Asa Ae asks:
Hey!
Isn’t it about time you guys talk about having pets in Korea?
It does seem like it’s that time.
You know what, I think that this is about the perfect time
To do so
According to my watch,
Which is covered in animals, and dogs,
Mine is covered in Lego pieces
Mine is covered in some kind of octopus.
Alright lets get something off our chests before we
Start talking about this one.
Hey commenters,
I know that you’re probably going to say this
But don’t worry about it,
If you’re going to bring your dog to Korea,
Don’t get this idea that Korean people walk around
With forks and knives and just
Stab random dogs and eat them
That does NOT happen.
Did you know that Canadians eat moose?
That is disgusting
I don’t know if we do eat moose actually.
I think there might be a moose meat shop
You know how you pluralize moose?
Mice?
Meese.
So we’ve been here for five years now
And in the past five years we have noticed
Quite a bit of a change in the attitudes towards
Pets in Korea.
Yeah, I know that when we first got Spudgy
Five years ago,
There were really almost no dogs in our neighborhood.
Right.
When we took him for a walk,
A lot of people were really afraid of him.
Its like they didn’t see a lot of dogs.
But by the time we left Bucheon,
Four years later,
There were like, impromptu dog parties,
At the park near our house.
Yeah! We did a video of a day in the life
Of us back in Bucheon, and you actually saw us
At one of these dog parties in the Bucheon park.
With lots of different breeds,
And we would meet dogs on like every corner.
So I feel like there’s been an increase in
Pet ownership in Korea in like the last five years.
It is a hip thing to do.
You should own a dog.
What we have noticed, however,
That hasn’t really changed,
Is that people still seem to be
A little bit afraid of cats.
Yeah, maybe the whole cat thing hasn’t really hit,
It’s hit Japan alright.
But, not Korea.
We even had a local coffee shop in Bucheon where
People had two cats walking around at Twelveda
Hi we miss you!
Some people would go in
and the girls would like FREAK,
Freeze in terror!
I mean they would be like,
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
And I mean like, it’s a cat
In a café.
Do you think this cat would like a feral cat
That’s gonna like hunt you down in the wilderness?
Like if I was in the Savannah I would scream like a girl.
I’ll tell you one thing.
I know that back when I was in Canada
I was like the Ace Ventura of stray cats.
I could be like
“COME TO ME, MY ANIMALS”
And they would come up and purr and be friendly
In Korea I have not met
ONE
FRIENDLY
STRAY CAT
WHATSOEVER.
The point is that I don’t think people
Are as comfortable with pet cats yet.
Lets talk about pet stuff.
So, if you bring your pet to Korea,
What are you going to see pet-wise in Korea?
Well, within the past five years
We’ve also seen an increase of pet stores.
Sprouting up everywhere.
I mean really, I feel like there’s a pet store
On every corner now.
Except the thing is
These pet stores are really small shops.
I haven’t actually seen any
Ginormous kind of
Wal-Mart-sized pets’ mart.
You know where they have
Aisles dedicated to just like
Iguana colostomy bags and what not
What the?!
There’s the iguana colostomy bag section at Pet ‘smart!
Look, I’m not making this up.
He’s definitely making this up.
Now I know that Korea doesn’t have the land for making
These-sized Pet ‘smart giant stores,
So all these little tiny pet shops
I’ve noticed
Pretty much sell the exact same thing over and over again.
Yeah.
So it’s not like you go to all these different pet stores
And this one has like, organic
And this one has something for you pet
I was going to say pet chicken.
I don’t know why that came into my mind.
Pet hamster.
We have a friend whose cat’s name is Chicken.
Its true, the name is Chicken.
I wouldn’t say they stock the same things
I complain because, Spudgy
You might think is a small dog,
But he’s actually not a small dog in Korea.
Right. The pet stores will all have like,
Small,
“Medium”-sized clothing
or harnesses or crates,
but they don’t fit Spudgy, so.
Spudgy’s too big.
A lot of the dogs we find here,
Most of the time are just small toy dogs.
A lot of Yorkies here.
Yorkies, Maltese, Pekinese, Shi Tzu.
We rarely see giant dogs here.
I really want to see a big dog in Korea
It’s not really popular. No.
