I’m not sure if it’s the fact that spring is coming or that we’ve just finally gone crazy after another insanely cold Xinjiang winter, but something snapped this weekend and we now have a dog.  He’s not too bad, either.  I could give you a million reasons why we shouldn’t have one – namely that the city mayor lives right across the hall from us and doesn’t have a good track record with pet owners – but we will overcome…somehow :)

Pets are a relatively new thing here in Xinjiang.  Not too many people have them except for the elderly and the upper class.  I think one of the main reasons for this might be the lack of good veterinarian services in the area as well as the cost of ownership.  Because of all this, finding a pet is also an awkward process, one in which we had to be vetted by the owners to make sure we would take good care of him.

Why check us out?  It’s actually a funny story.  We have been told (and the story teller had a serious face) that dog breeders and self-appointed animal adoption agents check out potential owners to make sure that they actually want the dog as pets instead of food.  Seriously!  Eating dog meat is still not unheard of around here and there is actually a restaurant down our street whose sign boasts the best dog meat dish in the city.  (Note: I refuse to verify that claim, even though I admit having eaten dog meat since being here.)

The woman who previously owned him was convinced that we wouldn’t eat him later, so I’m now writing this with a small puppy eating his bone at my feet.  He’s playful but thankfully quiet and very docile. Of course, I’ve tried explaining this to our cat who still thinks this small dog is a vicious carnivore set to swat him to death with his constantly wagging tail.  Trying to get these two different species to coexist in the same area is going to take some time, but hey, this is Xinjiang.  Conflict in coexistence is our middle name here!

Say hello to “Rusty”.  The bandanna is a shout out to the great state of Texas.

He wasn’t too fond of the leash!

Romeo, our cat, isn’t quite as comfortable anymore!