So this is the story about a dog joining the family.
A few weeks back Sabrina’s sister asked us to watch her dog while she went away for the weekend. I thought it would be a good idea, an enjoyable experience for the kids who have never had a dog. But this dog, some kind of Pembroke mix was uber hyper. barking, wanting to play bite hands and feet, and not house trained. The kids didn’t want anything to do with him and Elisa was afraid of it. By the end of it’s four days with us I could see the dogs behavior was improving. I didn’t want him, but i felt sad to see him go.
It got me thinking about a dog which I’ve blocked from my mind as possible in Beijing. I blocked it for a few reasons. When the kids were younger and wanted one I knew I’d end up taking care of it and I just didn’t want to. It reminded me of a time when I had a dog before and I didn’t want to be reminded of that time. Yang was firmly against getting one because she didn’t want to deal with it dying in 10 years. Later when I got my own place I thought about getting a dog. Surely it would be better company than the places I was looking for company. But I travel a lot for work so getting a dog was not an option. It was out of mind until a week ago or so when it dawned on me that Sabrina could watch the dog when I’m travelling and should we both travel we could easily enough find a place. And I still wanted my kids to have a good experience with a dog especially after the time with Sabrina’s sister’s dog.
So how to get a dog in Beijing? A rescue dog is the most moral choice. I searched online and found a couple places with English websites. Not well maintained. I’d actually have to speak with someone to find out, which I didn’t want to do. Truth was I didn’t want a rescue dog really, I wanted a puppy of my selfish choosing. I lightly researched different dog breeds online and settled between a Shiba Inu and a Beagle. I’ve always wanted a Beagle but never had one. Upon reading the profiles, a Beagle didn’t seem like a good choice. Great with kids, but noisy, hard to train, and not good in an apartment alone. The Shiba Inu seemed like a better choice.
Yesterday, Sabrina and I walked to a couple pet stores. The first one was actually a “pet salon” where pets can come for a spa weekend. The should tell you something about the price. They had two completely adorable Inus and I probably would have taken one home on the spot except for the price. (I know from the rescue dog mafia that pet stores are supposed to be a horrible way to buy a dog. I would say the woman at this pet store was generally caring about the dogs in her care). We went to a second pet store, less a salon, and more commercial. Similar price. So we just went home.
Sabrina shifted from supporting to interested. She pinged friends with dogs, how they got them and one who might have an extra newborn Inu. She checked out online shops and found breeders 25 miles away in the suburb of Tongzhou. She connected with one of them via Wechat and saw live feeds of the puppies. They all looked good. And the price was about 1/5th of the in-town price. So we got a car and headed out.
On the 40 minute drive there it did cross my mind that I could be entering the territory of puppy factories which are even more evil according to the mafia than buying a pet at a pet store. As we drove through Tongzhou I noted how much more modern it seemed than the last time I was here when it seemed crowded and unfinished. Then we were past the urban area and driving along a country road with farms and small shops on either side. Our taxi left us out in front of a medical clinic where a someone from the breeder would be picking us up. He did, and we drove down a smaller country road until we arrived at 7pm. The dirt parking lot was noticeable for the quality of cars in it. The driver remarked to Sabrina that they sell puppies to Europe too. So I thinking it was a puppy factory and I’m going to hell (which had already been determined by this point anyway). Past the parking lot and inside the gate was a long one story building. A series or glass walled rooms really, with each room having either dogs or cats inside, in cages. It sounds awful, but it wasn’t. The rooms were big. The cages were large and mostly just had one dog per cage. The first room had a kind of Spaniel that looked interesting but I had not researched. Upon a quick search is did not seem like a good house dog. When then went to the room with the Shibu Inu in them. None were the black fur which the woman had previously sent over Wechat. Wasn’t a live video after all. They had six light fur Shibu Inu, two of which I thought were adorable. Sabrina exchanging words with the vendor in Chinese, something about the price which was much higher than when discussed over Wechat. Sabrina asks about the Beagles. We go out to the parking lot and there is a cage with five beagle pups in it. All different prices based on appearance. The runt of the litter with the worst color was the one for the price we were quoted on Wechat. We paid a bit more.
After paying there’s and upsell for dog supplies and official show papers. We bought the minimum. I’m learning in my 50s to focus on the positive, to focus on what we want, and to let go of what other people want me to want. The same driver took us back out to the main road where we flagged down a taxi and headed back to town, pup in lap. Yes, a Beagle, which we named Kobe.