Korean Job Discussion Forums

jessicab7878 · Joined: 09 Jun 2009

I am planning to move to Korea to teach in the fall and I had a few questions about where to live. I plan on bringing my medium (50 pound) dog with me. She is not a barker and she currently lives with me in a small apartment. I have read a few things about some people in Korea really disliking dogs, especially ones that are not tiny. I was wondering:

Are there any specific cities that may be more dog friendly than others?

Are there any specific neighborhoods/areas of Seoul that are more dog friendly than others?

Realistically, am I going to be getting hassled a lot because of the 50 pound dog (i.e.: constant dirty looks and comments, neighbors all hating me, etc).

Also, any other advice about this would be great!

Thanks

Cerriowen · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Location: Pocheon

licorice · Joined: 13 Mar 2009 Location: Seoul

I adopted two dogs in Seoul. One is 15lbs and the other is 22lbs.

Most people are really afraid of them even though they are better behaved than most of the small dogs I see here.

You sometimes get someone who seems interested but as soon as your dog pays attention to them, they freak out. Other times people will just feed them whatever food they have. I had one woman try to give my dogs a chocopie! I also had a crazy drunk ajosshi try to get his little dog to fight my dog. I can't ever have them off leash because the one parkette close by has halmonis that complain that the kids have to play in my dogs' mess even though I always pick up after my dogs and if they don't think there's human urine all over that park they're seriously deluding themselves.

Where do I live? On the west side of Seoul out towards Gimpo Airport. I would definitely not recommend living here with a large dog.

Public transportation is really rough. Your dog would definitely have to be in a kennel to go on the subway/bus and even getting a taxi in my area is difficult. I've had numerous taxi drivers zoom past me showing me a hand gesture that they don't take dogs.

I once took one of my dogs to Olympic Park on the east side of Seoul and there were tons of dogs there that weekend of all sizes, but again, no real off-leash area.

So, if you're set on Seoul, I would suggest the east side over the west side or somewhere close to a mountain.

ducati · Joined: 02 Jun 2009

gangwonbound · Joined: 27 Apr 2009

There is a great city for dogs...

If I remember correctly it is called Bo Shin Tang.

teachergirltoo · Joined: 28 Oct 2006

eperdue4ad · Joined: 22 May 2006

Cerriowen · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Location: Pocheon

I'm not trying to say that they have bad manners or good manners as a people... Simply they have no concept of "dog" psychology... and "dog" manners. They just have NO idea what will be offensive or threatening to a dog, on a primal level. (from any culture, andy country)

You don't walk up to a strange dog and immediately tower over it and thump it on the head while shouting "AYEEE!!! YIIIPO~" But since most of them have never encountered a dog that HASN'T been beaten in to submission of any human OR that will snarl and try to attack anyone near it... they don't know how a normal dog will behave. (minor warning btw... they've got some damn vicious/fearful toy-sized dogs here)

If a dog doesn't immediately snarl at them, they assume it will accept any pushing/thumping/poking... or even hitting or kicking... without a fuss. People who even really like dogs, and own dogs, won't think twice about pretending to cuff your dog for failing to obey one of their commans (in korean).

Just be aware that you'll need to step up and protect your dog here in a way that isn't common in the USA... even from people who admire your dogs.

Useful phrase to learn... (no, it's not perfect grammatically, but people will understand what you mean).

Gang-Ah-Gee, Shee-roh-hey-yo, Ha-Gee-Mah-Say-Yo
(the dog doesn't like it, stop please!)

VanIslander · Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 2:59 am Post subject:

Live in a rural town not far from a city.

Or go to Jindo (an island with a bridge to the mainland, could bus it to big city Gwangju on some weekends).

I have seen PLENTY of dogs wandering happily in small towns. I have lived in a town of 50,000 (really is a 'small town' in this country) and thought it ideal for having a dog.

