So, I have a six month old pretty pure Tugou, specifically a Taiya dog. She’s super smart and cute and energetic and alert and sweet (and naughty) but people on the street freak out about her. She’s got white front feet, like she’s wearing gloves, and a star and a heart on her chest like a ten year old girl drew on her.
Fear of dogs seems to be pretty common here, but it seems like the reactions she gets may go beyond that. People on the street will just glare at her while she’s prancing and wagging her tail. The other day in particular was pretty bad. A family in Daan park said scornfully “only a foreigner would have a dog like that,” after lots of glares. There was one really odd incident after that, where I was standing outside a Matsusei waiting for my husband, Minke (doggie) was whining because she couldn’t go after him into the store, and as some fully grown man (late 30s or early 40s) walked past, Minke whimpered quietly and tried to go into the store next to him. The guy looked down and saw her, stopped, and ran to the other side of the entrance way and stood there staring at me and her for a good minute and a half while holding onto one of those man-height signs with the metal base in a panic. I didn’t see her touch him in any way, she had four paws on the ground and wasn’t even looking at him. I couldn’t say anything but I tried to make a motion like she’s not doing anything, then I had her stand up on me and held her paws so that he could calm down and would feel safe to walk away. He still stood there staring though! She’s a 25 pound happy little puppy! I talked to my sister-in-law about it and she said it might be that he was scared of her white paws. I keep hearing different reasons for this fear of white paws, anyone know anything about it?
What’s your take on the situation? Any advice? I’m getting super frustrated with the overdramatic reactions to my doggie.
So, I have a six month old pretty pure Tugou, specifically a Taiya dog. She’s super smart and cute and energetic and alert and sweet (and naughty) but people on the street freak out about her. She’s got white front feet, like she’s wearing gloves, and a star and a heart on her chest like a ten year old girl drew on her.
Fear of dogs seems to be pretty common here, but it seems like the reactions she gets may go beyond that. People on the street will just glare at her while she’s prancing and wagging her tail. The other day in particular was pretty bad. A family in Daan park said scornfully “only a foreigner would have a dog like that,” after lots of glares. There was one really odd incident after that, where I was standing outside a Matsusei waiting for my husband, Minke (doggie) was whining because she couldn’t go after him into the store, and as some fully grown man (late 30s or early 40s) walked past, Minke whimpered quietly and tried to go into the store next to him. The guy looked down and saw her, stopped, and ran to the other side of the entrance way and stood there staring at me and her for a good minute and a half while holding onto one of those man-height signs with the metal base in a panic. I didn’t see her touch him in any way, she had four paws on the ground and wasn’t even looking at him. I couldn’t say anything but I tried to make a motion like she’s not doing anything, then I had her stand up on me and held her paws so that he could calm down and would feel safe to walk away. He still stood there staring though! She’s a 25 pound happy little puppy! I talked to my sister-in-law about it and she said it might be that he was scared of her white paws. I keep hearing different reasons for this fear of white paws, anyone know anything about it?
What’s your take on the situation? Any advice? I’m getting super frustrated with the overdramatic reactions to my doggie.[/quote]
White paws is okay; it is white paws on a black dog that some people here fear. I have a brindle dog with white feet and although he was not wanted as a puppy I have had quite a few offers to buy him off me or else people asking “Where can we get one just like that”?
Do you have a picture of your dog as I am interested to have a look?
Many people here are not scared of dogs and I get people coming up to stroke him and pat him regularly.
White paws on a black dog are considered super unlucky. One, you might get away with. Two, no way. If you bring one into your home, the belief is your home/family will suffer seriously in some way, possible through a death. I haven’t been able to find out the history of this prejudice. It’s one of those things that just “is”.
I didn’t know this and helped rehome a lovely tugou into a good home in Hualien. They took her sight unseen and it hadn’t occurred to me to tell them about her white paws. They’re not particularly traditional or superstitious people, and liked her, despite their initial surprise. However, she was very bad for business. They run a homestay, and many visitors couldn’t tolerate holidaying with such bad luck. She had to be rehomed again.
