Premature arrival of man's best friend

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  Lijiang, China
Saturday, August 16, 2008

This year I'd been thinking about getting a dog. Not sure exactly why. Maybe some male menopause thing going on.
Thing is, I think I am more of a cat person than a dog person. Or I thought I was. Dogs always seemed either too aggressive (I got my knee scarred from a dog bite) - or too needy. And then there was the dog owners: looking too much like their dogs; unable to maintain normal human relations so resorting to having a dog (buying their love with Jellimeat).
As for cats, they seems to have better lives. Their attitude seemed to be 'whatever'. Their primary interests were in food, warmth, laziness. They showed a lack of regard for humans verging on disdain.
Anyway, earlier this year I thought about the prospect of getting for the first time a dog. Partly for companionship. Partly because I liked the idea.
Not just any old dog. Preferably a puppy. And hopefully a Scottish collie dog. Not easy in China, but I made inquiries and found out there were some in the nearby provincial capital.
In Kunming I also found pet shops and new displays in supermarkets where you could buy pet food and all kinds of things, for prices that would be reasonable in the West, but seemed like massive ripoffs in China. A dog chain for US$10 US. A dog brush for $US15. Some dog treats for $US5 a bag - comparable to two weeks' lunch and breakfast noodles.
But I've realised that in China, owning a dog is very much a status thing. You might think that Chinese eat dogs - they do, but mainly for medicine to warm up - but most my friends are appalled by the idea of eating a dog.
Recently Chinese have kept dogs as guard dogs, to bark and warn strangers. They often wander and roam searching for rubbish to eat.
But in recent times, owning a dog is like owning a car: something to show off.
And in status-hungry China, the bigger the better. Why?
A big dog shows:
1. you are the boss
2. your dog can eat enemies
3. you have enough money to feed the bloody thing.
Around these parts I could have opted for a Tibetan masstif. They are big, burly dogs. But not very friendly - they need to have a restraint around their midrift or else they will attack.
Or I could have gone the local way and get a small dog, like a sausage dog with curls. But I am not that desperate. Even though I got offered one of these dogs, I would not bear to live with such a creature. Ugly, unable to walk far, with a yappy bark all hours of the day and night - No Way.
Having Scottish heritage, I had a yearning towards getting a collie. This was something in my DNA. And in my childhood I had watched the TV programme Lassie on TV, about a collie dog that rescues people.
So I set off to Kunming one weekend to look for a dog, and following instructions, visited not just one but two markets where they have dogs. The first one had a few dogs, and the prices ranged from 50 yuan to a a few thousand. But there were no collies. So I tried the second market, out of downtown. This seemed to be more of a purebred specialist market, and I found a shop with collie dogs. There were even some puppies. The prices were 600 yuan - less than US$100. There was even one with a damaged nose they were willing to sell to me for 300. I wasn't sure if it was OK, if it had ran into a wall like they said, or it this was some mutation or disease.
I checked on the internet later that day, and still wasn't sure if this was a sign that the dog was unhealthy. Anyway, transport considerations, and my desire to return home meant I didn't get a dog that time in Kunming.
Months passed. I thought about going to Kunming to get a dog and how I would organise the transport (secret hidden discreet) by bus to get back home - an 8 hour bus ride.
Then one day I saw a local man walking his collie dog. We chatted and I said I wanted one. He happened to live nearby. And his dog had just had puppies. So far, so good.
I had a look at the dogs, and they looked in good condition. I could choose one, he said.
How much? I asked.
3,000.
[that's about US$420]

That seemed to be the going price for collies in Lijiang. Or at least the price for foreigners.

So I planned to go to Kunming again sometime in the future.

Then, the other week, I got an email from a friend, about how his wife had given birth to their second child. And how that baby had arrived a few weeks before it was due. And how that meant some hasty renovations to the spare room to get it child-ready and baby-proof.

That same day, I was going out of the local market, when I saw a collie dog on the back of a three-wheeled bike, near the area where they sell birds and have chicken fights. It was sitting there, with two other different dogs, lazing in the sun on the busy street. Was it for sale? I asked.
Yes. For 600. [just over US$80]

I checked out the dog as much as I could, given that I'd never had a dog before, and wasn't totally up with what to look for (I looked in its mouth at its teeth, got it to stand up, and checked its eyes). It looked OK as far as I could tell. It didn't seem overly interested in me - or anything for that matter. They said it was 3 or 4 months old.

I went away to think about it. As it had been a shock to see the kind of dog I wanted, right there at my local market. After an hour or so I came back that way. The dog wasn't there. Nor was the seller. But I spotted them further down the street near the market entrance. I looked over the dog again. And tried to determine if it was male or female. Verdict: male [possibly].

People gathered around, as they do in China. Like in those movies when someone starts doing something normal but it turns out everyone else is in the mafia or a triad or something. A man selling fruit joined in the inspection - admittedly more of me than the dog. And the bargaining began. Somehow the man seemed to be taking bids. It got down to 500. I told them I could get one for 300 in Kunming. They said 400, after a while. I said 250 [I later found out that if you buy something for 250 yuan it is a term for something crap]. As I only had 300 yuan on me, I did the usual Chinese thing: show a decided lack of interest in purchasing, then walk away.
They reluctantly lowered the price to 300, but I needed some cash left to buy some groceries. So in the end I parted with three hundred quai notes, and they gave me back some change.
I wanted a proper collar and leash, but a piece of rope had to surfice. So off I walked with the somewhat sleepy dog through the market and home.

On arriving home, that's when I realised - like my friends - that I was not quite ready for having a dog. I was still renovating my place. And there were chemicals and hazards all over the place.

So quickly I had to tidy up. And put things away.
And then make up a house for the dog to live in.
And then find something it might like to eat.

Unlike a human mother who might have their maternal instinct kick in, I was not sure what i should do. So I turned to the internet. And found startling things: a small dose of chocolate could kill a dog (ok, I learn that earlier this year when trying to devise a strategy to kill my neighbours's barking dog). Tomato plants and onions will kill a dog. Dogs are lactose intolerant. Among other things.

Fortunately a phone call to a friend revealed other tricks and secrets about training dogs. Apparently they think they are the boss, and that their job is to be the leader of the pack. But you have to show them that you are the leader of the pack - not just by singing that song by - this is spooky given the title of my travelblog - The Shangrilas.

It has now been two weeks since I got the dog. It can now sit, lie down and fetching things if I call it. Most the time. It's coat is now shinier. It likes human attention, but not that of too many other dogs. He turned out to be a she. And her name . . . Lassie.

I plan to train her for search and rescue, so we can find lost people in the mountains around here.

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