Chinese garden dog removed from the forbidden list

The core of the problem of urban dog breeding is still the contradiction between insufficient governance capacity and the increasing number of pet dogs in the process of high-speed urbanization.

▲ some places have deleted the Chinese garden dog from the forbidden list. Figure / IC Photo

(song Jinbo / tr. by Phil Newell)

According to the surging news, in response to the suggestion of Internet users that "Chinese garden dogs should be removed from the Changsha dangerous dogs list", the Changsha Municipal Public Security Bureau replied a few days ago that Chinese garden dogs had been listed as prohibited breeds in Changsha in 2006, and would study this issue with the agricultural and rural departments and relevant industry associations.

In the past two years, the road of "lifting the ban" on Chinese garden dogs has been steady. In 2019, Shenzhen announced that the Chinese pastoral dog and the British Bulldog were removed from the list of prohibited dogs; In 2020, the Hefei regulations on the administration of dog breeding was promulgated, and the Chinese garden dog was removed from the list of prohibited dogs; In the same year, Jilin Siping removed the Chinese garden dog from the list of prohibited dogs on the grounds of "considering public opinion".

Strictly speaking, judging from the biological and habit characteristics, the Chinese garden dog does not have the conditions to be listed as a strong dog as a whole. Genetic instability may cause a small number of individuals to appear close to the standard of strong dogs, but most Chinese garden dogs are undoubtedly "lying guns".

At the beginning, the Chinese garden dog was listed in the list of prohibited dogs, which can be regarded as "taking the rest from the part", which is a way to expand the management, and even can be said to be a "plus" to a certain extent.

In this case, those in the Bureau think that it is "accidental injury", which is inevitable. However, both "expansion" and "enlargement" had objective factors at that time, that is, the so-called "current situation and needs of management". For example, the situation of the general policy environment is urgent, or public opinion demands, or technical and resource constraints, and it is impossible to achieve the goals through refined management at other levels, so the "simple and crude" method of expanding the management can only be adopted.

And sometimes, this "simple and rude" is not only understandable, but also inevitable. What is important is timely adjustment and standardization.

As for the dog raising policy, the problem of urban dog raising has a long history. Although many contradictions involve various responsibilities, the core problem is still the contradiction between insufficient governance capacity and the increasing number of pet dogs in the process of high-speed urbanization.

In general, the current urban dog raising policy in China is "low threshold entry, low standard management and high standard legislation". In combination with many news about conflicts caused by dog ownership, if the law is strictly enforced according to the existing relevant laws, many uncivilized dog ownership behaviors will at least be greatly reduced, if not eliminated.

However, due to subjective and objective factors, and even the long-term preference of the legal system, most of the problems are that it is impossible to complete the legal procedures strictly and truly. Therefore, some regulations can neither deter uncivilized dog breeding nor encourage the general participation of society.

On the other hand, this perception of "weak law enforcement" directly urges legislators to raise the threshold of legislation, such as expanding the "black list". Of course, this will also make the probability of "breaking the law" higher than before. Legislation and law enforcement do not reflect a virtuous cycle here. Whether because of public opinion or other reasons, the Chinese garden dog, which is between the two options, is probably put on the "black list" in this way.

Comparing the experience of other countries, public data shows that people in some developed countries do not have a large number of dogs, and there are almost no prohibition orders for specific dog species, but the problem of dog disease is not much. The fundamental reason is that they are more strict and intolerant of dogs.

For example, dogs are not allowed in apartments in some countries; Some countries stipulate that if a dog barks more than three times in a residential area, the dog owner will be punished according to relevant laws. This is the famous "three barks" principle.

It is not difficult to find that the expansion of the "black list" is inevitably related to the lack of governance capacity or refinement. When the "black list" starts to "shrink", it can be understood as reflecting the will to modernize and refine governance. At least, the local departments concerned will have higher requirements for fine governance.

From this perspective, the practice of some provinces to gradually "withdraw" Chinese garden dogs from the prohibited list is in fact worth affirming. Of course, we don't need to pay attention to the suggestions made by some netizens that "the Chinese garden dog should be designated as a national dog" and just laugh it off.