A couple weeks we had the oppurtunity to visit the "Dog Market" close to our apartment. Now, when I heard 'Dog Market' and placed that term next to what I've heard about Chinese culinary habits I became a little concerned. I love dogs, and this seemed like a difficult thing to take in. Was I going to see Fido being filleted?! Fifi being fried??? Balto being boxed?!? Benji being baked?!??!! (Sorry, I got a little carried away). Culture shock was going to be no stranger during this trip...
But, as it turned out, I would be spared. The 'Dog Market' was no more than a large system of covered alleys and small streets that were lined with what could best be described as glass kennels. We say probably a hundred dogs, some healthy looking but the vast majority looked pretty pitiful. The smell of the place was somewhere between a horse barn that hasn't been cleaned in a month and what I imagine Clifford the Big Red Dog would smell like after going swimming in a cess pool.
Almost 90% of the dogs, oddly enough, were some sort of German Shepherd mix. There were a few really nice looking huskies and even a really sweet Golden Retriever in a cage that was probably 1/2 of the size it should be. I even found a dog that looked an awful lot like my Misha back in Auburn (Husky/ G. Shepherd mix)!
The whole experience was both interesting as well as sad. I have seen some women here with those "Designer dog" but I get the feeling that animals are certainly given much less regard than in the states. Don't get me wrong, if they want to chow down on a chowchow (that's the last one, I promise) I'm not going to hold it against them, but it's gonna take some getting used to...
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