After dreaming of getting rich, I dressed up as a collapsed idol

Chapter 306

Bincheng, also a coastal city, has many similarities with Weicheng. Both are surrounded by the sea on three sides and have rich marine resources.

But the cityscape is completely different.

The climate here is mild and humid, with a warm temperate continental monsoon climate with marine characteristics, which makes the temperature in this city mostly remain between 27 and 28 degrees in summer, and there are few days when the temperature rises above 30 degrees.

In winter, it won’t turn into a snow pit like Weicheng.

The "Sounds into the Ears" program crew arrived here after a two-hour flight.

Then we went straight to Bingcheng Medical University, which has the earliest guide dog training base in the country.

A building with a dark brown exterior, with nameplates of the unit hanging on both sides of the gate: China Guide Dog Bincheng Training Base.

"Hello, you are here to film a program for CCTV, right?"

Someone came to greet us at the door in advance. He was a young man in his thirties. His skin was very dark, probably because he worked outdoors all year round. He didn't seem to be used to being in front of the camera and seemed a little reserved.

Several people went up to him one by one, shook hands with him, introduced themselves, and learned that the young man was the training instructor of the base, named Wang Lin.

"At first, this was just a research group. In 2006, it was approved by the China Disabled Persons' Federation and established as a non-profit guide dog training institution. All trained guide dogs are given free of charge to visually impaired people."

It was their first meeting. After a brief acquaintance at the door, Wang Lin led Lu Qingfeng and a few others, along with numerous cameras, inside, introducing the history of the base.

"Huh? It's free, then how do you maintain the base's expenses?"

The people walking nearby looked around curiously, and Si Hanyun asked in surprise when she heard the introduction.

"It mainly relies on subsidies and donations from caring people. For every guide dog delivered, there will be a subsidy of 60,000 yuan, plus caring people in the society will also donate some supplies needed by the base."

"Water, electricity, kennels, and office space were provided free of charge by the Medical University."

Is 60,000 a lot?

The other four people didn't have much idea, but Lu Qingfeng, who came from a poor family, secretly calculated and found that the money didn't seem to be enough.

Even if he doesn't have a dog, he knows that owning a dog is not cheap.

For example, the golden retriever in Liu Xin's family is the dog that starred in the short film shot by the film club when she was in high school. Every month, the dog food, supplementary food, injections, and other miscellaneous items cost more than 2,000 yuan.

Even if the dogs at the base are fed a little roughly, they will cost no less than a thousand yuan.

This is the cost of one dog. There must be quite a few dogs at the base, plus the labor wages.

"So, roughly how many guide dogs can be deployed at the base each year?"

he asked.

Wang Lin glanced at him and said.

"Every year, about 30 guide dogs are trained and qualified."

As they were talking, they had already arrived inside the base. There was a large area with various obstacles, and a staff member was training a Labrador.

You can see the trainer constantly giving instructions to the dog. Some of these instructions can be passed, while others will cause obstacles and require the dog to make its own judgment.

Wang Lin introduced from the side.

"This is to train guide dogs to avoid obstacles. The biggest difficulty for blind people when traveling is the various obstacles that often appear on the road. The biggest responsibility of guide dogs is to avoid these."

"I saw a video online where a guide dog could help its owner pick up packages and even know where its owner was going. Are they really that smart?"

Tong Jin asked in broken Mandarin.

Wang Lin smiled helplessly when he heard this.

"Maybe some guide dogs are really that smart, but it's definitely not as exaggerated as outsiders think. The core ability of a guide dog is only one, which is obstacle avoidance, not pointing the way as many people think."

"Actually, all guide dogs' actions still depend on their owners' commands. At the training center, our trainers give the dogs more than 30 commands, including go straight, turn right, turn left, and so on."

"The owner gives instructions to the guide dog, and the guide dog acts according to the instructions while avoiding obstacles in the path."

This was also the first time Lu Qingfeng knew this piece of knowledge.

He used to think that guide dogs were like the eyes of the blind, guiding them forward. Now he knows that guide dogs are more like a living tool.

Thinking of this, he suddenly thought of another question.

"What if we encounter an intersection like that with a lot of traffic?"

"This is also one of the abilities of guide dogs. Most of the time, guide dogs will obey their owners' orders. But sometimes, like in situations like Mr. Lu's, guide dogs will make their own judgments. We call this behavior intellectual disobedience."

"For example, when encountering traffic lights, dogs are color-blind, so the traffic lights appear to them as varying shades of gray. So when crossing traffic lights, they mainly rely on the owner's instructions and the guide dog's real-time perception of road conditions."

Everyone nodded in understanding.

Guide dogs don't work the way they're supposed to.

“Is it difficult to train a qualified guide dog?”

Wang Lin nodded immediately.

"Guide dogs are like glasses for the blind. The error rate must be zero because any problem would be a big deal for the blind, so the selection of dogs is extremely strict."

"Firstly, in terms of breed, we generally only select Labradors, Golden Retrievers and Poodles. Then, each dog undergoes genetic sequencing to trace back three generations to ensure there is no record of aggression or genetic defects."

"At the same time, we have to ensure that the dog doesn't have an overly curious or overly lively personality."

"Every year, the base selects 100 dogs, but only about 30 pass the training. Currently, there are fewer than 300 guide dogs in service nationwide."

"And there are more than 17 million blind people in the country."

This strong contrast in numbers made everyone sigh.

"Is there no other way, like hiring someone to take care of it?"

"Because human hearts are so complex, blind people, after losing their sight, which is their most important sensory interface with the outside world, are already sensitive and lack security, and it's difficult for them to accept an outsider around them."

"At the same time, blind people also have self-respect and the independence they desire, rather than being treated as a special group and receiving special care."

"Finally, and most importantly, caregivers are very expensive."

Si Hanyun looked at Lu Qingfeng who answered her question, and then looked at Wang Lin.

Wang Lin nodded, indicating that this was indeed the case.

"Although the cost of training a guide dog is high, it can accompany its owner for eight to ten years, and the emotional value of a dog's companionship is something many people cannot give."

"I've heard that some companies are researching guide devices, but the actual results are far inferior to guide dogs, until there are breakthroughs in technology."

"Guide dogs are a source of hope for blind people to be able to go out on their own."