heonlybecame
activewhenthedogswerearound.
“His mother later said that she
hadn’t told me about her son’s
autism in advance because shewas
afraid thatImight discriminate
againsthim.”
Wu said thiswas his first expe-
rience of an autistic child, and it
remindedhimofhisintrovertedboy-
hoodandhowhisdoghadchanged
him. “Istarted to think that dogs
could be channels for us to com-
municatewith autistic children,” he
added.
He started to visit psychologists
and teachers in special schools for
autisticchildren,learnedaboutani-
mal-assisted therapy, orAAT, and
contactedmanyinstitutionstooffer
hishelp.
As he expected, some institutions
refused his assistance and said that
theyhadneverheardofsuchather-
apy.Someeventhoughtthathewas
afraud.
“WhileAAT had been practiced
insomeWesterncountriesformore
than 100 years, fewChinese had
heard about it or shown an interest
inadoptingit.Someinstitutionsthat
knewabout the therapywere also
worried that it might not be suffi-
cientlysafe,”Wusaid.
TheNanjingMingxinEducation
and TrainingCenter forChildren
wasamongthefirsttowelcomeWu
andhisdogs.
Some teachers at the centerwere
afraid of the dogswhen they vis-
ited, but decided to continuewith
the experiment afterwatchingWu
interactwiththeanimals.
TaoJingjing, director of the
17-year-old center, said the experi-
mentwentwell and the teachers
weresatisfiedwiththeresults.“Many autistic children become
active and excitedwhen they see
dogs,” she said. “They arewilling to
get close to the animals, and some
even try to touch them. Though
some children are reluctant at first,
they try to interactwith the dogs
after seeing other children having a
greattimewiththem.
“Almost all the children taking
part inAAT have made progress.
Now, the therapy,whichwehave
onceeverymonth,isoneofthecen-
ter’smostwelcomeactivities.”
Wusaidthatoneboywhorefused
to have physical contactwith oth-
ers impressed him deeply.He tried
to have more interactionwith the
boy during the therapy sessions,
and after several classes,whenWu
askedifhecouldhaveahug,theboy
agreed.
Wu pointed to some volunteers
at the center and asked if the boy
wouldgiveeachofthemahug,and
he agreed. Finally, he said to him,
“Yourmumworkssohardeveryday
totakecareofyou.Willyouhugher
andsaythankyou?”
Themotherburstintotearswhen
her sonwent to hug her andwhis-pered“thankyou”tohim.
“Althoughautisticchildrenseldom
want to communicatewith people,
most of them are interested in ani-
mals and talk to me about giving
orderstothosethatarewell-trained.
Inthisway,weincreasetheinterac-
tion withthechildren,”Wusaid.
He added that he and his team
havealsodesignedtrainingsessions
to improve the children’s conversa-
tion,socialskillsandresponsiveness.
Xing Shanshan, director of the
Nanjing branch ofOrpea, a high-
end French nursing home, said she
andherteamhadtriedhardtofind
professionalAATservicesinChina.
“We have plenty of experience in
usingAATtohelptreattheseniors,”
Xing said. “AAT is quite common in
somedevelopedcountriesinEurope,
andinNorthAmerica.I’veseenour
workers in France raise rabbits as
AATanimals.Someinstitutionseven
haveanimalssuchashorses.
“Afterweopenedour firstbranch
inChinain2016,welookedforpro-
fessionalAAT services in the coun-
try for a long time untilwe learned
aboutWu.”
Xing saidAATworkswell formany seniors at the home.Half of
them need medical treatment and
somehaveAlzheimer’sdisease.AAT
for seniors simply involves them
touching, hugging and talking to
theanimals.
“During this process, a primitive
emotion is createdwhen they and
the creatures get along. The emo-
tion, although simple, is profound,”
Xingsaid.
HuangKemin,85,hasbeenattend-
ingAAT sessions atOrpea for more
thanayear.Shelooksforw tosee-ard
ing the animals andwaits for them
atthegatetothetrainingroom.
“Thetraineddogsprefertheelder-
lytoworkersatthehome,”shesaid.
“Ilike having them on my lap and
cuddlingthem.”
Xing said: “Some seniors may be
worried or frightened by the dogs,
but after spending some timewith
them, they start to like the trained
animals.We’realsolookingforother
teamsontheChinesemainlandthat
provideAAT animals other than
dogs,butsofarhavehadnosuccess.
“The country is still in the initial
stagesofAATresearch,andwehope
that more people and animalswill
join in the therapy, as it helpswith
therecoveryprocessforchildrenand
the elderly. There is great demand
for the therapy, and the market is
huge.”
Inadditiontohelpingautisticchil-
dren andAlzheimer’s patients,Wu
andhisteamofferassistancetosome
physically and mentally challenged
people.Theyalsotakepartinachil-
dren’s palliative treatment program
atChildren’sHospital of Soochow
UniversityinJiangsu.
Wuisattemptingtocontactmore
universities and institutions over-
seas, and said the University of
Edinburgh in Scotland has been in
touchwith him about introducing
advancedAATtoChina. This pro-
gramwillbelaunchedinSeptember.GuoJuncontributedtothisstory.Founderofanimal-assistedtherapy
programfindssuccessasChina’s
demandforsuchservicesgrows
Pet sessions
help seniors,
autistickids
Wu Qi takespart in a children’spalliative treatment program with hisdogsat Children’sHospital of
Soochow University, Jiangsuprovince, on International Children’sDay.PHOTOSPROVIDEDTOCHINADAILYAnimal-assisted therapy isprovided forseniorsatanursing home
in Nanjing, Jiangsuprovince, in June.CHINADAILY GLOBAL WEEKLY August 9-15, 2019 CHINANEWS 9