Not yet.
We’ve seen like a German shepherd
Here and there
But that really horrifies people.
There are some bulldogs running around.
They have some dire wolves as well.
Yeah. That’s right a couple of those.
That’s why I think
A lot of small, very small-medium kind of clothing
And stuff so
If you do have a big dog and you’re coming to Korea
You’re going to have to bring all that stuff with you
Including big size bones—
Hold on. People actually put sweaters on giant dogs?
Yes.
People have different
Pet-sized bowls, pet sized stands, pet sized bones,
You can’t get any of that in Korea for a big dog.
I haven’t seen any giant bones for dogs.
Or crates.
So if you’re travelling back and forth,
And you want a crate for your dog,
You’re not going to get that in Korea
So you’re going to have to specially order it
Or bring it with you.
One big difference we did notice though
Is that the veterinarian costs in Korea
Are SO MUCH CHEAPER
Than what they are back in Canada
Like, HOLY SMOKES
I remember that when we were bringing Spudgy to Canada
We had to get paperwork for him
To say that he’s
Able to travel and whatnot,
That he’s healthy and rabies free and all that stuff
We brought him to the vet, the vet looked him over
Signed the paperwork, gave it to us
FOR
FREE!
But when we wanted to come back to Korea with Spudgy
We had to take him to the vet again,
And the vet
Just to LOOK at Spudgy
Cost 70 bucks!
Because they’re like, it’s your first time visiting our place,
SooooOoooooOoooOo
Let me look at your dog for 70 dollars
And let me give you those papers
That you got for free back in Korea
For another 70 dollars.
So it cost 140 bucks for something that is free here.
And what really confused me about it
Was that they
I thought they would do blood work or something
She looks at him, she touches him,
She’s like,
“You’re good, you’re so good”
Let me give you this
GOLDEN SIGNATURE
Ok so if you’re visiting a vet for the first time in Korea
They don’t have like that
Basic visiting fee,
They’ll charge you for whatever they do,
Blood work, and medicine, and stuff
But its not going to be like a base fee.
But it’s so cheap.
So Spudgy has had a couple of surgeries.
He dislocated his knee once
And they had to give him a surgery which
They shaved into his knee bone to give him a new groove
Because he had like rubbed off the groove
And it was a very extensive surgery
And here it cost like a few hundred bucks
Where when we told people that before
They said that their vet
When they got their dog to get the exact same surgery
Cost a few thousand.
Yeah. I mean I’ve heard stories about my friends spending
Thousands and thousands of dollars
On their cat or dog
Staying overnight at the vet
And about the medicine, and
For us?
Its like, Spudgy is on a lot of medicine,
And we spend around, 500 bucks a month?
500 bucks a month we spend on Spudgy’s medicine
but we know that if this was back in Canada
we would be like “Spudgy I’m sorry but
we can’t afford you anymore, be free!
Got out into the wild! Spudgy be free!
Father a new pack of wild Spudgies!”
I wanna see a bunch of babies with blue stripes but
We can’t afford you anymore.
Yeah, were just joking.
So don’t be worried about vets in Korea.
They’re always going to have a basic level of English
Up to like Super Awesome They Lived Overseas English
And you’ll be able to communicate with them
We’ve never actually had any communication issues with our vets,
They have always been very clear and concise
So we understand
What they are going to be doing to Spudgy.
Yeah.
So the thing we’ve noticed that aren’t really changing yet about pets in Korea
Is that
In North America pets are kind of like this
Acknowledged extension of your family, you know
Your uglier, hairier child.
One time we were heading home with Spudgy
And he was in his little travel crate
And we got into the taxi
And the taxi driver wanted to put Spudgy
IN THE TRUNK!
Oh yeah, just put your dog in the trunk.
And we’re like, no, were not going to put our dog in the trunk.
No. Would you put your child in the trunk?
That would just,
Nnnnneeeeeeevvvvvveeeerrrr
Happen in North America.
So things like, doggy day care,
And like personal trainer,
That kind of thing isn’t quite happening in Korea yet.
Not yet.
I think that they’re working their way
Towards it
But I think that at the moment
Its still not super pet friendly yet.
Yeah. I’ve definitely seen more demands now
For like, doggy day care.
