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  • Asa Ae asks:

  • Hey!

  • Isn’t it about time you guys talk about having pets in Korea?

  • It does seem like it’s that time.

  • You know what, I think that this is about the perfect time to do so

  • According to my watch,

  • Which is covered in animals, and dogs,

  • Mine is covered in Lego pieces

  • Mine is covered in some kind of octopus.

  • Alright lets get something off our chests before we

  • Start talking about this one.

  • Hey commenters,

  • I know that youre probably going to say this

  • But don’t worry about it,

  • If youre going to bring your dog to Korea,

  • Don’t get this idea that Korean people walk around

  • With forks and knives and just

  • Stab random dogs and eat them

  • That does NOT happen.

  • Did you know that Canadians eat moose?

  • That is disgusting

  • I don’t know if we do eat moose actually.

  • I think there might be a moose meat shop

  • You know how you pluralize moose?

  • Mice?

  • Meese.

  • So weve been here for five years now

  • And in the past five years we have noticed

  • Quite a bit of a change in the attitudes towards

  • Pets in Korea.

  • Yeah, I know that when we first got Spudgy

  • Five years ago,

  • There were really almost no dogs in our neighborhood.

  • Right.

  • When we took him for a walk,

  • A lot of people were really afraid of him.

  • Its like they didn’t see a lot of dogs.

  • But by the time we left Bucheon,

  • Four years later,

  • There were like, impromptu dog parties,

  • At the park near our house.

  • Yeah! We did a video of a day in the life

  • Of us back in Bucheon, and you actually saw us

  • At one of these dog parties in the Bucheon park.

  • With lots of different breeds,

  • And we would meet dogs on like every corner.

  • So I feel like there’s been an increase in

  • Pet ownership in Korea in like the last five years.

  • It is a hip thing to do.

  • You should own a dog.

  • What we have noticed, however,

  • That hasn’t really changed,

  • Is that people still seem to be

  • A little bit afraid of cats.

  • Yeah, maybe the whole cat thing hasn’t really hit,

  • It’s hit Japan alright.

  • But, not Korea.

  • We even had a local coffee shop in Bucheon where

  • People had two cats walking around at Twelveda

  • Hi we miss you!

  • Some people would go in

  • and the girls would like FREAK,

  • Freeze in terror!

  • I mean they would be like,

  • AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

  • And I mean like, it’s a cat in a café.

  • Do you think this cat would like a feral cat

  • That’s gonna like hunt you down in the wilderness?

  • Like if I was in the Savannah I would scream like a girl.

  • I’ll tell you one thing.

  • I know that back when I was in Canada

  • I was like the Ace Ventura of stray cats.

  • I could be like

  • COME TO ME, MY ANIMALS

  • And they would come up and purr and be friendly

  • In Korea I have not met

  • ONE

  • FRIENDLY

  • STRAY CAT

  • WHATSOEVER.

  • The point is that I don’t think people

  • Are as comfortable with pet cats yet.

  • Lets talk about pet stuff.

  • So, if you bring your pet to Korea,

  • What are you going to see pet-wise in Korea?

  • Well, within the past five years

  • Weve also seen an increase of pet stores.

  • Sprouting up everywhere.

  • I mean really, I feel like there’s a pet store

  • On every corner now.

  • Except the thing is

  • These pet stores are really small shops.

  • I haven’t actually seen any

  • Ginormous kind of

  • Wal-Mart-sized petsmart.

  • You know where they have

  • Aisles dedicated to just like

  • Iguana colostomy bags and what not

  • What the?!

  • There’s the iguana colostomy bag section at Petsmart!

  • Look, I’m not making this up.

  • He’s definitely making this up.

  • Now I know that Korea doesn’t have the land for making

  • These-sized Petsmart giant stores,

  • So all these little tiny pet shops

  • I’ve noticed

  • Pretty much sell the exact same thing over and over again.

  • Yeah.

  • So it’s not like you go to all these different pet stores

  • And this one has like, organic

  • And this one has something for you pet

  • I was going to say pet chicken.

  • I don’t know why that came into my mind.

  • Pet hamster.

  • We have a friend whose cat’s name is Chicken.

  • Its true, the name is Chicken.

  • I wouldn’t say they stock the same things

  • I complain because, Spudgy

  • You might think is a small dog,

  • But he’s actually not a small dog in Korea.

  • Right. The pet stores will all have like,

  • Small,

  • Medium”-sized clothing

  • or harnesses or crates,

  • but they don’t fit Spudgy, so.

  • Spudgy’s too big.

  • A lot of the dogs we find here,

  • Most of the time are just small toy dogs.

  • A lot of Yorkies here.

  • Yorkies, Maltese, Pekinese, Shi Tzu.

  • We rarely see giant dogs here.

  • I really want to see a big dog in Korea

  • It’s not really popular. No.

  • Not yet.

  • Weve seen like a German shepherd

  • Here and there

  • But that really horrifies people.

  • There are some bulldogs running around.

  • They have some dire wolves as well.

  • Yeah. That’s right a couple of those.

  • That’s why I think

  • A lot of small, very small-medium kind of clothing

  • And stuff so

  • If you do have a big dog and youre coming to Korea

  • Youre going to have to bring all that stuff with you

  • Including big size bones

  • Hold on. People actually put sweaters on giant dogs?

  • Yes.

  • People have different

  • Pet-sized bowls, pet sized stands, pet sized bones,

  • You can’t get any of that in Korea for a big dog.

  • I haven’t seen any giant bones for dogs.

  • Or crates.

  • So if youre travelling back and forth,

  • And you want a crate for your dog,

  • Youre not going to get that in Korea

  • So youre going to have to specially order it

  • Or bring it with you.

  • One big difference we did notice though

  • Is that the veterinarian costs in Korea

  • Are SO MUCH CHEAPER

  • Than what they are back in Canada

  • Like, HOLY SMOKES

  • I remember that when we were bringing Spudgy to Canada

  • We had to get paperwork for him

  • To say that he’s

  • Able to travel and whatnot,

  • That he’s healthy and rabies free and all that stuff

  • We brought him to the vet, the vet looked him over

  • Signed the paperwork, gave it to us

  • FOR

  • FREE!

  • But when we wanted to come back to Korea with Spudgy

  • We had to take him to the vet again,

  • And the vet

  • Just to LOOK at Spudgy