The Tattooed Dog That Broke My Heart
Okay, I just couldn’t keep quiet any more. This dog broke my heart.
So this has been a viral story in China over the last couple of days: at the Shanghai Pet Expo, a little dog was shown off with tattoos covering its body.
The dog owner reportedly bragged there was no anesthesia used, because this breed feels less pain.
WHAT????!!!!
My first thought was: I need to get this dog away from the owner. And our partner shelter has done that before. (Duoduo, one of our rescues, came from an owner who carved his skin with a knife. SEE BELOW)
At first I thought maybe this was a dog that belonged to a company? (I assumed only companies could attend big expos like that.) But from all the news coverage, it seems this was just someone’s personal dog.
After the outrage all over the Chinese internet, the Expo banned the owner from attending again. So we have no way of knowing who that dog belonged to.
So no, I'm not telling a successful rescue story today. God know how much I want this story to be that, but there is nothing we can do now at this moment.
And my heart just shatters when I look at those eyes.
But I wrote this email today to remind everyone: sometimes animal abuse shows up in its most silent form — hidden under the excuse of “fashion” or “fun.” Like dyeing a dog’s fur, or tying them up in air for hours for a “beauty trim.”
Dogs can’t speak up when they’re uncomfortable. They can’t say “stop.” And that’s why I feel so strongly that we, the people who love them, have to be their voice.
So if you see something like this — please don’t stay silent. Share it. Talk about it. Stand up for them. Because they can’t do it for themselves.
THIS IS DUODUO - The rescue dog we mentioned above
Duoduo was rescued from an abusive owner who carved his skin with a knife. The neighbors finally called the police when they couldn’t stand seeing the dog covered in blood every day. But in China, there is no law that punishes this kind of behavior, so the police only gave a verbal warning.
One of the neighbors couldn’t take it any more and posted on social media. Thankfully, our partner shelter saw it, and our crew drove six hours to rescue Duoduo.
When the man was confronted about why he did this, he said the dog had been left behind by his ex-girlfriend — and that he wanted to punish her for leaving him, so he carved the dog.
I think it just shows the kind of horrible things that can come out of a human’s mouth.
