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A Labrador Retriever in Taiwan failed to become a drug-sniffing dog. Now, he is helping find quake victims after the country suffered a devastating 7.4-magnitude earthquake earlier this month.
Roger, the 8-year-old pooch, was originally trained to be a drug-sniffing police dog. According to the Central News Agency (CNA), the pooch underwent training at the Customs Administration’s Detector Dog Breeding & Training Center in Taichung.
However, Roger failed to make the final cut because he was too playful and had a hard time following the training’s “one command, one action” rule.
The captain of the rescue dog unit of the Kaohsiung Fire Department, Chen Chih-san, told reporters, “I’m not saying he was not good or that he didn’t get along with others. But the requirement for narcotic detection dogs is that they can’t be too restless and independent.”
“But (these attributes) are what we want in rescue dogs,” Chih-san continued.
So, when one door closes, another one opens. And because of Roger’s nature, he became a perfect search-and-rescue dog.
Now, Roger is a ranking officer working with the Kaohsiung Fire Bureau for the past five years.
PEOPLE reports that in Roger’s five-year career as a search-and-rescue dog, the pooch has helped out in a total of seven missions.
In his latest mission, which was to help find victims from Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in 25 years, the pooch was able to locate the body of the earthquake’s 13th victim and his 3rd body — a 21-year-old woman found in a rubble in Taroko, National Park.
But that’s not the only mission Roger has done successfully. The pooch is also providing some much needed relief to people in Taiwan and is stealing their hearts for his playful behavior.
Thanks to news coverage, Roger was able to show just how playful and naughty he is. He was seen trying to munch on a reporter’s microphone and tearing apart an ice cream toy that the mayor of Kaohsiung gave him.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-Mai told ABC Australia that Roger was still full of energy after the search and rescue.
Roger, along with his fellow rescue dogs, were given plenty of toys and snacks for their hard work.
“After receiving the ice cream toy, he didn’t mind messing up his appearance while enthusiastically chewing on it, bringing smiles to everyone despite their exhaustion,” the mayor said.
