I dont know why this just popped into my head but I got a flash back to a program a few years ago about dog zoos in China (or somewhere else in the east?) Somewhere it is illegal to keep dogs. So they actually have a zoo with loads of different breeds of dog. People can also rent a dog out and take it for a walk. Has anyone ever visited one? I tried Google but cant find much.
are you sure it was a zoo? In Japan there are companies that rent out dogs for walks etc, so people who can't keep them as pets (due to the small apartment sizes or legislation of apartment blocks) can still experience the dubious pleasures of dog-ownership
if it is just a zoo that happens to display breeds of dogs in addition to other animals, then many zoos throughout Asia and elsewhere do this
pretty sure it was a dog only zoo. It was a government owned place and they had big runs with glass fronts for all the different breeds.
In China, having a cat or dog is rare luxury, in terms of money and space. So people can rent a dog for a walk like an European might rent a very expensive luxury car to drive. I don't know if it is formally illegal to keep dogs anywhere. It makes me a lot more humble about how poor people really are in many parts of the world, and still they spare time to be interested in animals.
Yes, as Sun mentioned, Beijing Zoo is one which does offer this. They have a variety of breeds available, and you pay money to take one of their dogs for a walk. We were taken aback initially when we saw dogs in cages at the zoo, until we worked out what they were there for.
