Me and the dog...

So anyone that knows me, probably knows I am an animal lover.  Michael and I have a cat and a dog.  And even though I don't treat them like babies, like some pet owners do, well...not all the time anyway. ☺I do love animals and the companionship I get from them, especially when Michael travels.

In China there are stray animals everywhere.  There is no animal control going on in China.  And when I see their sad, hungry, lonely faces of course I want to pet everyone. ☺  That is precisely why I got the rabies shot because I seem to have no control around puppies or kitties.

In Lijiang there seemed to be stray dogs EVERYWHERE.  And they were all cute and little and so of course I had to try and get as close as I could to everyone.

This one dog, in particular, seemed to take a liking to me.  I went over to pet it and just say Hi.

Michael is not so keen on me petting every stray dog I see, for fear of me getting my face bit off and/or attracting rabies.  Because even though we both have the rabies vaccination, if you get bit you still need to go and get 2 more shots.  I guess, from my understanding, having the vaccination just slows the process down of the rabies virus going to your brain and making you rabid, it does not prevent rabies fully.  So you can see Michael's concern.  ☺

Well, this little guy was a cutie.

You must agree, this is a cute little face.  Who can resist his cute under bite? 

When I try and pet most dogs, they either bare their teeth, start growling and get in attack mode... that is the worst case scenario.  Some cowardly let me pat their head and then go on their merry way.  Well, this little guy came right over when I called for him and let me pet his little head.  When we turned to walk away, he started to walk with us.  And he would not leave us.  Of course this made me feel terrible.  I asked Michael if we could bring him back to Nanjing with us, more than once.  I am sure you already know the answer to that question. ☺We walked around Lijiang and the dog kept following us.  We went to the bathroom and the dog just waited outside for us.  It was terrible, because I just felt so bad that this little pup was all alone and obviously wanted me to take care of him. 

The problem was, how are we going to get this dog from following us around.

 I did the only thing I could do.  I bought it some Yak meat.  Yes, yak meat.  It is everywhere in Lijiang.  It is very popular about this region of China. 

Here I am buying yak meat for the little guy.  Michael and I did not even try it.  We probably should have, seeing as it is a local delicacy, but it did not seem very appetizing.  In the shops, like this one pictured above, they sell it dried out with all different seasonings. 

Anywho, long story short, I bought the yak meat, set it on the ground and ran the other way.  We saw the dog again later.  When we saw him, I yelled at Michael, "Quick, hide behind a tree!"  Maybe that was overkill, but I did not want the little pup to have to say goodbye to that pup one more time.  Saying goodbye is hard to do.