New Chinese Trend Involves Dyeing Dogs to Look Like Wild Animals

Thanks to a bizarre new practice in China, you can have your very own Hobbes! Well, kinda. A recent development in China involves taking ordinary dogs and dyeing their fur to make them resemble wild animals. For example, chow chows have dyed black and white to resemble pandas, while retrievers have been dyed to resemble tigers.

Chinese-domesticated animal relations have come a long way since the days of cooking and eating canines. Now instead of eating dogs, people are entering them in competitions, such as the dog dyeing competition at Pets Show Taipei.

Of course, the consumption of dog is still a common practice in some areas of China and the rest of Asia, and still drawing the ire of animal rights groups around the world. No word yet on dyeing dogs to look like wild animals, but it seems about as bad as dressing them in Halloween costumes.