XXXIII: Man's best friend

The first thing that'll strike you when you land on Taiwanese shore is the lack of stray anything. Or maybe it's a Malaysian thing that our streets are littered with litter, dogs, cats, people on the ground. Stray animals are so rare that during my 5day stay there, I could count with my fingers the number of strays I've stumbled upon. Maybe it's because most of the places we visited were mostly tourist attractions and within the urban areas.

Of course, that's not to say that there is no animal in Taiwan.  In fact, Taiwanese love their pets very much. So much that the pet industry is quite a booming one. I mean, if you see someone on the street pushing a covered stroller, chances are you'll find a dog cuddled up nicely in there. True story. Most (if not all) the dogs are pure breeds e.g. golden retriever, Labrador (I have to admit that I find it challenging distinguishing between both but one is short haired, the other is long), chihuahua, chow chow.

Then you think about us Malaysians going for the pariah mixed breeds because we can't pay few grands for the pure breeds.  While we Malaysians go around touting and showing off our offspring, the Taiwanese seem content to have pooches as their bundle of joy. I don't really mind because their dogs are just so goddamn cute and adorable and well behaved. The owners would usually have them in strollers or walk them on a leash and everybody just does it that way. Trains do allow for dogs but not the large breed types. So if it can't fit into a shopping bag, you can forget about going on the metro.

Now, the disparity in terms of the dog size can be rather jarring. You have those which can probably be held on one hand. There are also those that you can probably let your year old kid to treat as a pony.

If not mistaken, this is a well groomed Pomeranian. Short and pudgy, its owner was walking along when they passed by a convenience store. The dog started to walk towards the store but the owner dragged it. Refusing to comply, it stood its ground and refused to budge even when he tried to tug at the leash. It was a very cute scene because the dog just stood at the entrance without making much of any noise yet not giving up its dreams of going into the store.

There was a pet expo in an exhibition hall but we didn't go as it wasn't free =( So many people were going there with their pets in strollers, arms and leash on  foot. This woman had 2 of these. Can you guess the breed?

Frigging huge. Almost gargantuan for a dog.
If my guess is right, this would be a Tibetan Mastiff.

This is them one the floor. When they stood on their hind legs with their front legs up in the air, they could easily be taller than me (a puny 163cm). Despite being giants, they were rather gentle and docile. For the most parts because when another woman walked passed them with her ridiculously tin chihuahua trailing behind her, one of these suddenly lunged up and tried to make a pass. The owner of the mastiff went, "Don't worry! Don't worry! They are gentle and won't bite you".

As much as I applaud the owner for that disclaimer, the chihuahua still made a dash for it, not taking any chances. They are actually bigger than these Samoyeds, another large breed 😍 They are just so big and fluffy and goofy. They probably make good boyfriend material.