New Era, New Journey: China's pet industry becomes $7 bln sector

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It doesn't take an opportunity like the year of the dog to bring our barking friends into the limelight. Dogs have been our best companions for thousands of years. But just recently, we have started to become aware of their real needs. Wang Xiaozhou reports.

As a proud dog owner, have you ever left your four-legged friend alone at home? The answer is usually yes. Many dogs suffer from separation anxiety and depression, but it's not a dead-end loop. Meet Gilad Neumann, founder and CEO of DogTV, who believes that TV shows could turn your pooch into a Zen master.

DOGTV's canine content categories include relaxation, stimulation, exposure and sleep. The exposure videos help dogs get used to such challenging situations as doorbells and vacuum cleaners and make it less stressful when they encounter the real thing.

Here comes Niuniu, who was adopted two years ago. Memories of living on the street still give this girl chills at night. She's sometimes paranoid and barks at strangers. And when she starts barking, it won't stop.

Look at her watching TV, which captured the summer scene of a city park of Beijing, just like the one she's been to many times. She now completely ignores our camera man, at whom she had barked so hard 20 minutes ago.

WANG XIAOZHOU BEIJING "If you think this mild therapy is far from enough for your naughty and stubborn dog? Forty kilometers from downtown Beijing, we found a school where dogs could take a month-long training session and become a good boy."

ZHU LIQIANG, TRAINER MINGSHI DOG "We charge 4,300 yuan for a one-month session, while a two-month training is 6,300 yuan. The training includes behavior modification and obedience training. Now the sessions are almost fully booked."

DOG OWNER "We've seen great changes on him. He used to be a trouble maker when he was little. Now I can totally tell that he understands my orders."

DOG OWNER "She got a chance to be in a TV show. Our family went to Hainan to see her filming. We treat her like a star."

Euromonitor predicts that China's pet sector will enjoy annual growth of about 20 percent for years to come. It also forecasts that the sector will become a 7-billion dollar business by 2022.

Statistics from the College of Veterinary Medicine at China Agricultural University show that when a country's GDP per capita reaches between three and eight thousand US dollars, its pet market will expand rapidly. Thanks to growth in China's middle class, massive urbanization and an increasing number of elderly people, many Chinese are prepared to lavish money on their "fur kids". WXZ, CGTN, BJ.