A 61-year-old man from Hangzhou is attempting to trade his two mastiff dogs for a BMW car, which he says he needs to transport his sick wife, news website Rednet reported.

The man, surnamed Pan, has been sitting by the roadside close to the Zhongcun toll station, which is on a road running between Fuyang and Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province.

The two mastiffs, one golden and one black, weighing 80 kilograms and 92 kilograms respectively, are pedigree Tibetan mastiffs, he said.

The man has bred mastiffs for 17 years.

Pan rented a place to raise mastiffs about 300 meters from No 320 National Highway. He once had as many as 100.

Pan said his wife was suffering from cancer so he wants to trade his two best mastiffs for a BMW or other car so that he can take his wife to her hometown and other places.

"Maybe she will recover from the illness during the travel," he said.

Tibetan mastiffs originate from China's Qinghai-Tibet plateau. They are large and potentially ferocious, very aggressive to strangers but extremely placid with their owners.