Baby
Jett puppy
Boba Jett (in reference to Boba Fett in Star Wars)
Jett Pack.
And many many others.
This handsome young man unfortunetly made the trip to get fixed on Valentine's Day, but he wore the *cone of shame* proudly!
Owning a pet dog is a very recent thing in China, maybe the last 10 years. And I think it's more of a mark of looking more Western than it is for love between dog and man. We see so many people just in Li Ren who have no idea how to take care of a dog. Granted, I have no idea how to take care of a dog ... but I do know he needs a warm place to sleep, food and water, medicine, exercise, love, and he NEEDS to stay out of the trash!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lara usually helps me to check his toenails, check to see if he has worms, and shows me how to clean after his Valentine's Day man trauma.
But this is just a small sampling of what happens when our Chinese friends ask about Jett:
Friend: "I saw your roommate yesterday! She was walking Jett."
Me: "Oh was it Kate or Lara?"
Friend: "I'm not sure, she had her hood on. And Jett also had a kind of hat."
Me: "Did it look like this?" *mime the shape of a cone*
Friend: "Yes, just like that! For the rain!"
Me: ".............................................................................."
It was sooo incredibly hard not to laugh. First, it shows the Chinese aversion to rain, the thought that we would get a rain cap for our dog. While we're at it, we should get him a poncho too! And second, I tried to describe what we had done to Jett, but the most I could get across was that he has a cut that we don't want him to lick, so the cone prevents him from doing that.
Neutering in China is not a common thing at all, so it was very hard to explain when I had nothing familiar to reference for them.
Also, picking up poop after your dog just never happens.
Last weekend we took Jett to a "mountain", and by mountain I mean foothill, for a 4 hour hike. I heard no less than 50 terrified screams from children and women at the sight of him. Which is quite laughable considering that Jett was too afraid to even approach the stream to have a drink. He's such a ferocious dog :) People just are not used to seeing dogs out and about with owners.
We get a LOT of stares whenever we take him outside, and we've even been yelled at before for taking him on a bike ride. Apparently we're being cruel to him. Too bad that guy doesn't know that a bike ride is Jett's favorite part of the day! Except for maybe this ...
We feed him in two or three shifts, just so he doesn't gobble it so fast and get the hiccups.
And after the fact.
No comments:
Post a Comment