Tibetan
Mastiff Sells for $582,000!
A black Tibetan Mastiff , 80cm (31in) high and answering to the name
of Yangtze River Number Two, is believed to have broken the world
record as the most expensive dog after a Chinese woman paid (£352,000)
or $582,000 for the “priceless” canine.
In
keeping with its record-shattering
status, according to local
reports the 18-month-old dog arrived at its new owner’s home in
stupendously excessive style. A motorcade of 30 luxury cars cruised
to the airport in Xi’an to take delivery of Yangtze. Enchanted
onlookers gathered to fête the arrival of the city’s new resident.
If the figure of 4 million Yuan is accurate, it makes Yangtze River
Number Two possibly the most expensive pet dog in history. Earlier
this year, a family in Florida paid $155,000 (£93,000) for a
Labrador called Lancelot Encore. That price included the cost of
cloning the original Lancelot.
The young millionaire, according to one report on a Chinese website,
fell in love with the dog while on a breeding trip to Qinghai
province. The woman, referred to only as Mrs. Wang, had been
travelling to the town of Yushu with a Tibetan Mastiff that she
already owned with a view to mating it with the famously
pure-blooded hounds of that region.
While there though she spotted a dog known as White Root and knew
immediately that she had to make it hers. Another version of the
story suggests that the woman had spent some years in the quest for
the perfect Tibetan Mastiff and was satisfied that the dog she found
in Yushu was it.
“Gold has a price, but this Tibetan Mastiff doesn’t,” the young
woman reportedly said on her return home.
It remains unclear why she renamed the dog Yangtze River Number Two,
though the process appears to have taken place while Mrs. Wang and
her dogs were returning from the breeders.
Before she left the northwestern province of Qinghai, Mrs. Wang is
understood to have alerted her wealthy friends to both the sum she
had just paid for the dog and the timing of her arrival. Her
friends, in an opulent show of solidarity, not only dispatched their
cars to the airport but arranged for local Xi’an dog lovers to
brandish welcome banners in honour of the new dog.
Courtesy of Times Online, the U.K. Click for additional coverage and
related stories.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6828862.ece
http://www.thedogpress.com/SideEffects/09092-Tibetan-Mastiff-Most-Expensive-Dog_TimesUK.asp
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