[Tanae]

I'm staggered at the reactions people have (non-westerners) at dogs. Today I was walking my medium to small dog on a lead and two women ran screaming their heads off in the opposite direction when they saw him! Geez,my dog and I got more of a fright than they did! Ridiculous behaviour even if they've had nowt to do with dogs. I've met heaps of people back home who aren't "dog-people" and the last thing they'd do is run, screaming blue murder at the sight of a dog. You can't tell me people can be THAT terrified of dogs, unless of course they'd been attacked by one, then I can understand, but I'd bet the two girls I met today haven't even touched hide nor hair of a dog. It's bordering on phobic behaviour if you ask me.

[Lammarite]

You'll get used to it- it gets quite humourous after a while, especially when the Hello Kitty girls try to hide behind their boyfriends and the boyfriends are trying hard not to touch cloth but appearing to be brave!
Good times.

[dipper]

I find the vast majority of people are perfectly fine with my dog when I take it out.

You soon differentiate between the various 'scared' reactions to dogs. Some people are genuinely scared (for whatever reason) and I don't see any reason why you shouldn't respect that and shorten the lead etc. You also have to remember that there has been a lot of publicity recently in the local press about the Golden Retriever that went beserk and savaged her elderly owner, who died in hospital, so some people are a bit wary.

That said, there are also the other types of pseudo-scared reaction, women (usually) who like to scream and make a fuss because it's fun/gives them an excuse to hold on to their boyfriend. Also happens with groups of women who like to wind each other up/get excited by being mock scared. And then there are people who are just miserable b*stards who are looking for something to moan about, who you find in any country.

[coma4282]

I got the same reaction whenever I bring out my 3 large dogs(Tibetan Mastiff). People are staring at me like I am holding an alien.Most of the time If I walk in a crowded area I feel like a royalty everybody gave way for me and my doggies to walk.The reaction on their faces is like they haven't seen a dog in their life,some were screaming for no reason.
I am a dog lover I will not bring harm to my dogs by letting them bite some nonsense people.

[mjk]

I absolutely agree with dipper. Of course there are some people that overreact, but there are also plenty of people who are genuinly scared of dogs and this should be respected. It is defenitely not the majority of HKers behaving this way.

If somebody with 3 large dogs approaches me on the street, i am absolute defenitely making way, even though I am a relatively tall gweilo.

I remember when that Golden Retriever went beserk, the daughter of that eldery woman said about the same as coma4282 in his/her last sentence...

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by coma4282

I am a dog lover

I suspect I am not the only one struggling to reconcile that assertion with the fact that you keep three of these:

or these:


in an apartment in Kennedy Town.

To my mind that is outright cruelty and the SPCA should take action.

[sandyduncan]

animals asia are doing some great work in changing the attitudes of many Hong Kong people. They have a programme that takes dogs into a school (usually 4 dogs at a time) and children are put into groups of four with a dog, the dogs owner and a facilitator who talk to the children about animals as pets. By the end of the 4 weeks the change in attitude of the kids is amazing.Like you said many people here have not had the opportunity to grow up with animals let alone dogs and of course children are influenced a lot by their parents lack of interaction with dogs and hearsay on the diseases, etc they supposedly carry. . I have to agree with PDLM though there are some seriously BAD choices of dogs as pets here in Hong Kong.They are probably much loved dogs but the heat and the lack of space to run around. to me equates to a jail term

[coma4282]

Originally Posted by PDLM

I suspect I am not the only one struggling to reconcile that assertion with the fact that you keep three of these:

or these:


in an apartment in Kennedy Town.

To my mind that is outright cruelty and the SPCA should take action.

You call that cruelty? As a matter of fact i got 5 TM dogs before now only four but usually i bring out three together for a walk as four TM is too much for a 45 kg lady.I got 2 chinchillia,4 parrots,9 lovebirds,5 turtles,3 large aquarium of fishes.If i can't afford and cannot take care all of this animals in my home even right now you can call SPCA to come in my house.

[PDLM]

Yes I do. Tibetan Mastiffs are big working dogs, genetically suited to cold climates. They should be running around in wide open spaces, preferably in temperatures below 10 degrees. Being kept in a small apartment in Kennedy Town and occasionally getting taken out to walk the streets on a leash (and, I guess, muzzled) at 30 degrees is extremely cruel.

[Tanae]

Now that we've got off the main subject of my original thread (BTW, I do respect people are scared of dogs,) but I have a slight problem with their reactions when they scream etc, but that's just a thing I'll have to live with I guess.

Anyway onto the subject we're talking about now, I agree with the fact dog breeds such as Tibetian Mastiffs, St. Bernards, Huskies, Alaskan Malamutes are breeds which should not be in HK. In the SCMP the other day there was an article about tightening rules on bringing dogs/puppies to HK from China, but I think the Ag department should seriously consider banning some breeds because I truely believe it is cruel keeping dogs bred for cold climates in places like HK. Great Danes are another breed I think should be banned from HK. I saw one the other day with a muzzle on. No wonder... the poor dog won't get any exercise, and being such a massive breed is probably out of control, even though Great Danes are generally gentle giants. A while ago I saw a St. Bernard being walked along and to me it looked stressed, cos it's too hot!! It's cruel and I believe something should be done about it.