Tibetan mastiffs abandoned as fad comes to an end in China. The Tibetan mastiff, a shepherding dog native to the Himalayan highlands, would only a few short years ago sell for around $250,000 at auction to status-conscious Chinese. Mastiff breeders left in the business are finding it hard to sell the dogs, with the average asking price now as low as $2000, a fraction of the price they once fetched.
Last year, Shanghaiist reported on a Tibetan mastiff puppy which sold at the Zhejiang dog show for 12 million yuan ($2 million), 340 times the average Chinese income per capita.
Once-Prized Tibetan Mastiffs Are Discarded as Fad Ends in China
Tibetan mastiffs were once trendy must-have dogs for wealthy Chinese, selling for more than $200,000. Nibble, a Tibetan mastiff, was checked by veterinarians after being saved from the slaughterhouse by a group of animal rights activists. Other rescued mastiffs had suffered broken limbs. Then there is the Tibetan mastiff, a lumbering shepherding dog native to the Himalayan highlands that was once the must-have accouterment for status-conscious Chinese.
Since 2013, about half the 95 breeders in Tibet have gone under, according to the Tibetan Mastiff Association, and the once-flourishing Pure Breed Mastiff Fair in Chengdu, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, has been turned into a pet and aquarium expo. Famed for their ferocity and traditionally associated with free-spirited Tibetan nomads, mastiffs offered their ethnic Han Chinese owners a dose of Himalayan street cred, according to Liz Flora, editor in chief of Jing Daily, a marketing research company in Beijing.
End of China's Tibetan Mastiff craze sends dogs to slaughter, New York Times reports."
Today, breeders are struggling to sell the dogs as interest wanes and Chinese consumers shy away from showy spending in light of new anti-corruption crackdowns", the report says.
