News about dogs from China is often chilling (dogs as food) or simply weird (painted dogs and the upper-class obsession with Tibetan Mastiff), but here’s a fascinating story about ordinary dog lovers and the strict laws that they must battle. A new documentary called “Oversized Dogs: Chinese Dog Laws and the People Who Break Them” explores how a 1994 law that limits the size of dogs in many cities has led to an underground community of big-dog owners:
Venture to a hidden location late at night and you will find Golden retrievers, Siberian huskies, and English sheepdogs tentatively emerging from the shadows, a parade of illegally oversized dogs and their owners. On rooftops and in parking garages, such clandestine venues offer these dogs a limited opportunity to come out of hiding to play and interact with their similarly sized brethren. Many of China’s neighborhoods have similar informal “secret dog societies”—this film tells their story.
Documentary filmmaker Roozbeh Dadvand has launched a Kickstarter campaign to finish her film. Watch the two trailers here for more background on the stories she wants to tell.
Click here for the full story.
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