養狗 Dogs = 養小孩 Kids in Taiwan? Taiwanese Dog Culture | Chengyu idioms in Real Conversation | Taiwanese Mandarin

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Do you have a dog? Or do you have a cat? 養狗、養貓 to raise a dog/cat In today's episode, my sister and I are talking about raising dogs, because last year she got a French Bulldog, 法鬥. Taiwan's birth rate is so low these days, so dogs are basically like kids now — a dog really is family. So what do we call dogs in Taiwan? 毛小孩 — "fur baby." Is that pretty different from your country? It's interesting — my sister says she doesn't have time to overthink things anymore. All she thinks about now is her dog. "想東想西""想東想西" is a really useful chengyu — worth remembering. "想東想西" means "to overthink." We covered this in the last chengyu workshop — the pattern is Verb 東 Verb 西, meaning to constantly do something. "想東想西." So my sister doesn't have time to "想東想西" anymore, because all she thinks about is her dog. Yep, her dog's name is Jumbo. If you're curious about Jumbo's life, you can follow his Instagram and check it out. Because in part two, my sister and I talk about taking her dog to a traditional Chinese medicine vet. And some of the costs involved, which are a bit personal — we can't let our dad find out — so that part will be up on Patreon. This episode has a lot of great vocabulary, plenty of chengyu, and lots of useful expressions. I've also uploaded the transcript with pinyin, zhuyin, and English up there too. And I want to share some good news here — sometime this year, I'll be launching a new course. I'll have a new online course about chengyu. For this new course, I actually had my sister film with me — we've already shot it. So you'll get to see how we actually use chengyu in conversation. And it happens really naturally — the more we chat, the more chengyu come out. So look forward to it! Let's listen to her and Jumbo's story. So I should introduce my dog first, right? Hi everyone, hi! This is my dog, his name is Jumbo. He's my son. Say hi, everyone! Nothing for you here, go take a nap. He's about a year and a half now, super well-behaved, a little boy, and ever since I got him, he's been family — I'm his mom. And I love your t-shirt, by the way. Look, I have a French Bulldog, that breed — 法國鬥牛犬 — so I have a "法鬥," like this. You call yourself his mom, and he's your son. (Yep.) To you, he's family. He's my family, so he sleeps with me every night. He lets you — so you let him on the bed. We sleep together. But aren't you afraid that — I don't know — that he won't listen to you, or won't see you as his owner? I guess if he thinks of you as his mom, he's not going to disrespect you. Also, you really do raise him the right way, and give him the right training. I think he's a dog whose behavior doesn't really go off the rails."脫序" means he can't follow the rules and becomes really out of control. I think Jumbo is actually pretty — when he's out, he's really well-behaved. Yeah, you've really taken good care of him. His only flaw is he gets way too excited when he sees people — he gets too happy. Maybe because he's only a year and a half, so he can't quite control himself, so he gets really excited. But when it's just me and him at home, he's a really good boy — he even goes to the bathroom in his designated spot. And my place really does have a ton of stuff that I just can't what's it called — throw away. Decluttering — we did an episode on that before. Stuff we just can't declutter — so my place has a ton of figurines, and he never chews them. So I think he's actually pretty well-behaved, and he's got a lot of energy — he's not lazy at all. Right, you take him to swim class, take him for walks. Because he's actually a pretty energetic dog, so he needs to go outside, look around, and sniff things. Sniffing things is actually really important — that's how he can calm down and release his stress. Like letting off steam? Yeah, kind of like that. Releasing energy — including negative energy. (Sounds a lot like kids. Or even people.) It really is similar. And actually, the swimming isn't just for fun. It's because this breed's spine naturally isn't great. Right, so he takes swim classes. And when you're at work, he's at "安親班" — you call it that, right? Yeah, in Taiwan we call it 安親班 — like it's for kids, it's kind of like after-school care. It's where he learns how to get along with other dogs, and build up his social skills. The place where dogs go is called an "安親班." It's actually the same word used for kids too. Because in Taiwan, when parents are both working, kids go to 安親班 after school lets out. There are teachers there to look after them, help them, maybe even get their homework done — that's an 安親班. That's