That’s one pricey pooch!
A high-rolling Chinese businessman shelled out $1.9 million for a Tibetan mastiff in what could be the most expensive case of puppy love ever.
The man, described as a property developer in one of the world’s most booming economies, paid 12 million yuan for the 1-year-old golden-haired mastiff at a “luxury pet” fair Tuesday in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the Qianjiang Evening News reported.
“They have lion’s blood and are top-of-the-range mastiff studs,” the dog’s breeder, Zhang Gengyun, told the paper.
Another of the red-haired canines had sold for 6 million yuan – a relatively paltry $968,209.
Enormous and sometimes ferocious, with round manes lending them a lion-like look, Tibetan mastiffs have become a prized status symbol among China’s newly rich, sending prices skyrocketing.
The golden-haired animal was 31 inches tall, and weighed about 200 pounds, Zhang said.
Neither the buyers nor the dogs were named in the Chinese press.
“Pure Tibetan mastiffs are very rare, just like our nationally treasured pandas, so the prices are so high,” he said.
One red mastiff named “Big Splash” reportedly sold for $1.5 million in 2011, in the most expensive dog sale then recorded.
The buyer at the Zhejiang expo was said to be a 56-year-old property developer from Qingdao who hopes to breed dogs himself, according to the report.
The newspaper quoted the owner of a mastiff breeding Web site as saying that last year one animal sold for $4.3 million at a fair in Beijing.
But an industry insider identified only as “Xu” told the paper that the high prices may be the result of insider agreements among breeders to boost their dogs’ worth.
“A lot of the sky-high priced deals are just breeders hyping each other up, and no money actually changes hands,” Xu said.
Owners say the mastiffs, descendants of dogs used for hunting by nomadic tribes in central Asia and Tibet, are fiercely loyal and protective.