City dwellers in China go all-out to make their canine pets happy, from swimming pools to cinemas

News that Beijing may get its first dedicated animal ambulance triggered an interest in finding out about the current status of pets in China, focusing on dogs.

I should say at this point that a) I am a dog lover and b) we won't worry here about the hackneyed stereotype stories about eating dogs.

The animal ambulance, about which my colleague writes elsewhere in China Daily, shows that Chinese people in the country's huge cities care about animal welfare.

Enter "dogs in China" into an internet search engine and you get some amazing results.

I had no idea, for example, that city dwellers in Beijing are subject to a one-dog policy, with restrictions on the size of the pet.

Despite that, there are apparently more than 1 million dogs registered as pets in Beijing, and Shanghai has an estimated 750,000 pet pooches.

But here's what I love about China. When people embrace something like dog ownership, there are no half measures - and if they are not content with just owning a pet dog, then there is a bewildering array of services now available.

Live in an apartment where you can't keep a dog for practical reasons? Then head to a dog zoo just north of the capital where for $1 an hour you can rent a dog and walk it around the zoo grounds.

Fancy a high-end pet dog? Best head for Beijing KPK World Pet Zoo, where, I am reliably informed, foreigners, wealthy Chinese and movie stars shop for poodles at $1,500, Yorkshire terriers at $2,000 and $10,000 for a Pekinese.

I have no way of confirming this, but the New York Times once claimed that Beijing offers services that would make most British dog owners - and we coined the phrase "man's best friend" - green with envy.

There are dog-treat stores, websites dedicated to dog ownership, dog social networks and dog swimming pools. There was even, for a time, a bring-your-dog cinema and a bring-your-dog bar, although history doesn't say what happened to them.

Going away? You can board your pet dog at a kennel in Beijing which offers a guaranteed hour's play a day for your pet, a weekly bath and a website which carries the latest pictures of your dog every Monday.

Britons have always loved their dogs, and there are few restrictions on what you can own - American bull mastiffs, bred mainly for fighting, are banned, but every other breed has its followers.

For me, child-friendly Golden Retrievers have, off and on, been part of my life, starting with Nimbus when I was a kid and the last one, Shutan Hopscotch, to give his full name, who brought joy to my family for 14 years.

Pet care in the UK is the responsibility of various charities, the leader of which is the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Dogs are the specialty of Dogs' Trust, which boasts that it never euthanizes a healthy dog, and also coined the phrase "A dog is for life, not just for Christmas".

It seems Britons have more in common with China than they realized.

Chris Peterson is managing editor, Europe, for China Daily. Contact him at [email protected]