With the Year of the Dog close at hand on January 29, Beijing's
pooches are being primped and pampered to celebrate the
occasion.
Dog owners are going all out, splashing on clothes, gifts and
haircuts for their precious pets.
Hao Didi, 22, who has four puppies, said that she and the family
will be dressing up the pups in traditional Chinese costumes, the
tangzhuang. Appointments have also been made at the pet
beauty salon for the doggies.
"The Year of the Dog is something special for everyone in my
family. We love and care for our dogs a lot. And this is their
year," Hao said.?
There are 12 animals on the Chinese horoscope, each lunar
calendar year being represented by each one in 12-year cycles. The
animals are, in cyclical order, the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon,
snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.
The owner of Coolbaby Pet Products Store in Beijing said that
business has been brisk in the last two weeks. He said that he sold
30 percent more dog clothes and toys in the last week alone.
According to a shop assistant, traditional clothes and those in
red were the best sellers, the tangzhuang selling for more
than 70 yuan (US$8.70) each.
And in keeping with tradition, dogs, like their owners, will be
getting a wash and a haircut before the New Year.
A shop assistant at Beijing Hiway Pet Center said that there's
been a bit of a queue of dogs waiting their turn for grooming the
last few days.
Grooming services cost between 35 (US$4.50) to 200 yuan (about
US$25).
Some pet beauty salons even offer saunas for dogs.
Also high on the list of I-love-my-pet activities is putting
photo albums together.
Qin's Photo Studio in Beijing, a pet photography service that
caters mainly to magazines and shops, has received "quite a number
of" individual customers in the past few days, an assistant
surnamed Chen said.
Only over the last weekend, she noted, the studio had six
appointments from individual customers, which is not usual.
An average album costs 550 yuan (approximately US$70), she
said.
A loyal, obedient animal, the dog is believed to bring fortune.
As the Chinese saying goes: "Cats come with poverty, dogs with
property".
According to statistics from the Beijing Association of Small
Animal Protection, Beijing has more than one million pet dogs, more
than any other city in the country.
Statistics also show that Beijingers spend more than 500 million
yuan (about US$65 million) every year on their pets.
On a less "yappy" note, there are also about 200,000 stray or
abandoned dogs that roam the city's streets.
(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2006)