Chungmuro Pet Street & Buying a Puppy

Hi, lovelies! I love pets (let's be real, who doesn't?) and I always wanted to go to Chungmuro Pet Street here in Seoul ever since I first heard about it last year. In Sweden, there aren't really any kind of pet shops where they sell kittens and puppies like the stores here in Seoul do. The Pet Shops in Sweden usually only have small rodents, birds and reptiles. If you want to get a puppy in Sweden you have to go directly to a breeder or kennel. So, I was really excited about going to Chungmuro Pet Street since it's something that is completely new to me. I didn't want to go to Chungmuro alone so my friend promised me that we'll go there together, but since both of us were busy we never had the chance to go, that is, until last week.

I originally only wanted to go there to look at cute puppies and to make a blog post about it, but I've been living in Seoul for 8 months now and I have all intention to stay here. Ever since I came to Seoul I wanted to get a puppy, and since I'm finally settling down in a bigger apartment that allows pets, I thought that It's finally time to get one.

First of all, to get to Chungmuro Pet Street, you take the Subway Line 3 or 4 to Chungmuro Station. If you go out from Exit 8, you just go straight and all of the pet shops will be on your left side. You can also go out from Exit 1 (which is on the opposite side of the street from Exit 8), but as far as I know there is only 1 pet shop on that side.


This is what 1 side of the street looks like (Along Exit 8). I didn't take any pictures that show the full inside of the shops, but if you just look a little bit closer inside the windows you can get a general idea of what it looks like. Most of the pet shops here look pretty much the same, tho some are smaller whilst some are a lot bigger.

When we got there, we just went straight inside the first pet store. We told the owner what breeds I was interested in, and then they showed us the ones they got. If you're interested in a puppy, every pet store usually has a separate table where they put the puppy (or kitten) in an open 'box' so you can sit (or stand) and interact with the puppy after sanitizing your hands (You should always ask the owner if it's OK to pet/hold the puppy) while the shop owner gives you general information about the puppy, its traits and how to care for it. We went to one store after another and repeated the same process several times.

It's definitely easy to tell which breeds are the most popular. I can, with confidence, say that Pomeranian definitely is the most popular breed. Every single store had at least 2-3 Pomeranians and some stores had up to 4-5, each one in a different color. Some other popular breeds I saw a lot were Maltese, Japanese Spitz, Poodle, Corgi, Chihuahua, different types of Terriers, etc. Mostly small breeds, but I also saw some Golden Retriever and Husky puppies.

    

I was 100% sure that I wanted either a Pomeranian or a Pug. The pups that really caught my eye was this black Pug (top) and the grey shaded Pomeranian (bottom). It was actually difficult to find pugs. Out of all the stores we went to we only found 3 pugs and only 1 of them was black (If I would get a pug I really wanted a black one). The pug was also much more expensive compared to most of the Pomeranian which I totally understand since they apparently aren't very common.

Just look at that little sleepyhead. How can I not love him?

This is the only pet shop we could find on the other side of the street and the last one we visited. It loos big from the outside but it was not. I actually saw a puppy I liked in there and we asked some questions, but the staff was super rude and we weren't even allowed to take pictures, so we just left.

After we checked out all of the stores we could find and met many different puppies, we went to a close-by cafe so I could make up my mind. I fell really hard for the grey-shaded pomeranian and the black pug. I had a really hard time to decide between the two since both of them were absolutely lovely.


Well, If you follow my Instagram you would already know that I decided to adopt this lovely grey-shaded Pomeranian. I don't know why, but I just had the feeling that he was the right one for me. I've only had him for a few days and love him to bits. I just know that I made the right choice. I'm currently working on a post about the first days of Puppyhood, so stay tuned for that!

As a last note, I want to mention that I did do some research before I bought a puppy at a pet store and I found out that a lot of people actually are against these kinds of pet shops. Instead, they encourage people to adopt pets from shelters. I was considering to adopt a pet from a shelter at first, but for several reasons I ended up getting my pup at a pet shop. I don't know how the pet industry works here, but from what I could see, all of the stores were very clean, the hygiene was strict, and the staff cared well for the pets there. Every single pet I saw was healthy and playful.

What is your opinion about this? Would you prefer to get your pet at a pet shop or a shelter? Why? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading and bye for now, lovelies~