Are dogs common in Beijing?

I went to Beijing and there were quite a few dogs around. There is an extremely high price tag on a license though.

It’s probably like everywhere else. Not everybody licenses their dogs. We should, but we don’t.

I’d imagine that there are still a bunch of dogs around, and that people just don’t license them. We’re supposed to license our cats here, but since they never go outside I don’t bother.

For dinner or for companions?

“we should but we don’t”

I’m curious as to why we SHOULD license our pets. Other than putting more of our hard earned money into the government’s pockets, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

I don’t see any benefit to us or to the pets at all.

@Buttonstc – If your pet gets lost and is wearing a registration tag, it can be returned to you even if it’s not wearing a name tag.

I much prefer getting mine microchipped. Much more secure and permanent. Even tho all my cats are totally indoor only, I still get them chipped. One time fee and it’s there for life.

Besides, if an owner typically allows their cats out on a regular basis, they should always be wearing “breakaway” collars.

A friend of mine unfortunately learned this the hard way when she came home one day to find her poor kitty dead from strangulation after getting it’s collar caught on a branch.

With cats, it happens more frequently than people think it does since they’re always climbing or crawling in or out of impossibly tight spaces.

Licensing for pets is basically just revenue enhancement for local authorities, pure and simple.

Licensing your pet is also a way of keeping people on check. Believe it or not, some people don’t keep their pets up to date on shots. If the pet is licensed, the owner gets a notice in the mail when their pet is due for it’s vaccinations. If we ever wanted to enforce spay and neuter (which I believe we should) licensing would be the most effective way of keeping track of that as well. Honestly, I don’t think animal control does enough to prevent overpopulation of animals. That’s why the shelters are always crowded and animals end up getting put down.