Is Taichong Pet-Friendly? Let Me Trip You Up With the Facts You Don’t Want to Know

so i was just wandering through taichong last week with my dog, luna, and holy hell it felt like we were adventurers in a low-budget pirate movie. you know, the kind where you’re constantly worried about getting arrested for feeding pigeons snacks. turns out, taichong isn’t some utopia for pets, but there are pockets of sanity. let me spill the tea.

first off, safety. i looked up crime stats while i’m supposed to be blogging about something fun and got bored. turns out, taichong’s not the safety nightmare some other cities are. low crime, especially outside the university zones. but don’t go thinking it’s zero-risk. i’ve seen stares from old neighbors when luna peed on the sidewalk near a noodle stand. classy taiwanese etiquette, right? rent prices? if you’re bringing a dog, you’ll need space. i’m in a 12m² apartment in xinyi, and it’s cheaper than i expected because taiwan’s inflation is… witchcraft. job market for pet owners? if you work freelance photography (shoutout to me), you could theoretically market pet portrait sessions. but it’s a niche. people here don’t trust photos of cats. they want vintage polaroids. weird.

now, the parks. i took luna to the dragon boat stadium park because that’s what google maps said was pet-friendly. it’s not. there’s a sign that says “no dogs” but also a poorly placed trash can that’s 30% dog poop. but there’s this tiny park called pyeongwedang park, hidden near a dusty convenience store. luna loved it. she chased a squirrel that looked like it was plotting her death. vet services? i found one called ‘paws and scratches’ in dongguan. their price list is all over the place. vaccines cost 2000nt, but dental checkups? 15,000nt. i’m not mad. i’m just confused. over here, we’d be like ‘doggy savings account.’

here’s the weather thing. it’s not raining or sunny. it’s like someone poured lukewarm chamomile tea on the city. neighbors? there’s this apartment complex where every other house has a dog fence with a ‘no trespassing’ sign. i asked my neighbor why. she said, ‘if you hear barking at night, it’s either luna or the ghost of a taiwanese agriculturist who lost a bet.’ i don’t know what to make of that.

let me share some drunk advice. a guy at a night market said the veggie farm near the train station is a pet paradise because the owner feeds stray dogs. i went. turns out it’s a scam. the ‘dog treats’ were expired potato chips. but i did meet a local who runs a cat café. she let me take photos of her 300lb cat. it was terrifying. external links? check out this tripadvisor review for pyeongwedang park-someone posted a rabid hedgehog story. yelp has a place called ‘taichong pet clinic’ that’s allegedly in a converted karaoke bar. and the taiwan subreddit has a thread about a 24/7 dog daycare that requires a human to wear a bird costume. yeah, don’t trust the dog daycare.

here’s the map. [iframe here]. and here are photos: [unsplash images]. if you’re a photography freak like me, maybe snap luna in front of the national taiwan university. the architecture is dramatic enough to make her look like a villain. traffic is wild too. driving with luna? forget about it. the jctn 106 highway is a maze. i almost rear-ended a taxi because a stray dog darted into the street. it was livestreamed on my gopro. crime, really.

i hear rumors about a vet here that charges extra for foreign dogs. i’m not making this up. a woman on yelp said her dalmatian got extra fees because ‘foreign diseases are a liability.’ i almost believed it until i saw the vet’s facebook group. it’s 90% people posting pictures of themselves kissing hypoallergenic dogs. classic.

i had a conversation with a barista who said, ‘taichong’s pet-friendly? only if you bribe the renter with taro milk tea.’ sounds like my experience. maybe next week i’ll find a place with a ‘no pets’ sign that’s actually a sign of a secret underground dog park. cross my fingers.

so, taichong? yeah, it’s pet-friendly if you scrub technological habits and let chaos paint your town. luna lives in a world where vet bills are existential and squirrels are assassins. document everything.

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