Trust the Chinese to come up with something like this. Apparently the classic Chinese Chow breed is now being ‘altered’ to resemble an almost identical resemblance to a Panda Bear by a certain pet-shop owner  named Hsin Ch’en.

The moral issue of dog breeding comes up again, and again. At what point does it become a little cruel to interbreed a species to such an extent that their physical features become extreme and over-the-top? It’s a timeless debate and animal-rights activists the world over constantly speak out against the incessant need that humanity seems to have to own something that looks ‘cute’ instead of something that was rescued from an animal shelter.

Thankfully this story does have a slightly more compassionate side to it in that the Chows in question are not further genetically manipulated to render such an extreme physical appearance:

“There are no chemicals or cruelty involved. But the price of the dog does rise significantly because of the amount of grooming that goes into it. People don’t mind paying the extra though – they like the fact that heads turn in the street and they can tell their friends: ‘I have a panda dog’. I perfected the technique here and now it is spreading across the country. With a bit of careful grooming and colouring it is easy to turn a chow into a panda dog in about two hours. Then the look will stay with the dog for around six weeks and the owners bring them back for some touching up.”

The only thing that is unclear is the specifics of the method he uses to dye the dogs.

Before you spend money on an animal that costs an arm and a leg because it has been interbred with its own family 10 generations in a row, you might want to check out this website. They are called the NSPCA. You might have heard of them.

[SOURCE] Huffington Post