$2million for a dog?

Kadmos

http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4730011.

Tibetan Mastiff sold for the price of a used McLaren F1? I saw that Google mentions the avg. price is up to $3500. Anytime someone chooses to $10k+ for a pooch, that is outrageous. Tibetans Mastiff are the ancestor of many Molosser breeds and Molosser breeds like the Mastiff were breed with native Japanese Spitz to make the Tosa Inu. Happy Holidays everyone (I find that is the best way of saying it because not everyone celebrates Christmas and it would incorporate Kwanzaa and Hanukkah and other practices).

Calia

I don't see an article in that link.

Could be worse...I know people who've spent $20-$100k for one snake, and more than a million dollars total to build their breeding collection. And then when they do get to the point of actually breeding these snakes, the value of that type goes down and they wind up selling the hatchlings for $2k at best.

Kadmos

Whatever the reason the link didn't work, the MSN India's article is "Tibetan Mastiff sold for USD two million".

BradA1878

Yea, TMs are selling for outrageous sums in China. It's nuts. I guess the new upper class needs something to spend their money on.

Also, in China, if your dog wins the highest award in the show circuit you get like a million dollars or something, also sponsors through in products like cars and stuff... so, when you take that into consideration, you can see how a good stud dog could bring a lot of cash.

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Heidi

hah... whoa. Of course, people pending outrageous amounts of money on things that make no sense to me is nothing new. I hate spending money.

lindsayt

I wish the cash prizes in the US were like that, but it would a terrible incentive to win at any cost to the dogs. I know Eukanuba offers a moderate cash prize (a few thou) for dogs that place in Bred By, much more group wins I think. 2 million is too much. I can understand $20k for an outstanding import that will go on to be a top producer which is not unheard of with Shibas, but, not 2 million.

okiron

Haha Beth, if I ever have the money, I'd be one of those people. The snakes on my wishlist are too damn much but they sure are beautiful.

shishiinu

I guess it costs a arm and a leg to get some good tasting dog.

curlytails

^^^

Really??

shishiinu

Sorry I had to throw that out there, it was boiling in my brain...

curlytails

I followed up on this.

The dog went for 16 million Yuan.N/M what I previous wrote. Obviously I don't deal in large numbers on a regular basis. =P

tjbart17

@shishiinu LMAO.

curlytails

What drives me batty about English-language reporting on dogs in China is the focus on price tags and dog as *symbol* of luxury. It all goes to make dog-owning in China seem like a faddish curiosity, when the more interesting truth is that there is a deeper, more human relationship to dogs there just as there is in the West.

Commentary on dog meat is also cheap, irrelevant to the story, and borderline offensive, in my opinion.

For example:
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/tibetan-mastiff-sold-for-2-million/728083/
"Dogs in general considered a delicacy in China in the past are fast becoming part of the milieu of both wealthy and middle class families in the country."

To me, this sentence is entirely misleading. I'm not saying that dogs are NOT eaten in China. Goodness knows they are, and I find the practice abhorrent myself, but that's one of my points -- you'll find people either celebrating, condoning, or being entirely complacent about the practice ALONGSIDE people who are critical and completely opposed to it on ethical grounds.

Furthermore, I don't think Tibetan mastiffs were ever in real danger of being delivered on the dinner plate. You're better off raising a goat then butchering it for meat, not the dog that guards it. I've yet to find evidence that the mastiff, with its traditional functions, was classed in the same group as "edible" mongrels. Nor, for that matter, that Tibetans practice comparable views towards dog meat as Han and other ethnic Chinese.

I still think something's amiss here, because I'm not seeing this story reported in other mainstream venues as was the August/September 2009 sale of the $600,000 mastiff.

BradA1878

As far as I understand it, the Tibetan Mastiff was not really a popular breed in China until relatively recently.

So I agree that they were probably not commonly eaten.

ayk

I showed my Chinese co-worker the article about the other TM, the black/tan, that sold for $500,000, and he said there's a culture of "one-upmanship" among the instantly wealthy Chinese.

