Getting a puppy from the Chinese butcher shop to raise for a while

[HamdenRice]

I was having dinner with some friends last night, and I heard the most horrifying, but in weird way, ridiculous, almost morbidly funny story.

One friend has two dogs, and I have my great furry companion, a golden retriever, so the subject came around to dogs. After a while, we asked the third person, who was born in China and grew up there to age 7 or 8 whether she had pets. She had never had pets, she said, except maybe once. At the time she lived in China, there wasn't really a pet culture.

But when she was 6, she desperately wanted a dog. So her family decided to let her have a dog for a while. The deal was they would get a puppy from the local butcher shop and raise it for a while, but when it was larger, they would have to return it to the butcher shop.

The story gets worse and crazier from there. (The dog never made it back to the butcher shop, but did not have a happy ending. You'll thank me that I won't go into details.)

Anyway, I once had a big argument here about how in my experience in China, the eating of dogs is actually much, much more uncommon than Americans think. Even after hearing this story I still think so.

But jeez.

[supernova]

1. Koreans will eat dogs too

From what I understand it's somewhat secretive. You have to know the right people to get dog meat, but they exist. And evidently, they make a distinction between livestock dogs and dogs that are seen as pets.

It's revolting to me, but then again I eat chickens and keep cats. :shrug:

[FarCenter]

2. How does this differ from an American kid in 4-H raising a Hereford calf?

[NNN0LHI]

4. It doesn't

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Well, mine were all Angus steers, but there are several differences. Most steers aren't

house pets. They weigh over half a ton, so pretty much don't sit in your lap. A steer by definition is a meat producing animal and every kid in 4-H or the FFA knows it. We knew that the animal was going to be sold and killed.

My reaction was always the same. Tame the calf enough to be led and showed. Cry when he was loaded on the truck to be taken to slaughter. And refuse to eat beef for about 6 months.

Overall, not too different from the Chinese and Korean kids who raise dogs for food.

[brooklynite]

3. In Venice I was offered horsemeat pizza...

as well as various other "cavallo" dishes. I think, if you're going to eat meat in general, you're going to have to accept that someone else is willing to eat any meat you're not.

[imdjh]

5. If my Rottweiler was any measure, it's not a very cost effective food animal.

She weighed about 85 pounds. So assuming she reached full size at one year (I adopted from rescue at 3 years) she would have eaten over $200 worth of dog food (actually more in real life because she got the best) , and I'm thinking at most the yield would be at most 50% of body weight, so we're talking $4.70 per pound cost.

[HamdenRice]

10. I assume that dogs in China, like pigs, eat table scraps ...

and forage garbage heaps, so the cost of food is minimal.

[GoCubsGo]

14. My cat would start a grease fire.

She's worth far more as a bed-warmer to me, and at nearly 16 lbs., she sure does warm it up. ;-)

I recall reading a discussion board years ago, where everyone was all outraged over someone's claims that they were adopting cats from a shelter and turning them into dinner, because it was "cheap meat." I had to point out to this bunch of suckers that most shelters charge anywhere from $50-150 in adoption fees. For a ten pound cat, that comes to a minimum of five bucks a pound, which includes fur and everything else. Not so "cheap" meat--that's more than twice the price of a butchered, plucked, and cut-up chicken per pound, and it's not even all edible. Heck, you can even get some cuts of beef for less than that.

[imdjh]

15. I wouldn't pay $50 for a cat unless it had swallowed big diamond

If I want a cat, all I have to do it put a dish of food on the back porch and wait.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. never had dog

but rattler yes... frog legs yep... quail yep.

Hey I even had grasshopers and ants...

Cultures around the world eat very different things and social mores as to what is edible and what is not varies.

By the way grasshopers with a little lime juice, in a tortilla and some onions and cilantro are GOOD for you. (A very good source of protein.

[Old and In the Way]

7. You're right about that.

The culture on eating dog is changing there...at least on the coast. More are getting dogs/cats for pets, fewer are eating them. Have to say, the Chinese zest for eating just about any living creature is pretty amazing. I remember asking about the lack of birds there...apparently those little sparrows were considered good eating...a lot of this must go back 40-50 years when crop failures/starvation drove people there to eat whatever they could find/catch.

[HamdenRice]

16. That's true. I was watching Chinese TV aimed at Americans, BON Network

and there was a report about how modern people in Beijing were becoming dog lovers, and they showed families in a park with all kinds of breeds including a Golden.

This woman was talking about a very poor rural place in Sichuan where she visited her grandparents (?) for school vacation.

[Botany]

9. In some places it is not a good idea to let somebody wok your dog

[HamdenRice]

17. Oooh, you're bad

but that's a pretty funny pun.

[Dora]

11. Guinea pigs are considered food in Peru.

[Taverner]

12. Ah the clash of cultures

[NeedleCast]

13. Its not that uncommon

There are "dog farms" in South Korea. Its just another protien for some people there.

[HamdenRice]

18. Korea eats more dog than China, but even there, it's a special medicinal food, iirc

The most heart breaking culture of dog eating I've heard about though was a place in Africa (Mali?) that was on National Geographic's "Taboo".

There people really love their dogs. But a rite of passage for a young boy is to kill and eat a dog that he loved.