Taiwan has gained six new guide dog candidate puppies — good news for the visually impaired and for foster families willing to offer their care.

• Syan, a Labrador dam at the Hui Kuang Guide Dog School, safely gave birth on the 9th of this month to a litter of six puppies — two males and four females — with mother and pups all doing well.
• Syan comes from the renowned Japanese visual-impairment support organisation "Homes for the Blind." She was bred and observed for a month in Japan before coming to Taiwan to await the birth, in the hope of carrying on a fine bloodline.
• Once the puppies reach two months old (expected around National Day), they will move in with foster families for a year of socialisation training, with feed and medical costs covered by the school and its sponsors.
• The five puppies born to another dam, Tessa, this past July have all found foster families, and this new litter is now being recruited for.
• Breeding dams generally have two litters; if their stamina and temperament are suitable, they then become education and outreach dogs, and after retirement they too are placed with foster families to live out their days.

Outlook: The school will begin recruiting foster families for these six puppies, setting them on the path to becoming "the eyes of the visually impaired."