A Day at the DOG MARKET

A couple weeks ago we had the oppurtunity to visit the "Dog Market" that is near our apartment. OK, when I heard the term "Dog Market" and lined that up with what I've heard about Chinese culinary habits I became a little concerend. I love dogs myself, and I wasn't sure how I was going to handle this experience. Was I going to see Fifi filleted? Fido fried?! Balto being boxed??! Benji being baked?!?!? Culture shock would be no strange on afternoon.....

But when we arrived, I soon realized that I would be spared those sights (at least for that day). What the 'Market' amounted to was a large system of covered alleys and small streets that were lined with glass kennels and many wire cages . We saw about a hundred dogs all together, some that looked healthy, but the vast majority looked pretty pitiful. The smell was somewhere between a horse barn that hasn't been cleaned for a month and what I imagine Clifford the Big Red Dog would smell like after swimming in a cess pool.

Oddly enough, 90% of the dogs we saw were some sort of German Shepherd mix. But, we did see some huskies, a really sweet Golden Retriever that was in a cage that was about 1/2 as big as it should be, and even a couple that reminded me of my Misha back home (husky/g. shepherd mix).

The whole experience was both interesting and, to my American sensibilities, a little sad. For whatever reason, dogs are awarded a higher place in most American minds than, say, musk oxen. Here, however, I have seen some women with those "Designer Dogs" but the overall sene that I get here is that animals, all animals, are not regarded nearly as high as in our Western minds. I don't think PETA has a large presence in China. Right or wrong, I won't make a judgment, I will say that I honestly don't have a problem if the Chinese want to chow down on a chowchow or anything else for that matter. It will take some getting used to though...

Later,
swami