Dating Agencies Help Dogs Find Partners

Two-year-old Huahua seemed to know that it was an important day for her.

She had just taken a comfortable shower and was trotting briskly along in a good mood. She even had a pink ribbon pinned into her hair.

It was the day to find her future "groom." How exciting that would be.

"My whole family, especially my daughter, likes Huahua very much, and if possible we want to look after her children," said Han Yue, a resident in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, and the owner of Huahua, a white Beijing poodle.

"That is why we have brought her here with the hope of finding her Mr Right," she said.

"Here" is a new kind of pet matchmaking business that has emerged at a time when the city is enjoying a burgeoning pet industry.

Zhao Wei, owner of Harbin New Star Pet Hospital, carefully took down Huahua's name, age, breed, hair colour, weight, even her hobbies and, finally, a snapshot of her cool pose.

"Just like matchmaking for people, we need information to find her match," Zhao said.

She added that they have a database of every dog that comes to the hospital, some 500.

"We select possible matches and contact the owners of the male dog, then comes the time for their blind date," she said.

"If they fall in love at first sight, the rest is simply a matter of time."

The owner of the female dog usually pays a mating fee because the owner of the "bride" will usually keep the puppies.

And Zhao charges about 10 percent of that fee, which varies according to the breed of the dog. It is usually between 50 yuan and 200 yuan (US$6-US$24). "The nobler the breed, the more expensive it will be," she said. "And we won't charge if the female fails to get pregnant."

Ma Zhongyu, a director of the National Dog Association and vice-chairman of the Heilongjiang Dog Association, told China Daily that they have a group for dogs of pure and noble breeds.

"I know almost all the owners of dogs of pure breed here and in the country as there are not many of them," he said. "It is natural for owners to forge an intimate relationship with each other to ensure the purity of their pets."

Ma said that there are about a dozen dog breeding centers in Heilongjiang Province, producing about 45 breeds, from the commonly seen Beijing poodle to the rare Tibetan mastiff.

A pure breed dog from these centers usually has a chip inserted under its skin in its neck or ear, which records its family history and extent of purity, according to Ma.

(China Daily November 7, 2005)