The Chinese and the dogs

Someone once commented that he had never seen a Chinese family raising a dog. Come to think of it, none of my Chinese friends have a dog or a cat or any kind of pet. Our family is standing out like a sore thumb!

Why is it then that we Chinese don't like to keep pets, especially dogs?

Maybe it is because that lots of us don't really view a dog as a family friend. If you go somewhere like south and northeast of China, you'd still see people eat dog meat like pork there. Like the Koreans, the Chinese believe that it is better for the humans to eat dogs during winter season. An American would look at a dog and drools about how cute or beautiful it is, some of us Chinese do that as well.. although we drool for a totally different reason.

Or could it be that we are too busy with our lives that we just don't have another minute for a dog? Most of us are SO absorbed in our professional life busily trying to get ahead, get promoted and get paid more. At home, we over-educated chauffeurs drive our kids crazy by driving them from Kumon to piano classes, like our kids are not smart or busy enough.

Or maybe getting a dog is too much work for us overly hardworking people. It is sure a lot of work from walking the dog to cleaning up its mess.

I remember when I told my dad about my decision to get a puppy, he raised two questions right away: 1) how I was going to keep the family from getting a "disease" from the puppy; 2) where the dog would spend the night -- outside or in the garage. When I said that as a family member, Caitey would HAVE to stay inside the house, the other side of the line went quiet.

I hope those dogs slain for hot pot on the dinner table could rest in peace in dog's heaven.