Our Chinese Puppy

Before we came to China, we were told that no pets were allowed in our company provided housing.  However, once on the ground, the reality was quite different.  Several people brought cats with them and a few even brought dogs from the U.S.  We were quite disappointed we had left ours behind unnecessarily.  Our beloved dog Ilsa, who went to live with Vicki’s family, actually passed away from a stomach tumor six weeks after we left.  She was nearly 11 years old.  However, this meant we now no longer had a dog to come home to.

If you know us, being petless – and especially dogless - is quite unusual.  There are a lot of stray dogs here, but we couldn’t even pet them for fear of diseases (Rabies is the very unlikely but very deadly fear).  And dogs are one of LiLi’s favorite animals.  “Dog” was even LiLi’s first word, though she quickly cashed it in for “what’s that?”  Mark insists that Vicki was dropping hints about intending to get another dog soon, though she insists that is not true.  She was just lamenting the sadness of our situation (e.g. “I’m so sad LiLi doesn’t have a pet to love.”).

About two month ago, Mark asked, “so, when are we getting a dog?”  Not actually thinking that was an option, Vicki was ecstatic, and quickly researched the laws on bringing a dog back to the U.S.  We were not going to abandon a dog in China after a couple years.  We were surprised to find that the laws were actually no different than if we had brought a pet with us.  The animal just needed to be appropriately vaccinated, etc. to enter the U.S.  Vicki even found a veterinarian we could use in Ningbo (2 hours away) that was recommended on an expat forum.  With that hurdle cleared, we started formulating our puppy acquisition plan.

Vicki read several horror stories online of expats who ended up with sickly Chinese puppies that would die after a few days.  However, those stories all seemed like the buyers fault (or at least Vicki knows enough to avoid the issues the others ran into).  Seriously, who buys a very young , lethargic puppy from a cage on a street corner?  Of course it is likely to have parvovirus.  We’ve actually only seen puppies being sold around us one time – in the local marketplace (and they were little, lethargic, and sickly looking).  Those puppies were being peddled for 120 RMB (less than $20).  Convinced of Vicki’s ability to differentiate a sick puppy from a healthy one, we decided that the best plan was to actually get a street dog – not one from a pet store or a marketplace – since there are no animal shelters here.

Since dogs aren’t really pets here still, we had to buy dog supplies in Ningbo.  So Vicki purchased our puppy supplies about 6 weeks ago: leash & collar, puppy food, treats, bowls, puppy shampoo, nail clippers, and a brush.  Until we got our puppy, LiLi had practiced walking her stuffed dog with the leash and collar.

We then did several puppy reconnaissance missions.  While riding the tandem through local villages we always see lots of dogs, and often puppies too.  We always assumed them to just be strays, but when we started watching closer, we realized the dogs did have homes, just very indifferent owners.  The dogs may be given scraps, but certainly not fed.  We decided to needed to do puppy reconnaissance missions first to see 1) what was available; 2) how friendly the puppies were; and 3) what the process might be for getting a puppy (just swipe one or negotiate)?

On our first puppy reconnaissance mission, we wrap the corner into the first target village, and there is a puppy standing on the side of the road playing with a large piece of plastic.  Then a moment later, a village woman hit the dog on the head with a stick.  Horrified, we stop to see what is going on.  We called the puppy over to us and it was actually very friendly.  Vicki even picked it up – at which point the lady who had been beating it and then giving us the evil eye when we stopped, began talking in a really shrill (nearly howling) manner, came over, took it out of Vicki’s arms, and threw it inside her house.  Apparently it was her dog.

We learned from that first puppy search that there were puppies out there that fit what we wanted, they were largely friendly, and even though indifferent at best, the dogs did have “owners” and we should negotiate for a puppy.  We also decided that we couldn’t settle on an older puppy, because we wanted to do the socialization – not have a lady with a stick doing it.  It is also important to note that this one woman is the only person we have seen being cruel to a dog.  Everyone else just seems to indifferently coexist with them.

