As their two legged companions sweated it out on the Nanjing Marathon, canine participants also competed over the weekend, in Nanjing’s second annual Mini Dog Marathon. Held in Pukou with over 500 participants, it turned out to be an extremely popular event. Following on from a similar event in Malaysia owners donned professional running outfits that displayed the registration numbers of their respective pooches.
Sponsored by radio station FM101.1, the marathon hosted hundreds of owners and their pups jogging along for the winning prize. The event took a hazardous turn when distracted sprinting mutts suddenly veered off course causing their owners to crash into each other and loose the race. No discrimination allowed dogs of all sizes and statures to compete, from large racing dogs to the tiniest of poodles.
Nanjing Expat spoke with Ms. Franziska Gloeckner from Pawsome, an organic dog treats outlet in Kunshan, about pet ownership in China and the obvious increase in desire to own a pet. “Having a pet is growing in popularity, younger and older people [have] become more pet friendly and a lot of families now see that a dog or cat can enhance a child’s up bringing. You still have areas in China that aren’t pet friendly but those are mostly areas that are still economically under developed”.
“Usually, like in all other counties, pet ownership and turning pets into family members was and is a sign of becoming more economically affluent. Dogs aren’t just servicing anymore on farms but becoming an integral part of the family and you can see that development in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing,” she continued.
Along with affluence comes an increase of “exotic pet” collection. “There are more and more animals that need rescuing and [that] are being abandoned because people don’t understand pet ownership yet, even pure breeds are being abandoned….many pet stores now have exotic pets that are bought by ‘collectors’…my own pet cleaner friends have now added exotic animals into their repertoire,” said Fran.
She mentioned that one of her, “wechat contacts imported a wild cat for around 100,000rmb… It’s a status symbol… It’s legal to import them and many exotic pet importers have a huge China market …more and more attend the pet fair expo’s now compared to three years ago”.
As much as these newer problems of responsible pet ownership are arising the vast majority of pet owners in China are genuinely in love with their animals, as elsewhere in the world. Pet activities as a result are swelling in bigger cities where there are more pets. “There are animal adoption days – DOGA event we did with VCleanse and thinkadoption … People meet for Doggy play dates and in summer we have Okayland and Duddy Dog that Pawsome also collaborates with people who have a swimming pool for pet owners to use with their dogs and there are a lot of pet tournaments going on,” concluded Fran.