My neighbours, who are pretty much the most ignorant dog owners imaginable - have just allowed another litter of pups to be born. Only two this time, thank goodness. They’re a month old now, and I note that one of them is the most gorgeous shiny black, with a big white star on her chest, and white paws. She’s part lab mongrel, part bull terrier, and part tugou I think. Nice solid compact little dog. I guess she’ll be leaving on a one way trip to the mountain very soon. I’m going to offer to home them if they allow me to get their bitch spayed…
So if you know of anyone else who’d like another lucky dog, let me know!
If I could start my dog collection all over again with a theme, (other than “this one LOOKED at me in a special way” ), I might take in ONLY white footed black dogs, and keep a whole pack of them. I do especially like Tugou. And I’d love to be an advocate for color equality.
Not sure what to suggest for your dog… Maybe a t-shirt with “Lucky Dog” printed on it? Chin up, don’t let the buggers grind you down.
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that white paws are unlucky because white is the color if death. So somehow, adopting a black dog with white paws becomes, in the mind of the superstitious, equivilant to inviting death into your home.
actually it should be 4 white paws as the chinese is “Si Bai” which means death or unlucky.
But as things always get blown out of proportion it can now mean that a black dog with any white paws doesn’t get adopted.
Plus an all black dog is supposed to be much more menicing and “vicious” so they prefer these dogs as guard dogs. Children are taught that black dogs are vicious and bite.
I have students who tell me, “i like dogs,but i don’t like black dogs, they bite”
Things are changing though and it is actually many foreigners who “teach” younger chinese these stupid superstitions “oh i couldn’t get her adopted because in chinese it’s unlucky to have a dog with 4 white paws” Chinese person “oh really, i didn’t know that, but now i do so i won’t adopt a black dog with white paws, now”
What’s your take on the situation? Any advice? I’m getting super frustrated with the overdramatic reactions to my doggie.[/quote]
Given the educated opinions expressed above, I think your only course of action here on a personal level is to “get used to it.” You’ll almost never have any luck educating the holders of such superstitious opinions. I can’t say what might be the best course of action for Minke’s sake.
That may be so, but I think that any unaware Chinese person adopting a black dog with white feet would pretty soon be told their mistake by other “well meaning” locals. It is very common “knowledge”. Just look at the OP’s experiences. Surely all those people, young and old, weren’t informed by foreigners.
I would rather now err on the side of caution and tell any prospective adopter this superstition, so they make an informed decision about whether or not to adopt, rather than have them adopt the dog unknowingly and then face pressure to get rid of the dog from in laws, older relatives, etc, as they will almost certainly encounter. If they are up to the challenge of countering tradition, good on them - they will adopt the dog any way. If they are not, better we know this at the outset.
However, I certainly wouldn’t phrase it as “In Chinese it’s unlucky to have a dog with 4 white paws.” I would say " some older and more superstitious Chinese still have the unfortunate belief that these dogs are unlucky." And I would admire their "Liang shuang wa zi, rather than their four whites.
Also, owning two dogs is said the be unlucky because if you take the word 犬 meaning “dog” and add two “mouths” 口 口 it means “cry”. It’s amazing what people will come up with to keep themselves in constant fear.
That’s an interesting comment. It brings to mind people I’ve known who never seem to be happy unless they’re upset and nagging about something. Maybe it’s a way to be happy to surrender control over events and the resulting stress associated with decision making.
Thanks for your support everyone. I have heard all sorts of different explanations for the supposed unluckiness of white-footed black dogs and it seems like yours, UKbikerchic, sounds the most likely. I think housecat might be right too, I’ve heard that it has something to do with white socks people wear during some ancestor ritual. I also heard it has something to do with an imbalance of yin and yang, all kinds of ideas.
