Paw patrol: China’s most popular new police officer is a corgi

CNN —

China’s sprawling security apparatus has a far-from-cuddly reputation, but the country’s most popular new police officer is making waves on social media with his stubby legs, wide grin and wagging tail.

Fuzai the corgi puppy, whose name means “Lucky Boy,” is a reserve police dog in Weifang, a city in the eastern province of Shandong. The uniformed pooch made his debut at an open-day event organized by Weifang police earlier this month, according to state-run media.

He immediately became a social media phenomenon, with one video of Fuzai viewed more than 1.3 million times on the Chinese platform Weibo, where a related hashtag has been viewed nearly 16 million times.

Fuzai began training at two months old and now, at six months, is outperforming many of his peers, according to state media.

Fuzai is a reserve police dog and started training when he was two months old, according to state media.

Some of these peers are featured on Fuzai’s official account on Douyin – the Chinese version of TikTok — with the account run by Weifang police. Videos show other puppies in training, including a bloodhound named Coffee and an explosives detection dog named Dumpling.

Other videos show Fuzai doing drills like locating firecrackers under a car – and being swarmed by adoring members of the public during walks.

One popular video with 38,000 “likes” shows a line of fiercely professional-looking German Shepherds – a breed used by police departments around the world for their strength and intelligence – walking beside their trainers, many wearing muzzles.

Fuzai trains twice a day in obedience lessons, explosives detection, scent tracking and more.

At the end of the line is Fuzai – strapped to the back of an officer, paws