Stories of police dog Erteng

In the morning of November 30th, 2019, police dog Erteng was buried in an orchard near Daheishan Sub-station of the Mengkang Entry-Exit Inspection Station in Ximeng Wa Autonomous County, Puer City, Yunnan Province. The tombstone faces the Daheishan Sub-station, which Erteng guarded in its lifetime.

In its 10-year career as a police dog, Erteng delivered exemplary service. He was on duty at Daheishan for a total of 2,982 days. Over the years he inspected 200,000 vehicles and 240,000 pieces of luggage, discovered 100 kilograms of drugs and helped with the arrest of 13 suspects. Before the demobilisation of his trainer Zhou Bing, Erteng was anxious and restless. When Zhou Bing looked back to bid him farewell, Erteng jumped onto the truck. He took Zhou Bing's backpack between his teeth and would not let go. "During my absence, you must guard the national gate and get along with your new trainer," Zhou Bing said, with tears in his eyes.

Hearing Zhou Bing's words, Erteng stopped tearing at the backpack but still kept whining. When the truck drove out of the camp, Erteng began to run after it. By the time the truck was out of sight, Erteng was already out of breath, though he had never flinched from any training or mission. Later, several more batches of soldiers were demobilized, but Erteng still guarded the Sub-station.

In 2018, Erteng was already 10 years old. Like a man in his sixties, his visual, auditory and olfactory functions deteriorated, and he had to retire. Just after the 2019 Spring Festival holiday, Erteng disappeared. His trainer Yang Fuxing and other police officers searched everywhere. Finally, they found Erteng, under a tree on the hill behind the camp and on the brink of death.

On November 29th, 2019, Erteng breathed his last breath and was buried near the national gate which he had guarded. "You are our family and closest comrade-in-arms. You fought side by side with us, but you left us early," said the police officers, who will never forget Erteng.

Text from Xinhua; trans-editing by Yunnan Daily