 A Dangerous Breed?
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Oct. 15, 2003 — The Beijing government recently issued a list of 41 types of dogs considered to be unsuitable household pets in the Chinese capital's urban areas.
The new regulation, which goes into effect on Oct. 15, bans the raising of Dalmatians, German shepherds, terriers, collies, old English sheepdogs and a variety of other mostly large breeds.
Officials believe the listed dogs are fierce in nature or too big.
Few people used to own dogs in China, but in the past few years a growing number have taken to raising them for companionship.
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Beijing and other cities have imposed exorbitant fees — equivalent to several months' salary — to discourage people from owning dogs, but this has forced many people to go underground and raise pets illegally.
To encourage pet owners to come clean and vaccinate their dogs against rabies, Beijing's new regulation reduces dog registration fees from 5,000 yuan ($600) to 1,000 yuan ($120). On top of this, annual fees will fall from 2,000 yuan to 500 yuan.
But along with lowered fees, the government has for the first time specified a list of dogs that cannot be raised except in rural areas.
An official in Beijing Public Security Bureau's Restricting Raising Office, which deals with pets, said the dogs could not be raised within the Fourth Ring Road — the outermost highway that circles central Beijing.
"These dogs have a violent nature," said an official who refused to give his name and who argued that movies like "101 Dalmatians" mislead the public.
"They're all very nice when you see them in the movies, but in China such dogs receive no training at all. They are not the same."
The new rules also restrict each family from having more than one dog, similar to the country's one-child-per-family population control policy.
The rules appear to be a response to the many people who complain about dogs.
Lin Degui, head of the state-run China Agricultural University's veterinary hospital, argued that the rules show changing government attitudes towards dogs, which in the past were seen as either tools or meals.
"In Beijing, officials no longer think raising dogs is bad. They have lowered the fees. This is a big change," said Lin, who believes some of the dogs on the list are categorized incorrectly, but that restrictions are necessary.
"In Western countries, people have their own house and backyard, but most people in Chinese cities live in apartment buildings and dogs can get in the way of others," Lin said.
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