And they like do have dog trainers
But it’s mostly for the like really bad dogs.
In turn, we’ve met a lot of
Poorly trained dogs.
Very yippy, very barky,
They don’t know how to interact with
Other dogs very well,
Like I want to see more people walk up to their dog,
And be like,
“ANJA!”
and the dogs like sitting down
like, waiting at the lights
all the dogs are like—
I see so many people who are just like,
“I don’t know what to do with my dog!”
Like a fire hose.
“Stop barking! Stop! Uhh!”
Spudgy is very well trained,
He’s like
We’re like,
sit,
stop,
come here,
follow us,
he knows how to obey where
other dogs we don’t really see that kind of
level of communication between master and dog.
We’ve also has some problems where dogs
Are like, off the leash,
And coming at Spudgy, like violently,
And I am like,
I am going to kick your dog across the field
If you don’t keep that dog on a leash.
If you have a violent angry dog,
You should probably get that fixed.
But the owner was just like,
“Ha! Ha ha…..”
And I’m like it’s not funny.
It’s actually not funny that your dog is like that.
Also!
People don’t really pick up their poop!
They don’t pick up the poop!
I haven’t seen people
Pick up their dog’s poop
After their dog pooped,
We have cute little blue bags.
I’m not really sure how cute they are
Because they’re poop bags
They’re covered in doggy bones!
We have poop bags,
To pick up Spudgy’s poop
And we don’t see people pick of their dog’s poop here!
We have seen some
Korean people pick up their dog’s poop with like
Layers of tissue paper?
And I’m like,
You can buy stuff for that. They’re call poop bags.
But it’s not that common
So some dogs will like
Curl it out on the sidewalk
And you’re like, that is not ok.
So,
I’m hoping that this is going to change over time.
So the last thing we want to say is that,
Unfortunately, there are a lot of puppy-mill
Pet stores in Korea
So, you’ll see these little dogs
In these little class cubes
And they’re all like stacked in a window
With the sun shining down on them
And it’s so heartbreaking.
Every time I pass by I want to buy
All of the animals and take care of them.
Whatever you do
Please don’t buy animals from there.
You’re just only feeding into the economy
Of puppy mills
Adopt a dog instead.
Animal Rescue Korea.
Go to them, get a
Adopted dog
But don’t support the puppy mill industry here, please.
Yeah, and a lot of foreigners come to Korea
And they’re lonely, and they want a cat or dog
And they see them in the window.
But guys, seriously
There are so many abandoned dogs and cats
At these shelters.
AND
They could be the next Spudgy.
Spudgy was adopted, that’s right.
And look at him,
He’s a super star now.
That’s right bitches!
Also, they’re already older
So you know their personality
You don’t have worry about getting a puppy
Not knowing how to train it
And have it like, you know
Pee and poop all over your house
And then you hate it
Woo! Woo! Woo!
Ima puppy! Ima puppy!
And then you hate it
And then you give it away
And just start the cycle all over again.
Which we’ve heard of people doing before.
Yes. A lot of people come to Korea,
And they stay for like a year
And then they just leave their dog or cat
So if you want more information on specialized pets
Like iguanas and whatnot
Or if you want to know more about
Like dog food and cat food costs in Korea
Were going to talk about that more in our blog post
In more detail,
So make sure you click on the link here, and follow that.
Was the link over there?
It was right here underneath me.
Woo!
So that’s it for this week’s TL;DR if you have a question
For next week’s TL;DR leave your question in the comment
Section below. Or check out the questions already asked
And you can thumb them up to get them to our attention
Or send us a tweet!
And don’t forget to subscribe for more TL;DR’s
where we show you more how puppies pee
in very rude manners.
Woo woo I’m a puppy! Woo!
Are these your shoes?
Old dogs are the best.
Can a get a shirt that says that?
Or
Old
Dogs
Rock?
Or like
Old dogs are the best?
And then people think I’m talking about
Dog the Bounty Hunter, which I’m not.
Is he around anymore?
Do you know about him?
Whoa.
You’re like,
On point with your clever jokes today.
Boo ya! Snap.
The weather is making me crazy you guys!
Crazy! I haven’t seen sunshine in two weeks.
I’m gonna leave.
undefined