Korean Pets

The whole idea of pets is fairly new to Korean culture. Some people still eat dog, for crying out loud. But dogs are still the most popular pet, I assume among the non-dogeaters. Cats are significantly less popular here than in the West. Most cats are feral. There are several that hang out outside my window and yowl all fall and winter. You don't see many cats in the pet stores, but I think they're growing in popularity as people start to realize how much better they are than stupid dogs.

The color of choice for pets is white. I think it's a status symbol. If they have a white pet that stays white, they appear richer or something. Also, it's easier to dye the pet's fur when it's white. Yes, they do that. It's awful. I've seen dogs with pink ears, orange tails, and a lot of dogs with combination dye jobs, mostly pink. It's awful. It's also awful the getups they put these poor dogs in. They put barrettes in their fur, make them wear ridiculous sweaters and booties and hats, and treat them like little dolls in every way possible, it seems. If I were a photographer, I'd do a photo essay on the subject.

The secondary color choice is light brown. Cocker Spaniels are popular. It's pretty rare to see a dog of any other color. I have seen a scruffy looking black and white mutt around my neighborhood, and a few dogs here and there that were dark brown or mixed colors. I saw a black dog in Seoul when I went.

Due to the whole doll treatment, the size of choice is small or even toy-size. They do the whole "carry it in your bag" thing. It's also easier to subject small dogs to all that bullshit, like dying, pedicures, and clothing. I'm so embarrassed for them--the pets and the owners.

There's this one pet store that sells exclusively this one breed of small, white, shaggy dog that Koreans apparently go crazy for. I don't know anything about dog breeds.

When I was in Seoul in April, I saw more of a variety of dogs being walked. There were bigger dogs like labs around, though I've never yet seen any dogs as big as like a golden retriever or a German shepherd. Seoul dogs also came in other colors besides white. On my backpacking excursions, while walking through the small towns, there were a lot of mutts around. Maybe it's just Ulsan that's so silly. I'll have to see what other dogs I see in my next trip to Seoul this weekend.

There are other pets, too. They sell teddy bear hamsters at E-Mart. I considered buying one, actually. But I leave town too much, and it would require getting someone to take care of it. E-Mart also sells fish and these huge beetles. Several times at school, kids would show up with a hamster or a beetle in a small container, and I'd ask where they got it. They'd say they got it at school, like as a prize or something. That's so weird.

Some kids seem to have a lot of the other normal tank/aquarium pets like turtles, mice, and maybe lizards. But they also have kind of bizarre pets like squirrels and tiny porcupines. A few of my kids have talked about either having or knowing someone who had a porcupine. What the hell.