But a 50-lbs dog in a Korean city? Shocked

D-Man · Joined: 17 Jun 2008

My advice is for you to leave your dog at home.Why give your pet stress by lugging it across the world and trying to set it up in a completely new environment.Leave it with friends or family and stop being selfish. Rolling Eyes

ducati · Joined: 02 Jun 2009

jessicab7878 · Joined: 09 Jun 2009

mlh · Joined: 09 Oct 2008

I adopted a jindo mix while I've been living in Korea. He's about 6 years old and weighs probably around 45-50lbs. He's very active and I think living in a larger town would be difficult.

I live in Gangjin which is a smaller town (some people have told me its about 10,000 others have said 40,000 so its somewhere in between) and practically right across the street is a hiking trail that goes up a mountain which has been great for our morning walks and there is a foot path nearby on another mountain that has been great for our afternoon runs.

The big thing is transport. If I were going to be here longer I would probably buy a car because of my dog but I'm leaving in November so there's no point really, but with a dog that large you wont be able to take it on the buses (although you can take him on the ktx as long as he's in his kennel) and be prepared to have some difficulty finding taxi drivers willing to take you if necessary and if they do they'll usually want extra money to clean the dog hair.

You will probably also have a hard time boarding him if you ever want to go on vacation. Even if you do find a vet that will board your pet that might mean basically they just sit in a cage all day everyday while at the kennel (although I do believe there are some nice kennels in Seoul).

A good resource is the website animalrescuekorea.org which has a lot of information for foreign pet owners in korea.

Korea is not the most pet friendly place and the with a larger dog you will encounter problems. I agree with other posters about a lack of caution or 'manners' when it comes to dog handling. My dog was previously abused and is snappish around strangers and I have had several people just walk up and try to pet him without asking. Small children will also sometime try to run towards us to pet my dog and the parents wont stop them but I'll have to, so you will definitely need to be on guard when outside.

Also I think my dogs size scares people. Many people are fearful which is why we only walk the mountain paths because their are less people and less chance of problems. When we first started our morning and afternoon walks I had a lot of people yell at me and try and tell me we weren't allowed on the trails but I just turned up the volume of my mp3 and ignored them. Now that we're regulars and they've learned that my dog will ignore them if they ignore him I almost never have problems and we've even made a couple of friends.

Sorry I know this post is getting long but one other caution. You should be careful of dog theft. If you've had your dog since she was 4 weeks old she's probably really reliable on the recall so maybe walking off leash is ok in certain areas. My dog is not reliable and so I never let him off the lead, but several of my Korean friends have warned me about dog theft and I should never leave him unattended when outside (like leave him hooked to something for a minute to run into a store). Apparently the coloring and size of my dog make him appear particularly tasty and Koreans (so this is not me just making assumptions) have warned that people in my area steal dogs and sell them for their meat.

I hope this is helpful and feel free to pm with any other questions you have about owning a larger dog in Korea. Also animal rescue korea will give you tons of info.

Intrepid · Joined: 13 May 2004 Location: Yongin

Move to Bundang--many wide walking paths, many mountains nearby, but mts that are not part of any national park, and so dogs are welcome. Also quite a few cheap vets. I don't know if it's been mentioned but one nice thing here is that you can just drop in at the vet's any time you have a problem. No appointment, no minimum fee, if the vet thinks the sudden onset of watery eyes, say, are nothing to worry about then there's no charge, etc.

nottina · Joined: 08 Apr 2009

My dog is 45 pounds and we live in Dongducheon.

The flight over was stressful - for both of us. I was changing flights in NYC and was pulled off the airplane because the airline had lost my dog! Five hours later they managed to find her and we were finally on our way to Korea.

Most of my neighbors are terrified of the dog. They cross they street, give me dirty looks, yell at me when she pees. Parks and large open spaces for her to run are few and far between. She doesn't have any doggie friends to play with. Taking her to the vet was almost impossible. Her crate is large and hard to carry on the subway, and we couldn't get taxis. We ended up buying a car, which made things easier. Oh, and she's allergic to yellow dust.

Finding quality dog food has been a challenge. We gave up and buy her food online.

Honestly, I regret bringing her to Korea.