Oh, that? No, that's not a man-eating tiger, that's my Pomeranian.

A new craze sweeping China has lots of people either thinking it's pretty cool or else twisting their panties all up in a bunch. 

People are dyeing their pets to look like other animals. For example, a panda bear. Or a tiger. Or a zebra. Or a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Or any other kind of animal that, let's be honest, would be way cooler to have as a pet than a Chow Chow. 

Not that I've got anything against Chow Chows. But a Panda Chow would be even better. You could name him Bamboo.

...Get it? 

Anywho, of course, with anything that provides any sort of happiness in life (dyed dogs, gay marriage, medicinal marijuana...) for every person who can be reasonable and responsible about it, you'll have an equal number of people decrying the cruelty, the declining state of humanity, the gateway to HELL opening up before us!! 

Because, you know, if we let people dye their dogs to look like a panda AND let gay people marry, then next they're going to want to marry their gay panda dogs! While smoking a joint instead of working!!

But what's really important to look at with this new craze in China is the greater context. Not even a whole generation ago, dogs weren't man's best friend – to dye, dress up, wear as an arm accessory or in any other ooey gooey way. They were one of man's best meats. 

And guess what? You can still order dog in China. To eat. 

Now, maybe if they want to dress them up to look like their prized national animal, that's not so bad is it? 

Eating dog is significantly less common than it has been in the past, but it's still done in parts of China (and elsewhere, look it up). For thousands of years, dog meat was seen just as that: meat. And anything dogs did other than being a delicious dish was just being a smelly nuisance. 

So that dogs are being seen as pets at all now, let alone beloved ones to be doted and fussed over, is relatively new and a great step forward for those who love dogs (in the pet form, not the side dish variety). 

Emily Lodish writes for the Global Post, “Now, eating dog is viewed by many as an embarrassing reminder of a poorer time.” Now dogs are starting to be kept in homes, publicly fussed over, brought into stores and restaurants – on a leash, not a plate.

So look at the bigger picture and keep it in perspective, folks. 

Certainly, consideration should be given if the new 'do makes the dog miserable, or if it causes him great distress to be 'done. A reasonable amount of sensitivity should be applied and attention paid to your dog's reactions. Some dogs are super sensitive, some are super happy and don't care if they're Golden, Brown, Black, or Polka-dotted – but do you wanna play ball!???!!

You can get temporary dye to see how the dog reacts, and abort the mission if he hates it. Use some  sense and give some regard to the individual dog, and that will take care of most of the complaints from people who ascertain that this trend is shredding the dog's “dignity” or costing him years of therapy. 

“Kung Fu loves the attention, and his self- confidence has shot up since lots of pretty girls come up to pet him,' owner Queenie Yang told the Associated Press of her panda-dyed dog.

If this trend makes people happy, makes their dogs happier through more positive attention and helps advance dogs to be regarded as companion animals and not just walking pieces of take-away, then it needn't be a unilaterally bad thing.  

And besides, if the dye is safe for animals and applied carefully, there are certainly worse things than for a dog to get lots of attention and told how cute he is.