actually a Taiwanese cultural thing too — and now there's even one for dogs. They've got boarding, daycare, and swimming. I think a lot of dogs in Taiwan are actually left home alone, but I'm a pretty anxious parent. So I actually go home at lunch — I rush back from work to spend time with him. I hang out with him for half an hour, and if it's not too hot, I'll take him downstairs for a five-minute walk. Then I go back up, have lunch with him, and rush back to the office. I see him again in the evening. Because think about it — if you were alone, stuck at home all day, unable to do anything — he's not going to turn on the TV and binge shows by himself, right? You don't have a balcony, right? Right — balconies are dangerous. Do you think it'd be better if you had one? Personally I think balconies are dangerous, so even if I had one, I wouldn't let him out on it. Is that just because you're an Asian parent type? (Haha.) So, Jenxiu, I always find it a little scary — even at work, you're still constantly checking the daycare camera. "監視器" — how do you say it — monitor, CCTV. Connected — you check what he's doing at all times, playing or eating. (I just want to see if he's doing okay.) I'm scared he's not doing well. (Scared he's being mistreated, like that?) Scared he'll get into it with the other dogs, that kind of thing. And plus, I miss him. Maybe I have separation anxiety, so I just keep checking on what he's up to. Do you still get "分離焦慮" now? Really badly. (Really badly?) Yeah, really badly. Hold on, hold on — didn't you just get back from Hong Kong? You said you were gone nine days. I lost it. I completely lost it. I was looking things up for him every single day — checking if there were toys I could buy for Jumbo, looking at his stuff nonstop. Did you bring one of his toys with you, to sniff and miss him with? I'll tell you — I actually forgot to bring it. I was going to bring something to sleep with, so I set it out on the counter, and then just forgot it. I was so mad at myself. I actually really wanted to ask you — about raising a pet in Taiwan, I've found there are quite a few challenges. Because I might move back to Taiwan eventually, and I feel like the first issue is finding a place. You need a landlord who'll accept pets, and that's honestly not easy — it really limits your options, doesn't it? It really depends on which area you're trying to find a place in. Like where I live now, it's a more elderly, older community. They're worried about their furniture getting damaged, so honestly even if I write in my self-introduction that my dog isn't destructive at all, and I'm willing to sign an extra pet clause, sometimes there's just nothing you can do. So it actually took me three or four months to find a place. Yeah, I remember that. That took forever. So do you feel like your rent ended up higher because you have a dog? Actually my landlord is really nice — because he loves pets himself. He has three dogs of his own, so he specifically knows how hard it is in this area to find a place that's okay with dogs, so he made a point of saying he'd only rent to tenants who have dogs. He actually prefers renting to people with dogs. Right — and I also promised him, over and over, that my dog wouldn't be destructive in any way. Because you know, during my search, some things were pretty funny too. Some landlords actually asked me to send Jumbo's photo first. And in their minds, if you have this kind of dog — a French Bulldog — he must smell bad. But I couldn't exactly tell them I bathe him every seven to ten days. And I'm a total neat freak — but I couldn't say that either, because they don't know me, so they'd never believe me. And this — asking you to send a photo first. So funny. So I just— Is that dog discrimination? (Yeah.) To me that's pure discrimination. I rolled my eyes so hard. But what choice did I have — after three, four months, you can't find a place at all. Let me tell everyone here — when it comes to renting in Taiwan, the whole environment is such that landlords hold a lot more power than tenants, right? Landlords call the shots. Right. So how much does daycare cost per day? How's the pricing? Honestly the place I use is pretty cheap — six hours, prices just went up to like NT$500 or 550, which I think is super cheap.