On a solo ride Mark did with LiLi, he spotted some other puppies he thought might fit what we wanted.  So last weekend, finally ready to actually obtain a dog, we went out with our dog acquisition supplies: a backpack, leash & collar, 350 RMB (~$50), our electronic translator, and a couple pictures of LiLi with our old dog Ilsa (to show we wanted a pet dog).  It was about an hour bike ride out to the spot he had seen them the week before, but this time they were not out.  So we decided to go explore some other local villages and then loop back to this same spot.  Still no luck.  We were now riding backwards on the loop we usually do, so we ended up missing our right hand turn.  We decided to ride it out and just see where this ended up.  And that is when we found our puppy.

We were in a rural area comprised largely of fish farms (they grow fish (or crabs) in ponds).  When we rode up to this area, there were two adult dogs and three puppies in the middle of the road.  We decided to stop and take a video of them (LiLi loves to watch videos of dogs), hoping the barking mother (and other adult female dog) would bring someone out of the house.  But no one came out.  We didn’t want to just swipe a puppy – plus we didn’t really have a means of doing so.  The mother (who looked like a small white/silver German Shepherd) probably wouldn’t just let a stranger grab her puppy.  The mama dog tried to lead the puppies away, and two followed her for a bit.  One stayed back at the house though (and started to come to us when coaxed), so the mom and the other puppies had to loop back.

Just when we were about to give up and leave, a man came walking in from amongst the fish ponds.  He was talking on his cell phone and didn’t seem to care about our presence.  He hung up the phone and went to get on the scooter parked in front of the house with the dogs.  Mark quickly asked, “Nǐde gǒu ma?” (Your dogs?).  The man affirmed that they were.  Mark told him they were cute and then the man realized we might want one.  So he said to us, “Wǒ sòng nǐ yīgè” (I send one with you).  Mark quickly realized he was offering a puppy to us and asked how much, but the man said it does not matter (Méiguānxì).  The man went and grabbed a sack up at the house, went to grab one puppy (the least cute of the bunch – but closest one to him), and Mark asked if we could have one of the other ones.  He then grabbed our puppy by the scruff and deposited him in the sack.  Apparently being difficult gift recipients, we asked if the other one was a girl (since we knew the first two were males), so the guy checked quickly, but all three were males.  They guy handed us the sack with the puppy, refused the money we tried to give him, jumped on his scooter, and left.  At least this gave us a moment to inspect the puppy ourselves.  He seemed friendly enough (though likely had never actually been touched before being thrown in the sack).  Vicki did a quick health assessment and deemed him good.  Even though we wanted a female, we decided a male was ok, particularly since he will be neutered ASAP.  That meant we now had a puppy.

We put the sack in the backpack and rolled down the edges of it.  Vicki then wore the backpack on her front so she could keep an eye on the puppy as we pedaled home.  The puppy quickly fell asleep and didn’t seem to mind being in a sack in a backpack on a bicycle at all.  This was still a new way home for us, so we didn’t actually know how far we had to go!  It ended up being a 45 min. ride home after getting the puppy – and nearly a four hour ride in total.

When we got back to the apartment, before heading upstairs, we asked her if she remembered what Mama had in the backpack.  She immediately started squealing “dog, dog, dog!”  She has a good memory.

When we let him go in the house, LiLi immediately started gathering toys to try to share with the puppy.  Smelling like a fish farm, we gave the little guy a bath, which he handled quite well.  We named him Jiǎozi (Jee-ow-zi), which means “dumpling” in Mandarin.  It actually makes for a fun tongue twister when we want to tell someone his name, because the sentence is “Tā jiào xiǎo jiǎozi” (He is called little dumpling).

Despite likely lacking in human socialization, this little guy is turning out to be a rock solid puppy.  He loves to be cuddled, is great with LiLi (who, in turn, is awesome with him), and is even working hard on his potty training.  He hasn’t seemed to miss life on the street at all, particularly when cuddled up in our bed.  LiLi loves “dog” (as she calls him).  She likes to read to him and share her toys with him.  They are the best of friends.

The videos are of when we first arrived home with the puppy.