Dogs join diners as Hong Kong bets on the pet economy

{"text":[[{"start":5.68,"text":"On a rainy and humid Saturday morning in central Hong Kong, Ollie, a nearly ten-month-old dachshund wearing a nappy and a dashing pink coat, is on the way to meet her brother at a nearby café. Thanks to new rules introduced this summer, that meeting can now take place indoors."}],[{"start":22.08,"text":"Across the Chinese territory, around 990 dining establishments have a licence that allows pets inside, marking the end of a decades-old prohibition."}],[{"start":32.5,"text":"For Ollie’s owners, 30-something Andy and Pinky, the liberalisation is a blessing in a city with multiple rules governing dogs on public transport, on beaches and in parks. “We need to eat,” says Andy. “Now we don’t need to leave her at home.”"}],[{"start":45.84,"text":"The impetus for Hong Kong’s rule change is partly economic — a boost for a hospitality sector that has been hard hit by the rise in people heading north for cheaper meals out. Unveiling the overhaul, the territory’s chief executive John Lee said that the government wanted to support businesses offering “pet-friendly spaces” and noted that the island’s 400,000 pet cats and dogs generated “an enormous consumption market”."}],[{"start":71.537,"text":"Yet the rules — which require a leash no longer than 1.5 metres — have prompted some disquiet from diners. There have been complaints about pets being fed with restaurant utensils and standing on tables."}],[{"start":85.44,"text":"The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department tells me that the introduction of indoor pet licences in July has been “generally smooth”. But, it adds, it did initially receive feedback about “the control of dogs, dogs coming into contact with dining tables, and the cooking or heating of food on dining tables”."}],[{"start":101.164,"text":"The FEHD has instituted two prosecutions against people who failed to keep their dogs under control, 17 against food business operators for allowing dogs to enter and five against dog owners for patronising non-permitted restaurants. Sixty-two restaurants have withdrawn from the scheme."}],[{"start":118,"text":"“It seems society is quite divided,” said Stephanie, a 30-something bank employee and the owner of Muimui (Cantonese for little sister), a two-year-old Shetland sheepdog. “Some people don’t like dogs. They launch online attacks on the restaurant owners to try to get them to change their mind.”"}],[{"start":135.1,"text":"For the most part, Hongkongers seem to love dogs — impeccably groomed lapdogs are everywhere, sometimes nestled under their owners’ arms, sometimes in backpacks or dog strollers."}],[{"start":148.68,"text":"In Elephant Grounds, a hipster café in central Hong Kong, half a dozen small dogs rest and sip water inside the entrance while their owners chat over coffee. The dogs are well behaved — though I notice one snuffling into his owner’s food."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":162.161,"text":"Many of the dog owners I chat with connect Hongkongers’ love of dogs to the prohibitively high cost of having children. Hong Kong, an expensive city known for its compact apartments, has one of the world’s lowest fertility rates."}],[{"start":175.858,"text":"Claudia, a retired beauty industry professional who regularly visits Elephant Grounds with her three-year-old Bichon Olee, says children are too expensive. “That’s my reason.”"}],[{"start":185.95,"text":"“It is just the practicalities of it,” explains Professor Stuart Gietel-Basten at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “It all compounds each other. [A person has] been through high-intensity education, got a job, still cannot afford a house and the single worst thing [they] can do is have children . . . Having a pet is not an unreasonable compromise.”"}],[{"start":206.674,"text":"Still, allowing dogs inside restaurants is not popular with everyone."}],[{"start":210.64,"text":"As a couple wheel a mongrel called Mut into a café on the west Kowloon waterfront promenade, manager Thierry Perreau says dogs are welcome — but he reserves judgment as to how successful the scheme will be."}],[{"start":222.958,"text":"“There can be barking. Some people don’t like dogs next to them,” he says, recalling a time he was bitten in a different restaurant while trying to negotiate service outdoors for a party with two pets. “In a small place like this, having a pet on a leash when you are carrying plates is not comfortable,” he adds. “All customers say it is a cute dog until it isn’t.”"}],[{"start":251.58,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1789462291_5335.mp3"}