Police sources said the dogs for the fire fighting team are being trained in Shenyang, capital city of northeast China's Liaoning Province. After 60 days of training, the rescue dogs will join fire fighting forces in Beijing. There will be 20 firefighters in the team.

"The rescue dogs will be used for disaster relief during the Beijing Olympics at places where life detectors fail to get through," said Wang Zhangping, head of the team.

"The dogs were chosen in Shenyang, Harbin and Changchun cities, with the youngest aged just one," Wang said.

Before forming the rescue dog team, the Chaoyang District fire fighting brigade watched anti-drug-trafficking dogs being put through their paces at the General Administration of Customs training base, police dogs being trained at Beijing's criminal investigation brigade and also visited Shenyang's rescue dog base.

"A police dog uses the odour of things belonging to a person being hunted, but a rescue dog can only use airborne smells to search for survivors or dead people under ruined buildings," Wang said.

Beijing's rescue dogs are being trained to locate people trapped in collapsed buildings and search for the remains of victims at fire sites.

The training course also develops the dogs' courage, skill and physical strength, Wang said.