The video of six dogs being caught pretending to be pandas has drawn criticism from the public, but the shop owner has defended himself by saying that all the dogs in the shop are happy and healthy.
"Dyeing dogs' fur to make them look like pandas is very popular overseas. It's controversial in China because it's not common," the shop owner said in an interview.
The owner even previously offered to charge 1,500 yuan to anyone who wanted to turn their dog into a panda, but pet owners were not happy with this service.
Chow Chow is a poodle breed originating from Tibet, the face of this dog is quite similar to a panda, especially when its fur is dyed black and white.
The pet cafe, called Cute Pet Games, opened last month in a shopping mall in Chengdu, Sichuan. The controversy began when staff posted a video of dogs being forced to pretend to be pandas to attract media and social media attention in China.
In the cafe, the “panda” wanders around playing with customers; the atmosphere is cheerful and relaxing. However, on Weibo, a Chinese social network similar to Twitter, many animal lovers also expressed their opposition to turning poodles into pandas.
Some people criticized the shop owner for doing this just for his own satisfaction. Besides the critical comments, there were also a few netizens who said that their friends or themselves had dyed their dogs’ fur and supported the shop owner.
Animal rights group PETA has condemned the cafe's actions. A spokesperson said: "There are always risks when using dyes on pets, which can be extremely dangerous to their skin, nose and eyes."
Dyeing dog fur always poses a risk to the health of animals, fashion dyeing can only be applied to humans. The dye can potentially harm the eyes, nose, and ears of dogs.
Despite the criticism, the owner of the shop still insisted that the dogs were very healthy and the dye did not harm them. The owner also shared that the reason he decided to dye the dogs like pandas was because Chengdu is known as the hometown of pandas, and he felt that Chow Chow dogs and pandas have a special connection.