Before that, when a sable TM went for $200,000, there was the thought that the buyer was in kahoots with the seller and the two only wanted to claim the publicity of an exorbitant price when in actuality, hands under the table, the dog went for less.

Because of stuff like this, the TM is not the best example to use to demonstrate the affection Chinese dog lovers have for their dogs.

Instead, I remember during the "rabies" scare when officials were clubbing to death dogs in China and laws were being created in Beijing to kill off any dogs over a size limit, there were protests on a Chinese dog forum. Chinese were taking pictures of what was going on to show to the rest of the world. There were plans to hide their own dogs or smuggle them out to the countryside.

Then the forum was suddenly pulled down.

That to me demonstrates that 1) there exists dog fanciers within China and 2) they're still not very visible.

shishiinu

gotta love communism.

It seems like China has the two extremes, you got one side where dogs will fetch a price like said above to boast your persona and dogs that have their legs tied behind their back with a hollow can around their muzzle for feeding just to be kept alive long enough to be consumed as food.

I dont get it...

curlytails

@ayk, I think you're right about the lack of visibility of dog fanciers in China. But they ARE out there, and that, to me, is the more interesting story, as restricted as information can be.

I'm working through some research on dogs in China at the moment, which is why I guess this topic is hot on my mind. One source I've been mining is the magazine 中国工作犬业 [China Working Dog World/Industry]. There's a TON of great information there... most of it is not relevant to Nihon ken. This magazine started in 1985 devoted to police dogs, mostly German Shepherds, though they sometimes presented other breed profiles. It didn't turn into a more general interest magazine until recently.

Anyway, I'm still trying to organize my research and thoughts on this for a future academic piece (it's what I do...). Suffice to say there hasn't been much written in English about dogs in China, and I've been pretty dissatisfied with most mainstream reporting on the subject.

ayk

There was a Chinese gentleman who moved his dogo argentino kennel from Toronto to China. (Too much BSL and anti-breeder restrictions in Toronto.) Wonder if he might have some leads for you?

http://www.forum.gaodogo.com/index.php?topic=1347.0

ayk

Gen, if you reflect back, there's contradictions in the US as well.

You have people wanting to clone their deceased dog at great expense or dressing them up as fashion accessories or furbabies.

And then you have people who drown/electrocute/slam underperforming bait dogs into the ground, trying to kill them.

shishiinu

No arguement there at all although bait dogs are illegal and Law enforcement does prosecute for dog fighting crimes (lacking stiff penalties). I just noticed the two extremes in China that I thought was different compared to here. But maybe this would be a great discussion on a different thread.

tjbart17

Well my dogs didn't cost $200k. They aren't shown and don't make me money like they would in China, but sh*t they are great hiking buddies and like to lay down next to me on the couch like Koda is right now. I think that's priceless.

shibamistress

On a side note, even the issue of eating dogs is complex. When I was in northern Vietnam a few years ago (Hanoi and parts north) I was talking with our guide who said dogs were only eaten in North Vietnam and only at a certain time of the month (full moon maybe?) for luck, and only certain dogs were eaten. He said to me "we don't eat pet dogs, like German dogs" (GSDs?) "We only eat dogs for good luck, like small, black Asian ones." At that time I had an all black lab/chow cross, so as you can imagine, I was disturbed! (And even more disturbed when I saw a puppy butchered in a market a few days later further north)

It seems in developing countries--whether it is a country with a culture of eating dog or not--there is a division between types of dogs too: purebred dogs that may well be loved, but are still status symbols, and the other dogs, often feral. I saw this also in Bali, where in general dogs are not liked (they believe they can be inhabited by demons--hmmmm...maybe they saw Shibas having a fit over getting having a bath?), but people who have more money and are more "westernized" for lack of a better term, may have purebred dogs (I saw a few very pampered GSDs there).

I think the dichotomies may be larger in developing countries because the gap between the haves and the have nots (both human and canine) are still so large.