HONEY, an eight-month-old golden retriever, poked his head out of the classroom to look at the teacher's visitors but returned to his position quickly after hearing the teacher's command.

　　It has been three weeks since Honey enrolled at the dog-training school at Shanghai Circus World and according to his teacher, Chen Hongyi, Honey has come to love the strict training regimen there. He receives one hour of training every morning individually in a classroom.

　　Honey was curious about the new guests in the classroom but he was called back again by his teacher.

　　He sat at Chen's feet and when the teacher extended his hand, Honey reached out his front left paw to shake.

　　"Honey is quick to learn and much more obedient than when he first entered the school," Chen said.

　　Strict requirement

　　Not all dogs qualify for the school and only those between six months and one year of age which pass an interview are allowed to enter.

　　"Dogs at that age are easier to train," said Liu Zhen, a member of staff at the school.

　　The first requirement is the dog must be licensed. In Shanghai, a license for those living within outer-ring areas costs 2,000 yuan (US$241) annually and 1,000 yuan (US$120) beyond that. It costs another 200 yuan (US$24) for required vaccinations.

　　Then there is an "IQ test" - dogs with parents that are siblings are not accepted, because they often have low IQs. A physical examination determines whether they are healthy enough for the strict training.

　　"Finally, we make sure the dogs are friendly to people. We turn down any that have a record of biting someone," Liu said.

　　A 40-day elementary class costs about 2,200 yuan (US$265) and 3,700 yuan (US$446) for intermediate "students." However, larger dogs are charged several hundreds yuan extra because they eat more.

　　School life

　　The school takes care of the dogs as kindergarten babies. The walls in each classroom are decorated with colourful stickers of rabbits, pigs and even dogs. Each dog is trained individually with a tutor.

　　Although they are growing in an environment of Shanghai dialect, the dogs are schooled in Mandarin Chinese. If the owners are expats, English is the standard teaching language.

　　Training at the elementary level includes sitting, lying and shaking hands on command.

　　"The first week is the hardest - some dogs do not obey while others become depressed, crouching in their cages and refusing to move or eat for several days," Chen said.

　　But they eventually become accustomed to the military-style environment.

　　"There have not been any dropout students so far," Chen said.

　　Students are divided into two dorms and each of them has a cage. They wake up early in the morning and employees take them outdoors to their toilet one by one. Morning is for training classes and in the afternoon school staff exercise the dogs.

　　"To some of the dogs, staying at the school is like going to summer camp, because they have people accompany and take care of them 24 hours a day. When they are at home they have to spend most of the day alone," Chen said.

　　Food is always an effective incentive to good behaviour. As long as they perform according to teachers' requirements, they receive a small piece of ham as encouragement.

　　Thanks to their energetic nature, Siberian huskies and Labrador retrievers take more patience and training time from the teachers. "They can hardly concentrate and just like to keep running," the teacher said.

　　On the day that Chen had his guests in class, Honey, the usually obedient golden retriever, became excited and had difficulty concentrating.

　　"Dogs are like kids. They dislike being restrained and hate schooling," Chen said.

　　Some of the more intelligent dogs learnt to open the gate of their cages and run out to the playground.

　　All the dog students gather on the playground at dusk. "Most of time, they make friends with each other, but they also fight and bite each other," Chen said.

　　Teachers punish misbehaviour by whipping the dog's buttocks.

　　On weekends, dogs do not have to go to class and sometimes their masters take them home to have a bath.

　　"We suggest the masters not visit the dogs a lot or take them home because dogs easily forget what they had learnt at school at the very beginning of the study," Chen said.

　　At the end of the term, every graduate receives a certificate with its name and photo on it.

　　Owners have to attend classes to learn how to give the commands several times during the 40-day training.

　　Dogs with a bad memory need to be sent back to the school several times to review what it has learnt even after graduation.

　　Liu, an employee of the school, said the city now has about four dog-training schools. Since this school opened in 2002, it has enrolled an increasing number of students.

　　"At the peak time, we have 19 dogs at once," he said.

　　Teachers at Liu's school are professional trainers at Circus World. Chen is responsible for training orangutans and monkeys. "Different animals have a lot in common," he said.

　　Dog doctors

　　Pei Jing, a resident of Shanghai, said she hopes dogs in the city can be trained to be more friendly not only to their masters but also to neighbours.

　　The city's animal protection organizations have planned to recruit five to 20 trained dogs to be "dog doctors," which will be sent to hospitals or orphanages to accompany patients and kids.

　　Jill Robinson, founder of Animals Asia Foundation, told local media that "dog doctors" emerged in Asia 13 years ago. Hong Kong now has 300 such dogs. (By Lu Chang)