By Lucky the Dog (as told to Ann Williams)

HONG KONG -- My name’s Lucky. Actually, it’s Dr Lucky or Professor Lucky, depending on my work schedule.

Yes, I’m a working dog, like the police dogs, firefighters’ dogs, customs dogs, guide dogs and rescue dogs helping to keep people safe and happy.

I’m part of a pet-therapy programme run by the Animals Asia Foundation (AAF). Knowing that I’m friendly and laid-back, my owner Ann took me for a test to see if I have the right temperament to become a Dr Dog. Luckily, she didn’t mention that most applicants fail, which might have made me nervous.

Actually, I reckoned it was a piece of cake, or maybe a tasty biscuit. But I did wonder why two ladies intently poked and prodded me, pulled my fur, tail and ears, and even made loud noises near me.

Once I’d passed the test, I received a red bandana and my own ID card. I wear those when going on Dr Dog visits to centres and homes for the elderly or disabled humans. Honestly, I get quite excited when I see the bandana come out because it means a taxi trip, lots of treats and a chance to catch up with some of my chums, other Dr Dogs. (Incidentally, the regular taxi drivers are nice guys, who always say, “Hello, Lucky”. One even has a “pet on board” sticker in his back window.)

Soon I get patted and brushed by lots of people. They may get to “walk” me, sometimes even while in wheelchairs. When seeing us, these people respond with joy. They tell Ann that they really look forward to Dr Dog visits. Some of them had dogs in the past and like to talk about those good times.

After a few Dr Dog visits, I was asked to become a Professor Paws too (blue bandana). My professional qualifications had doubled.

In the Professor Paws programme, I visit primary schools to help human youngsters to learn how to behave around dogs. Sometimes I attend presentations to older students at secondary schools.

Honestly, I enjoy the school visits too. It’s great to see my teaching-dog pals like Schneider, Donna and the siblings, Rudy and Luca. Some school children act scared when first meeting us dogs. At times, they even scream when we walk into the room. You’d think we were wolves.

Before long, about 10 children will sit in a circle around me, Ann and an AAF teaching volunteer. They find out how to say “hello” to a dog. (For the record, they must ask the owner first and then let us smell the backs of their hands.) Soon they pat me and brush my fur. I love the next step most. That’s when they learn to feed us little tidbits. I like it when they get to walk with us too.

Even the most timid children turn bolder by the end of the course. (Usually, we visit the same class once a week for three or four weeks.) Eventually, they all want to hug me, and they tell me I’m cute.

Above all, I fondly remember some children who loved me the most. One little boy always made sure to sit beside me in class, and he’d put his arms around me as the teacher took photos. At another school, a teacher said that one girl with learning problems made more progress in 10 minutes of playing with me than she had all term. The children at one school loved our visits so much that they asked their teacher if they could visit the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to meet the dogs there.

Many pet-therapy dogs are pure breeds, especially golden retrievers in Professor Paws, and small dogs, like pugs or Chinese Imperials, in Dr Dog. But more and more mongrels, like me, participate too. My mongrel friends, like Donna and Bear, join me in trying hard to convince people that street- and village-dogs are friendly, gentle and helpful too.

At last year’s Doctor Dog Devotion Awards, I won a medal as the Most Outstanding Mixed Breed. Ann and I went onstage in front of lots of dogs (including brainy, brawny police dogs) and people to receive the award from a nice TV-star lady named Jessica. She told me I was handsome! Lots of journalists took my photo. I’ve also appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine and on Chinese TV.

Admittedly, I’m a Lucky dog, not just to have a nice home, but also to enjoy helping old people, sick people and children. It’s a big change from my early days.

The only male in a four-pup litter, I was born about seven years ago in Sai Kung, a picturesque part of the New Territories. My first human, an old man, didn’t look after us much. One day, my mother and sisters all disappeared. The old man had sent them away. Other dogs in the neighborhood told me that something bad had happened to them.

Although my human ignored me, I lived on a patch of ground near where a mini-bus always stopped. Lots of people lingered, greeted me and patted me through the fence. Old ladies in the village gave me food. Sometimes, I ate four times in a day, but not again for three days.

I noticed Ann when she started to give me doggie biscuits each day. Her old dog, a German shepherd, had died so I felt glad that she liked talking to me.

When I got a skin infection, Ann took me to a veterinarian and made sure that I received my medicine. Then my owner went into a hospital and didn’t return.

For a time, I lived totally on my own. When the old man’s family came to clear out his house, they said I could live with Ann.

We still live in Sai Kung, and sometimes I meet people who helped me in the old days. They’re pleased to see me and often say that I look nice and clean.

That brings me to one disagreeable aspect of my new life. As a Dr Dog, maybe I shouldn’t admit this, but I hate taking baths!

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