One of the best things that's happened to me in a long time happened today in Liulichang, a partly-real-mostly-reproduced traditional neighborhood focused on calligraphy, painting, and stamp carving. I came across a tiny white baby of a puppy outside a shop, probably one of the ubiquitous smush-faced part-Pekingese mutts around here. I was concerned because it was so young and didn't seem to have an owner, so I knelt down and pet it. It immediately clambered up into my lap and nuzzled happily against me, its warm, soft, wriggling body just exuding "love you! love you!" I realized the puppy belonged to a man and his young son a few yards away and it was just ignoring their calls. I pulled the puppy off me and set him on the ground, but he immediately jumped back in my lap and nuzzled more. I finally had to pick him up and carry him over to his owner. His owner thanked me and set him back down once I'd walked away, and the three walked off down the road.
On the other hand, en route to Carrefour I saw a man selling half a dozen puppies off a blanket in a dixiatongdao. They were tiny, helpless little things, sleeping in a big tangled pile, definitely too young to be away from their mother. Beijing law states that each household can only have one dog, so maybe this guy's dog had gotten pregnant and he was trying to get rid of the puppies. When I came back from Carrefour the man and his dogs were gone. I really hope those puppies will be okay.
No comments:
Post a Comment