Quarantine dog Daxiong has retired after working for eight years in the Department of Inspection and Quarantine at Nanjing's airport. He has been adopted by Ms. Zhi, a resident of Yancheng city in East China's Jiangsu province.[Photo/www.yangtse.com]

Quarantine dogs were first employed in the Nanjing airport in 2002, after their implementation in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. After training for four months, Daxiong started work in 2009. He was good at sniffing out plant products, and his biggest discovery was 17 boxes of fruit totaling 179 kilograms.

At nine years old, Daxiong is the equivalent in dog years to a 60-year-old man, but he is nevertheless as excitable as ever when it comes to food. Daxiong is so sensitive to forbidden goods, especially meat products and fruit, that his trainer rewards his good behavior with snacks.

Quarantine dogs usually work three to four hours a day, taking a rest every half an hour. This keeps them alert and accurate.

From 2014, the department began to seek an adopter for Daxiong in preparation for his retirement. His trainer, Yan Han, explained that the adopting family had to love dogs and have some experience raising them. Additionally, Yan hoped that the whole family would get on well with the dog. By this metric, Ms. Zhi became Daxiong's adopter.

To prove that Daxiong is living a happy, healthy life with his new family, Ms. Zhi provides periodic photos and videos to the dog's former handlers.