(So cheap.) Right — a whole day, six hours, he gets to burn off energy and be happy. Someone's watching him, and when it's mealtime, you just bring his usual food and they have someone feed him. It's really reassuring, and they even take a ton of Instagram-worthy photos. You said they even take photos for you. Yeah, photos of him playing, updates on how he's doing — they basically check in with you every hour or two. My daycare is really responsible, so they do all of that. They'll report to you like, "Here's how your baby's doing today.""Jumbo's not in a great mood today." "Jumbo's in a great mood today." "Today Jumbo really wanted to chew on the mop." They'll report back to me, "Jumbo's in a great mood today, swam really well." Do you get a logbook? Like a contact book — do you get one? No, just Line. (So Line is the logbook.) Yeah, Line is the logbook — very high-tech. Wow, that sounds pretty affordable honestly. That surprises me too, because in France it's really expensive. And you can't really trust them the same way. They'd never keep reporting to you like that either. And what I love about the place is they've got cameras covering every angle, nothing gets missed. You can switch between camera one, camera two — so you can spot your son from every angle. Jenxiu must be really busy, right? So like I said, I'm busy every single day, no time to overthink anything anymore. (Haha, you really can't 想東想西 anymore.) Right, I don't have the time — no time at all.(Totally.) I also have to prep his food, because I'm kind of an obsessive mom — I make him fresh food every single day. When you sent me those photos of Jumbo's lunch and dinner, I remember thinking, wow, he eats better than I do. I was like, hold on — there's seafood, there's meat, there's vegetables — every color's represented. Exactly, exactly — we're going for a rainbow plate. It's pretty much the same as what people eat — except he can't have rice, right? Can't have rice. He can eat rice — just a little bit, because for his breed, he can't get too heavy, and I'm pretty strict about it myself, so I really watch his diet."飲控" means diet control — carefully managing what you eat. So what do you think foreigners should keep in mind about raising a dog in Taiwan? Personally, I feel like — take people from Western countries, for example — I feel like everyone's pretty maybe, I don't know, maybe it's because Taipei is so densely populated, small space but a lot of people, so I feel like dogs here mostly live in small apartments, but I always feel like in France, dogs are outside more, growing up in a more natural way. That's my impression, anyway. And the relationship between dog and owner is a lot clearer. The owner is the owner, the dog is the dog. Of course there are people who spoil their dogs too, but I feel like there's still more distance there. That's how I see it. But in Taiwan, it instantly changes — the dog becomes family. It's a kid and their mom, a kid and their dad, and dogs even ride around in something that looks like a baby stroller. Like me — because if you're taking the bus in Taipei, you need that stroller to be allowed on, right? So what do you think foreigners should watch out for if they raise a dog in Taiwan? You'd probably want a proper carrier bag, and if you have a large dog, that's definitely a lot harder. But like you mentioned, I think Taiwan now has a ton of pet-friendly parks. Places for dogs to run around, and near where I live too, there are also a lot of parks — plenty of grass for dogs to walk on. I think it's pretty good for me now. Honestly, the pet-friendly environment here has really improved a lot in recent years. And the thing to really watch out for is that on the MRT and buses, your dog needs to be in a stroller or a bag. For taxis, it depends — if you have a big dog, some drivers might make you put him in the trunk. That's happened to me before, which felt really unfair. The trunk — that's a bit much. But since the trunk has to be closed, it really depends on the driver. But the drivers I've had have all been really nice, letting Jumbo sleep right next to me. And when I traveled outside the city before, some places required a proper crate for him. Can dogs ride the high-speed rail? I have to say, the high-speed rail is really not friendly to large dogs — they're not allowed on. Because on the HSR, he has to be in a crate. Or in something like my stroller, which has a frame, so I can just fold the stroller up, put it away, and cover it — once it's covered up, that's actually fine. You can only put it at your feet, but you can also buy an extra seat for him, and that works too. Okay, anything else to watch out for? Restaurants. Some restaurants now have a pretty nice system going. There's an app — say if you're in Xinyi District right now, and you want to check what pet-friendly restaurants are nearby, you can open the app and it'll list them all out. This one allows dogs, this one requires a crate, this one even has a pet menu, that kind of thing. Okay, thank you Jenxiu — (No problem) — thank you, Jumbo! I'll put Jumbo's Instagram link up above. (Thanks, Jenxiu — yeah, everyone go check it out!)