'Bilingual' best friend inspires

Jack the Malinois has mastered a skill that no other canine in his dog unit has understanding commands in both the Uygur and Mandarin languages.

The 8-year-old Malinois is part of the Urumqi special police force No 8 detachment's police dog unit in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"Other officers call him the 'bilingual canine'. Inspired by Jack, some of them have also begun to learn the Uygur language, " said Mehmet Halik, 28, an officer from the unit, which is based in Urumqi, the regional capital.