KUALA LUMPUR - The first stamp series issued by Malaysia's postal service this year will be themed "Animals with Various Special Roles - Working Dogs".

Ms Diyana Lean Abdullah from Pos Malaysia's Stamp and Philately Unit said the stamp series would be available from Thursday (Jan 18), and feature three types of well-known working dogs, namely detector dogs, protection dogs and guide dogs, reported national news agency Bernama.

"This collection highlights the importance of working dogs trained to perform specific tasks to assist humans, for example in crime prevention, detection of concealed substances or objects and to assist visually impaired individuals," she said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Dogs are not often celebrated in the country because they are considered unclean among the country's Muslim majority.

A photo of a festive Chinese New Year T-shirt recently went viral on social media because its image of zodiac animals was missing the dog and the pig, another taboo animal in the Muslim faith.

In 2016, food vendors stopped using the word "dog" to describe sausages, after Islamic authorities said it was confusing.

According to Bernama, Ms Diyana said the stamp collection displays a sketch of a firefighter and a border collie, a policeman and a Belgian shepherd and a blind man with a golden retriever, while the miniature sheet features an illustration of a policeman with a German shepherd and labrador.

Production of the stamp series is limited to 200,000 pieces for each design, 30,000 pieces of first day covers, 25,000 miniature sheet stamps and 1,800 folders.