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 you’re probably going to say this

But don’t worry about it,

If you’re 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 we’ve 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

We’ve 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 pets’ mart.

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 Pet ‘smart!

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 Pet ‘smart 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.

We’ve 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 you’re coming to Korea

You’re 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 you’re travelling back and forth,

And you want a crate for your dog,

You’re not going to get that in Korea

So you’re 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

Cost 70 bucks!

Because they’re like, it’s your first time visiting our place,

SooooOoooooOoooOo

Let me look at your dog for 70 dollars

And let me give you those papers

That you got for free back in Korea

For another 70 dollars.

So it cost 140 bucks for something that is free here.

And what really confused me about it

Was that they

I thought they would do blood work or something

She looks at him, she touches him,

She’s like,

“You’re good, you’re so good”

Let me give you this

GOLDEN SIGNATURE

Ok so if you’re visiting a vet for the first time in Korea

They don’t have like that

Basic visiting fee,

They’ll charge you for whatever they do,

Blood work, and medicine, and stuff

But its not going to be like a base fee.

But it’s so cheap.

So Spudgy has had a couple of surgeries.

He dislocated his knee once

And they had to give him a surgery which

They shaved into his knee bone to give him a new groove

Because he had like rubbed off the groove

And it was a very extensive surgery

And here it cost like a few hundred bucks

Where when we told people that before

They said that their vet

When they got their dog to get the exact same surgery

Cost a few thousand.

Yeah. I mean I’ve heard stories about my friends spending

Thousands and thousands of dollars

On their cat or dog

Staying overnight at the vet

And about the medicine, and

For us?

Its like, Spudgy is on a lot of medicine,

And we spend around, 500 bucks a month?

500 bucks a month we spend on Spudgy’s medicine

but we know that if this was back in Canada

we would be like “Spudgy I’m sorry but

we can’t afford you anymore, be free!

Got out into the wild! Spudgy be free!

Father a new pack of wild Spudgies!”

I wanna see a bunch of babies with blue stripes but

We can’t afford you anymore.

Yeah, were just joking.

So don’t be worried about vets in Korea.

They’re always going to have a basic level of English

Up to like Super Awesome They Lived Overseas English

And you’ll be able to communicate with them

We’ve never actually had any communication issues with our vets,

They have always been very clear and concise

So we understand

What they are going to be doing to Spudgy.

Yeah.

So the thing we’ve noticed that aren’t really changing yet about pets in Korea

Is that

In North America pets are kind of like this

Acknowledged extension of your family, you know

Your uglier, hairier child.

One time we were heading home with Spudgy

And he was in his little travel crate

And we got into the taxi

And the taxi driver wanted to put Spudgy

IN THE TRUNK!

Oh yeah, just put your dog in the trunk.

And we’re like, no, were not going to put our dog in the trunk.

No. Would you put your child in the trunk?

That would just,

Nnnnneeeeeeevvvvvveeeerrrr

Happen in North America.

So things like, doggy day care,

And like personal trainer,

That kind of thing isn’t quite happening in Korea yet.

Not yet.

I think that they’re working their way

Towards it

But I think that at the moment

Its still not super pet friendly yet.

Yeah. I’ve definitely seen more demands now

For like, doggy day care.

And they like do have dog trainers

But it’s mostly for the like really bad dogs.