Song Linwei puts police dog Digua through his paces. [Photo/Lishui Daily]

Song Linwei, an auxiliary police officer at the public security bureau in Songyang county – administered by Lishui city in East China's Zhejiang province – was recently given an award by China's Ministry of Public Security for his outstanding skills in training police dogs.

His police dog, Digua, was selected as one of the nation's top 100 "Meritorious Dogs".

Before becoming a police dog trainer, Song was a chef for 17 years. In 1999, he graduated from high school and started his first job in a restaurant in Lishui. In the following years, he moved around a lot of places to work for a living until 2016, when he returned to his hometown in Songyang county and found out that the public security bureau was recruiting police dog trainers.

Song was thrilled at the news because he's a dog lover and raising a police dog had been his childhood dream. After successfully passing the selection, Song started his journey as a police dog trainer and met the then 3-month-old Digua.

After an arduous training program – teaching Digua to sit, lie down and to stand through many hundreds of repetitions – while practicing grappling, tracking and arresting techniques at the same time – Song turned his puppy into a formidable working dog.

Together, they have solved more than 180 criminal cases, assisted in the capture of 56 suspects, searched and rescued more than 90 people, carried out more than 600 security checks and seized more than 170 contraband items.

For Song, Digua is more than just a dog. He is his comrade, partner and part of the family.