Panda Dog Breed Doesn’t Exactly Earn Its Name, But Is The Process Cruelty To Animals? [Photos]


The so-called Panda dog breed is becoming increasingly popular in China, with pet stores across the country actually selling out all of their panda dogs. But, as it turns out, the Panda dog breed does not even earn the name since the black and white cuddly pooch is not even a special breed created with cross-breeding. So what is it?

In a related report by The Inquisitr, when a mud bog seemed to have something alive in it, two cops were surprised at what they found and did their best to rescue the poor creature.

Hsin Ch’en owns a pet shop in Chengdu city in southwest China’s Sichuan province. He says that China’s rising middle class are adopting the Western habit of keeping cute dogs as pets:

“Ten years ago the natural instinct of a Chinese person was to eat a dog. Now we are like westerners and want one as a companion. The cute breeds like French bulldogs and Labradors were the favorites, but now it is the panda dog.”

As it turns out, the panda dog does not involve weird breeding experiments or anything along those lines. The most common way the pet shops create a panda dog is to take a particularly poofy-looking Chow and then use cosmetics to transform it into a panda. Ch’en explains how he pulls this off:

“I perfected the technique here and now it is spreading across the country. With a bit of careful grooming and colouring it is easy to turn a chow into a panda dog in about two hours. Then the look will stay with the dog for around six weeks and the owners bring them back for some touching up. There are no chemicals or cruelty involved. But the price of the dog does rise significantly because of the amount of grooming that goes into it. People don’t mind paying the extra though — they like the fact that heads turn in the street and they can tell their friends: ‘I have a panda dog.'”

Unfortunately, while the panda dog has become a new status symbol in China, it’s claimed by some that the cosmetics dyes being used in the process may harm the poor little animals. While similar hair dyes are also used by humans, Cesar Milan, an experienced dog trainer, believes that the chemicals could potentially enter the dog’s eyes or may even be ingested when the panda dog licks its feet or its fur. Milan believes that transforming a Chow into a Panda dog is harmful to the animal.

But if you search for hair dyes for dogs, you will see that experts specifically do not recommend human products for animals and bleaching a dog’s hair is also warned against. Instead, pet shops like Petsmart will sell “dog hair chalking” products that allow pet owners to transform the color. These products can be used to create strange creatures like the tiger dog:

Or can you make your very own Pikachu kitty:

Other products are based upon food coloring and are also non-toxic. So, assuming the pet shops in China are using the same pet safe products, creating a panda dog shouldn’t be harmful. Of course, people like Milan believe the process is also “psychologically harmful to the animal.”

Would you buy a panda dog or do you consider the idea to be animal abuse?

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