On January 18, 2025, according to the “Rule of Law Daily” news, with the increasing importance of pets in people’s lives, the number of pets and the rapid development of the pet economy, pet conflicts and disputes continue to be high, of which the community dog disputes are particularly prominent.
According to the newly released White Paper on China’s pet Industry in 2025 (Consumption Report), the number of pets (dogs and cats) in China will reach 124.11 million in 2024, an increase of 2.1% over 2023. Among them, 52.58 million pet dogs and 71.53 million pet cats, and the urban (dog and cat) consumer market scale exceeded 300 billion yuan in the same year.
However, while the number of pets is increasing, various uncivilized dog keeping behaviors also bring many troubles to community residents. The reporter visited a number of communities in Beijing and found that illegal raising of large dogs, walking dogs without chains, and public defecation of dogs are common. Although many places have formulated local laws or regulations on dog keeping to prohibit or restrict these uncivilized pet keeping behaviors, illegal dog keeping is still common.
In a high-end residential area in Beijing’s Chaoyang district, a resident surnamed Zhao said that disputes caused by dogs in the community have often occurred. There are hundreds of dogs in the community, and some residents illegally raise large dogs. On January 15, the reporter saw in the community that there were residents holding dogs with a visual height of more than 35 cm (Beijing regulations prohibit the breeding of fierce dogs and dogs with adult height of more than 35 cm). Previously, the community had caused a quarrel because of the dog problem, a male resident because of walking a large dog and not in the street where the community to apply for a dog license, the police took the dog to the police station, and criticized its education.
Li Ping (pseudonym), who lives in an old community outside the North Fourth Ring Road in Beijing, is also troubled by the large dogs in the community. One night, a large dog more than half a meter high suddenly jumped in front of her, and when she asked the dog owner to tie the dog chain, the other side choked.
Yan Xianghong, a researcher at the Party School of the Ningbo Municipal Committee of Zhejiang Province, has also encountered large dogs in the community. She was taking her small dog for a walk when a large dog, which was not on a leash, rushed up to her. Her husband kicked the large dog for fear that she would be hurt, and an argument ensued with the owner. After Yan Xianghong alerted the police, the police criticized and educated the dog owner, and the urban management staff ordered the dog owner to arrange the whereabouts of the large dog within a time limit, otherwise it will be confiscated directly.
In addition to the problem of large dogs, the problems of walking dogs in garages, dog defecation not being cleaned and dog chains not being kept on are also causing many conflicts. In Yan Xianghong’s community, some residents walked their dogs in the underground garage, leading to an accident in the spring of 2024 when the dogs ran loose and the vehicle crashed into a concrete column to avoid it, and the owner spent more than 80,000 yuan to repair the car. Ms. Zhao’s neighbor raised a dog on the terrace and allowed the dog to defecate, which smelled bad, and after being reported, the neighbor gave the dog to a friend. Tian Xiaole (pseudonym) in Dongcheng District, Beijing, made her daughter cry because someone in her community was walking her dog on the grass without a leash. Mr. Han of Jizhou District of Tianjin was troubled by the barking of his neighbor’s dog, and the property company said it could only coordinate after complaining.
Some communities due to dog disputes intensified, and even the extreme situation of poisoning dogs. In May 2024, more than 20 dogs in a community in Fengtai District of Beijing were poisoned one after another, and rat poison was detected in the dogs. In July 2024, five pet dogs died of poisoning in a community in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, including Ms. Zhang’s pet dog.
Wang Bing, deputy secretary-general of the Property Law Research Institute of the Beijing Law Society, analyzed that there are objective reasons for dog disputes, such as the increase of uncivilized pet keeping behaviors, and subjective reasons, including dog owners illegally raising fierce dogs, imperfect or ineffective pet management system in the community, and insufficient supervision and punishment.
In order to solve the problem of keeping dogs in the community, relevant people put forward a series of suggestions. Li Ling, professor of Beijing Union University, guided the community to negotiate civilized dog keeping and achieved certain results. He believes that the civilized dog keeping convention should be issued through community co-governance, inviting all stakeholders to participate in consultation, finding out the situation of dog keeping in the community, guiding all parties to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of dog keeping and the harm of uncivilized dog keeping, giving play to the role of various stakeholders, and forming a civilized dog keeping atmosphere in a “loose” and service way.
Yan Xianghong said that the harmony of the community dog can not be separated from the perfect “rules”. City managers should introduce or improve local dog regulations, and communities should refine management through the “Owner Management Convention” and guide dog owners to comply with the rules. Wang Bing suggested that property companies and industry committees can formulate and implement relevant management systems to regulate pet behavior, and enhance residents’ awareness of civilized pet raising through publicity and education and the addition of pet activity areas. Yang Jianshun, a professor at the law school of Renmin University of China, stressed that the local regulations on dog keeping should be strictly implemented, and those who violate the rules should be corrected within a time limit and those who refuse to correct should be punished according to law, and suggested that the national level should formulate special administrative regulations on dog keeping.
The reporter notes that although keeping dogs is a private matter for citizens, it becomes a public issue when it involves public interests. Through the advice of civilized dog owners and the community to provide intimate services, we can create a civilized dog-keeping atmosphere; And for dog owners who violate the rules, the mandatory constraints of dog regulations are also necessary.
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