Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Snoopy, the famous cartoon character, was a beagle. Although Snoopy didn’t look like a beagle in neither shape nor color, a lot of fans were able to recognize what breed Snoopy really was.

  The girl that just entered, who was clearly a Snoopy fan, screamed with excitement.

  A kid like Small Monkey, who had never seen the cartoon nor the animation about Snoopy, would have no idea why this girl was screaming about. He didn’t stop crying, wanting to take the beagle home.

  Zhang Zian recognized the girl as the runner who passed in front of the pet shop in the mornings. She was tall and wore a sports hoodie with tight pants and a professional sports mask covering most of her face. Her hoodie covered her forehead, and since she was wearing sunglasses, it wasn’t possible to see her face.

  She realized her inappropriate reaction, and bowed to apologize to everyone. “I’m sorry! I was so excited to see Snoopy. Forgive me!”


  Even though she screamed, an apology seemed too much. It wasn’t necessary. The girl’s courtesy seemed extensive, even a little upsetting.

  “It’s fine. Are you here to get a pet?” Zhang Zian asked.

  “Ah, yes, I’d like to take a look. I love Snoopy!” She gestured and continued bowing slightly.

  Usually courtesy was welcome, but hers made others feel awkward. Nobody talked this way. Zhang Zian asked tentatively, “Where are you from?”


  The girl took off her sunglasses and mask, and answered, “My name is Masanori Suzuhara, I’m an international student from Japan. I heard Profession Wu Mingzhen’s speech and knew that there was a well-known pet shop in Binhai City. I’ve always wanted to visit it. I studied Chinese, so I applied to be an exchange student at Binhai University. I’m staying in China for one semester.”


  What?

  Zhang Zian, Snowy and the others were surprised. She was a student from Japan. No wonder nobody had seen her before.

  “You speak Mandarin very well,” he complimented, “I couldn’t even tell that you weren’t Chinese.”


  “Yes, excellent Mandarin!” Snowy agreed.

  “Thanks,” Masanori Suzuhara said respectfully.

  “I’m Zhang Zian, the manager of the shop. I saw you jogging in the morning a few days ago. Why did you wait until today to come in?” Zhang Zian asked.

  She laughed. “I wasn’t sure if this was the right place. Plus, I didn’t want to disturb you. I saw other customers in the shop today, which gave me the courage to come in.”


  Zhang Zian thought to himself, You’re jogging too early. Why would there be customers at that hour?

  What was more surprising, was that Masanori Suzuhara heard about Amazing Fate Pet Shop from Wu Mingzhen’s speech.

  Wu Mingzhen was the chief of Changqiao City Association of Pet Exchange Promotion, he visited the shop once. He knew a lot about pets and did extensive studies on ancient books, such as The Classic of Cats Appreciation. Ever since the one visit, he’s talked to Zhang Zian a few times online. They had learned a lot from each other.

  Before leaving, he said that he’d promote Zhang Zian overseas, and even invited Zhang Zian for overseas exhibitions. Zhang Zian didn’t take it seriously, thinking that it was nothing more than courteous behavior. He didn’t expect that foreign customers, like this girl, would be attracted to the store.

  Qian Bowen’s description of his former dog stirred up a heated debate among the followers of the live broadcast. They completely ignored the Japanese girl that came in.

  “A person like him shouldn’t own a dog at all!”


  “A Samoyed would be fine. My Samoyed doesn’t bark, I thought it was mute when I first brought it home.”


  “Beagles love barking. My uncle had a beagle and the barking drove him nuts. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it almost gave him a heart attack!”


  “Actually, I have a solution. You can use a small gadget to stop the dog from barking!”


  “What small gadget?”


  “Do you know about the shock collar? It’s amazing! You put it on your dog, and if it barks, you shock it. You can adjust the intensity of the shock. It can be used as far as a few hundred meters, so you don’t need to use a leash to walk your dog anymore.”


  “Is it really that magical?”


  “I’m not lying. A few dog owners near me use it, and it works!”


  “I’ve tried shock collar. It senses the vibration of the vocal cords, then sends out a shock. It’s not as magical as you described, but it’s useful to some extent.”


  After seeing the online followers’ discussion, Snowy asked curiously, “Mr. Manager, what’s a shock collar? They say it stops dogs from barking. Is that true?”


  “What?”


