Chinese choosing dogs as pets rather than meals

[Guest guest]

Chinese choosing dogs as pets rather than meals

Craig Simons

COX NEWSPAPERS

INTERNATIONAL STAFF

Sunday, October 29, 2006

 

In Beijing, the phrase 'it's a dog's life' takes on new meaning.

 

BEIJING — No doubt happy to be sitting at the table, rather than served on it,

a 4-year-old golden retriever named Bono lounges on a red couch at Happy Dog, a

restaurant catering to dog owners in downtown Beijing.

 

At Coolbaby Pet Store next door, a toy poodle named Pudding slips his carefully

trimmed paws into a $12 blue cotton jacket.

 

" Since it's starting to get cold I need to keep him dressed, " explains Tao Yuan,

his 38-year-old owner as he snaps tiny buttons around Pudding's neck.

 

He also needs to keep up with the Joneses. While Pudding has five outfits, some

of his friends' dogs have dozens and one has more than 300, Tao said.

 

A pet-pampering craze is sweeping China as the country's middle class expands

and traditional family structures break apart, leaving more people single and,

some say, lonely.

 

Since 2003, the number of registered dogs in Beijing more than tripled to

534,000, and the number of unlicensed dogs is likely several times that figure.

As China's economy has boomed and affluence has spread, attitudes toward dogs

have changed profoundly.

 

Traditionally, Chinese have eaten dog meat partly because it is thought to

improve blood circulation, and in rural parts of China it is common to see dog

carcasses hanging at markets. But urban Chinese increasingly are choosing dogs

as pets rather than meals, said Jill Robinson, founder and director of the Hong

Kong-based Animals Asia Foundation.

 

" The middle class now cherishes their pets like children, " she said.

 

The canine-friendly shift has created a potentially huge market for pet products

and services.

 

At Pet Paradise, an exclusive dog hotel that opened in February, canines watch

Tom and Jerry cartoons before bedtime because, as owner Liu Mingli explains,

" Chinese dogs are used to having television on at home in the evening. "

 

The posh kennel in eastern Beijing offers 30 private rooms fitted with

air-conditioning and private televisions at a rate of $10 per night, about the

cost of a cheap hotel room for people in Beijing. Liu, 33, expects to earn back

his investment within two years and is already planning to build a swimming pool

and more outdoor play areas for the dogs.

 

" Now that people have money we want to enjoy it, " Liu said. " Dogs are part of

our life. "

 

The surge in pet ownership has also created loose-knit lobby groups promoting

animal welfare.

 

After a county government is China's southwestern Yunnan province ordered the

mass extermination of dogs — pets as well as strays — in July to curb a

rabies outbreak, China's dog owners posted thousands of angry denunciations on

the Internet.

 

According to local residents and Chinese news reports, the government of Mouding

County threatened citizens with large fines if they didn't turn over their dogs

to be hanged or beaten to death. Officials later sent teams of " dog beaters " to

prowl the streets looking for animals hidden by their owners. When they found

dogs, they clubbed them to death on the spot, and more than 50,000 dogs were

killed during the campaign, local media reported.

 

" It was horrible, " said Li Lanfen, a farmer who turned in her two-year-old dog,

a part-wolf mutt, to be hanged. " Losing him was like losing part of our family. "

 

After the negative publicity in Yunnan, officials in Shandong province banned

reporting about an extermination plan and the state-run China Daily newspaper

ran a defensive editorial pointing out that rabies killed more Chinese than

either tuberculosis or AIDS for four consecutive months this summer.

 

As more Chinese keep pets, the demand will grow for humane treatment, said

Robinson of the Animals Asia Foundation. Pet owners " are making a very profound

difference in attitudes (toward dogs) across the country, " she said.

 

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/10/29/29chinadogs.html