A poster at the front gate of my apartment complex shows pictures of 33 dog breeds that are banned from living here. They are all presumably considered too big or too dangerous to reside in our cramped quarters near the campus of Henan University of Technology.
The list includes large breeds such as German Shepherds, Great Danes, Alaskan Malamutes, Newfoundlands, Saint Bernards and Rottweilers. But medium-sized dogs such as Dalmatians and Weimaraners are also banned.
Strangely missing from the list are behemoths such as English Sheepdogs, Irish Wolfhounds and Great Pyrenees. Maybe they’re unknown in China. Or maybe they’re a little confused about dog breeds. Case in point: The picture identified as a Great Dane on the poster appears to be some kind of Pit Bull.
The largest dogs at my apartment complex are a pair of Border Collies, though I’ve seen a couple of Golden Retrievers and a German Shepherd on the street.
Dog ownership is increasing in China, another sign of the growing middle class here. It’s a status symbol for some people, proof that they have enough time, space and money to take care of a popular Western pet.
By the way, China is trying to discourage the tradition of eating dog meat, which dates back to ancient times. During the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, dog meat was removed from the menus of all official Olympic restaurants to avoid offending guests from other countries. Animals rights groups have pushed for a ban on the sale of dog meat, but the practice continues in some parts of China. Every summer, the southern city of Yulin hosts a dog-meat festival where an estimated 10,000 of the animals are slaughtered.
As a dog lover, I consider this barbaric. But then hundreds of millions of people in India feel the same way about our treatment of cows.