  Snowy’s words caught Qian Bowen’s attention. He thought a shock collar would be convenient to have. If it really worked, he’d get one even if it was expensive. If the dog barked at night, he wouldn’t need to get out of bed to shut the dog up.

  His former beagle was beaten, yelled at, and even starved when it barked, but no punishment was useful, and only made it bark more. If the shock collar was effective, it’d solve a huge problem.

  “Please don’t! Poor Snoopy!” Masanori Suzuhara threw herself in front of the display cabinet in panic, worrying that Zhang Zian would really put a shock collar on the beagle. She repeated with a sad face, “Poor Snoopy.”


  Zhang Zian noticed her unusual reaction, and the fact that she kept saying “poor Snoopy” instead of “poor dog.” Maybe she used to own a beagle?

  Qian Bowen interrupted Zian’s thoughts, and inquired sincerely, “Manager Zhang, do you sell shock collars? Do they really work?”


  The barking drove him insane, he couldn’t take it any longer. This unconventional solution was his last resort to save him.

  Zhang Zian shook his head, comforted Masanori Suzuhara, and said, “Don’t worry, I don’t sell shock collars, nor will I put one on any of the dogs in my shop. It’s an evil tool, an honorable man like me wouldn’t sink so low.”


  Masanori Suzuhara was relieved. The followers of the broadcast were heartbroken to see this innocent girl being fooled right in front of their eyes. They begged Snowy to expose Zhang Zian as an imposter and pervert.

  Zhang Zian explained to Qian Bowen, “I’ve heard about shock collars. Whether it can stop the dog from barking, to be honest, depends on the dog. The collar might work, but it’s not as magical as people claim. It’s a tool for training and shouldn’t be abused. If you use the collar in place of a leash, to shock it if it runs too far, it’s considered abuse. You must understand that the shocks may backfire and have a different outcome than you expected. It could run away out of fear instead of coming back.”


  Some online followers approved Zhang Zian’s reasoning. “I agree with the manager. I don’t approve of shock collars.”


  Zhang Zian pointed at Zhan Tian and said, “A wise training method would be to follow the examples of police dog trainers. They use both encouragement and punishment. Do you think a police dog is trained with just a shock collar? No. It’s a shortcut taken by lazy trainers.”


  Qian Bowen smiled bitterly. “Manager Zhang, I don’t expect my dog to be a police dog, and I’m not good at training. I’ll be happy if it just stops barking. Can you do something about that?”


  “Didn’t you just ask me, if the beagles in my shop bark less without training?” Zhang Zian replied.

  This was a question that had been puzzling Qian Bowen for a while. Why didn’t his training work? Why did his dog bark more than the ones in the pet shop?

  Snowy and Vivi listened attentively.

  Zhang Zian lifted his chin, silently telling them to observe Small Monkey, who was sitting on the floor and acting like a brat.

  “Dogs are like kids. The more affectionate a dog is, the more attention it wants from its owner. It’d spend all day next to the owner, playing. This is unrealistic as we have to work and can’t be with the dog all day, which disappoints the dog. The dog doesn’t understand why it can’t be with its owner all the time. How can it get more attention? The simplest way is to bark.”


  Qian Bowen, Snowy and Vivi seemed to understand, but not completely.

  Zhang Zian continued, “Most dogs are very smart. After arriving in a new home, they test the owners to establish their behavior. So, if you take a new dog home and it barks, you shouldn’t punish it, nor reward it. Let it bark. Eventually, it’ll grasp the fact that barking doesn’t get attention. It’s just a waste of energy.

  “Isn’t it like kids?” He smiled. “Kids cry and act like brats to get attention and sympathy from adults. This is how they negotiate. If adults yield to them and give them what they want, they realize subconsciously that, by crying, they can get anything they want.”


  Qian Bowen, Snowy, Vivi and the online followers learned a good lesson. Qian Bowen was wrong. As soon as Kiddo barked, he quickly went to feed it, or yell at it. To an affectionate beagle, punishment was better than being ignored. If barking summoned the owner, it’d bark constantly to get more attention, and it was successful.

  Small Monkey heard Zhang Zian, and wiped his tears.

  Zhang Zian pointed at Zhan Tian once again to demonstrate. “I train this retired police dog out every morning. Before you guys entered the shop, it rubbed against my legs, telling me that it wanted to go outside. I told it that since it’s foggy outside, we had to stay inside for now. It laid down quietly, understanding that I wouldn’t change my mind. Barking and acting foolish won’t get it anywhere.”


