We know that Toronto is a dog-loving town, but have you ever fancied owning a more exotic creature, such as a tiger or a panda for example? In reality you probably couldn’t afford the daily food bill of fresh bamboo shoots or antelope haunch, but your desire for that wild looking pet needn’t be quashed right there. Take another look at your mutt more in the spirit of a personal makeover show; why not simply dye the family pooch to look like a panda or tiger. That’s what the Chinese are doing — with grooming parlours offering not only a wash, cut and blow dry, but a multi-coloured dye job as well.
While Chinese women have been dying poodles pink or yellow to match their outfits for years, this exotic beast makeover is something new. Recent figures from China illustrate the amount dog owners spend on their pets has risen nearly 500 percent between the years of 1999 and 2008. Nobody’s too interested in what the animals feel about it, but we suppose the bright side of China’s boom in wealth and love of pets, means they’re not eating as many of the latter as they once did.
