Learning the culture - pets

So, the vet at the National Taiwan University Veterinary Hospital left us free tickets to the Pet Expo at the Nangang Convention Center. Believing that it might be considered rude to not accept the gift, and that when we went to pick up the dog we would need to have an answer to "How did you like the show?", we accepted the tickets and on Sunday, we went to the show.

It was in a major convention center and covered about a third of the first floor. This is at the scale of something like the Javits Center. And it was packed. People brought their dogs, many off leash and abundantly in strollers.

The show also included sections for cats, fish, rabbits and, well we gave up half way through the dog section. I think one of my favorite signs was singing the praises of dog food that came from Vermont.

People in Taipei are serious about their pets, who were astonishingly well behaved. One little guy (no photo) off leash, waited patiently outside the bathroom for his mistress to return. As soon as she came out, he took off, looking back periodically to be certain he was going the right way. This was amidst a crowd of hundreds. She did pick him up to go up the escalator.

While most of the dogs were small, there were exceptions like these two guys.

Holly will certainly not be unusual as a small dog, but now that I think of it, I don't think we saw any other chihuahuas.