  He pointed at the puppies in the display cabinet. “When the puppies arrived, they were barking a lot, especially the beagles. They bark as soon as the others do, and louder than the others. I didn’t pay them any attention. They could bark as much as they wanted. Apart from the daily feeding, cleaning and walking, I ignore them even when they bark their lungs out. You don’t need to worry that they’re barking because they’re sick. When they’re sick, they’re sluggish and don’t have enough strength to bark.”


  Qian Bowen looked at his son thoughtfully. Did Zhang Zian teach him how to train just a dog? No. Zhang Zian was teaching him how to educate his child.

  If Zhang Zian was right, this was the case for the Labrador of Shi Shi and Liu Sanlang. They gave it too much attention as soon as it started barking.

  He stood in front of Snowy’s camera, and spoke to the followers of the broadcast, “I’ve heard in the past that cats are like concubines, the more the better. But dogs are like sons, the quality is more important than quantity. Dogs must be trained. Training doesn’t only refer to routine training sessions. Ignoring it is an important training method. If you don’t want your dog to annoy the neighbors, you need to learn to ignore it when it barks, to only play with it and feed it after it quiets down.”


  “Do you understand?” He smiled at Qian Bowen. “If you train it appropriately, you don’t need tools like the shock collar.”


  Qian Bowen grabbed Zhang Zian’s hands and babbled in excitement, “Manager Zhang, thank you so much! I…I used to…no…I just…I regret it so much!”


  He racked his brain to think of ways to train his dog, but everything had backfired. Now that he understood everything, he regained some of the confidence he lost.

  Zhang Zian shook his head. “I can only teach you theory. It’s harder to actually do. You need to coordinate with your family, and tell everybody, including guests, to ignore the beagle when it barks. If anyone responds to the barking, it’ll encourage the dog and it’ll bark even more. I still don’t recommend beagles. It’d be better if you lived alone, but you have a wife and child.”


  Beagles were a special breed. It was too affectionate, and would rather be punished to gain attention than be ignored. Men were usually tough enough to resist, but women and kids were likely to cave to the barking, which would undo all previous training. If a bad habit was formed, it was difficult to change.

  Qian Bowen was hesitant again. He was confident not to repeat his mistakes, but what about his wife and child? He knew how much they spoiled the dog. Even if Kiddo was fed before lunch, they fed it again as soon as it jumped on their legs.

  “I want Kiddo! Dad! Shall we get a Kiddo?” Small Monkey jumped up from the floor, and asked his father.

  “Did you hear your uncle just now? It’s tricky to raise this type of dog. You can’t respond when it barks, and can only feed it and play with it after it stops barking. Can you do that?” Qian Bowen asked.

  “I can, I promise!” Small Monkey answered without hesitation.

  Even Snowy and Vivi could tell that Small Monkey’s answer was hasty. He’d forget about it as soon as the dog was home.

  Qian Bowen knew that his son was temperamental, but he still had hope. Maybe the beagle didn’t bark as much as his previous dog. Was it worth a try?

  The online followers advised him not to take the kid’s promise seriously. He’d regret buying the beagle. Too bad he couldn’t see the screen.

  “It’s a tough breed to train. Maybe you should try another breed.” Snowy suggested.

  Small Monkey saw that things weren’t going his way. He opened his mouth, wiped his eyes and cried, “No! I want Kiddo! If you don’t get it, I’ll leave and buy it with my own money!”


  This trick usually worked. His parents gave him anything as soon as he started to cry and yell. However, this time, nobody stopped him.

  Small Monkey peeked between his fingers, and saw his father asking Zhang Zian questions about dogs. Snowy was introducing cat breeds to Vivi, while Masanori Suzuhara was gazing at the beagle, as if she was thinking of something. Nobody paid attention to him.

  What happened? Why didn’t his trick work? He stopped crying.

  Qian Bowen saw that he stopped crying, then turned around and smiled. “Buy it with your own money. But didn’t you plan to use that money for the Nintendo Switch? You can’t get the console if you buy the dog.”


  Small Monkey was stunned. His father seemed serious.

  The Switch appeared in his head. He’d still need to buy games after the console, and there wouldn’t be much money left.

  Dog or Switch, that was the question.