I know it’s something we just have to try to deal with. We get some nice comments too about how cute and unique her paws are, too. I want to say when I hear that, “yes it’s unique because puppies with these markings are abandoned or killed.” It’s just that lately people have been really unpleasant. It seems like some days almost everyone is really smiley and nice and some days almost everyone is really mean. The glare-y days have been outnumbering the smiley days lately. I had heard that they think it’s bad luck to own one, why would people flip out from just seeing her on the street though?
Tempo Gain and Naughtius, I know what you mean. I have pretty bad OCD and the some of the rules that my mind comes up with seem to have similar logic to these far-fetched Taiwanese or Chinese superstitions. It could either be a way to take control or surrender control, or to avoid a sense of responsibility. I say it could be a way to gain control in a sense of people trying to force some kind of logic onto chaos, to feel that everything has a cause. I haven’t quite figured it out myself, it could be something totally different.
To get back on the subject of Minke, I was a bit concerned that my mother-in-law wouldn’t be able to accept her because of her markings, but now she loves her. My sister-in-law got into an argument the other day when her friend said something bad about Minke and she tried to defend her. So maybe there is hope, maybe people will get over their prejudice if they can actually interact with her.
I’ll try socks though and let you guys know if people react differently.
She’s beautiful! Two of my dogs look very similar to her. My two dogs were adopted off the street because they were abandoned for being black with white paws. However, they are wonderful dogs and I haven’t experienced any bad luck because of them. Oh…wait…maybe a little bad luck… Everytime I find a dumped dog, I end up bringing them home and now I’ve got 14 unwanted dogs living with me. :discodance:
This is educational - I’ve lived here for years and thought I knew most of the superstitions, but this one about white-footed dogs is completely new to me.
As long as the black BMWs don’t have four whitewall tires…[/quote]
:roflmao: :roflmao:
Beautiful dog, and obviously happy and well cared-for. Sometimes the superstitions are hard to take, but it’s worth it if you consider the joy that she’ll bring you! Maybe you’ll even re-educate a few people in the process. All the best!
And that’s a compliment, not a criticism. She’s gorgeous. A really nice example of my favourite breed of dog.
Good luck with your re-education program.
Thank you for posting up the picture! Wow, Northcoast Surfer, 14 dogs. Amazing! I want to do that! I wanna bring home every stray I see, it’s awfully hard not to.
And thank you everyone! That picture is from maybe two months ago, and her ears change position all the time. Lately they’re kind of out to the side and half floppy, where they look less freakishly large.
Ha, she totally has back legs but they look like they belong on a bulldog they’re so muscular. Maybe that’s why no one likes her. She’s a strong lady. And looks like parts from different dogs were sewn together. Plus she’s so shiny my brother refers to her as my eel. Really peculiar looking dog.
Apparently there are three different kinds of Taiwan dogs. We were about to get her spayed but it was bothering me that she seems so like the description of a Taiwan dog according to this site: http://www.dogs.com.tw/index_home.htm. So we took her to the guy who runs the Taiwan dog preservation society and he said physically, she seems like a Taiya dog, which is what I had originally thought. He said he mostly looks for inner characteristics and the outer doesn’t matter to him as much. So it’s hard to say what they should normally look like. They’re super alert and intelligent and protective from long distances. Like she guards the apartment downstairs that my husband’s parents live in: she barks when someone approaches that door but none of the neighboring ones. You can look at the website. The Chinese site has a lot more than the English but there’s still enough on the English site that I was able to figure out she’s Taiya dog. If you’re interested in hearing what the guy said, PM me!
I always wondered about the white markings on the tugou chest as the Formosan black bear also has an unusual white strip across its chest. A little inter-species hanky panky in the old days?
), I might take in ONLY white footed black dogs, and keep a whole pack of them. I do especially like Tugou. And I’d love to be an advocate for color equality.
