Pleasing 4 Pets

Anxious dog owners in Beijing have resorted to walking their dogs after dark comforted by the knowledge that the cities dog wardens have finished work for the day. Currently Beijing law prohibits the ownership of any canine more than 35cm in height. Any dog found to be over this height limit is art risk of being imprisoned and even put down if they are captured by the powers that be inside of Beijing.

Despite this, the trend for owning a pet in China appears to be flourishing and dog enthusiasts in particular have criticized and condemned Beijing’s rigid and uncompromising regulations against the ownership of substantially sized dogs, which they claim is a remnant of China’s communist history when only a very limited number of people were permitted to own pet dogs, and those that did were ridiculed and treated with contempt, and were judged to be as parasitic capitalists by communist leaders.

The regulations are stringently imposed, and even those with disabilities are not afforded any flexibility. For example a partially sighted Paralympic frontrunner cannot obtain registration for her guide dog, even though she is scheduled to run with the Olympic torch at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in September of this year.

A number of dog owners and animal cruelty protesters are concerned about the possibility of a crack down, or a more concentrated effort to implement the legislation more vigorously after the Olympics when the city of Beijing will no longer be scrutinized under the media spotlight.