THEY are often smuggled into China, drugged with sleeping pills and shots of whisky to get them past the border guards. When they hit the market in Beijing, they fetch 10 or more times their price back in Moscow.
In some ways, they are probably lucky to have made the long trip by Trans-Siberian train from Russia. At least the food is better in China.
But they will have to watch their step: police have orders to kill them on sight. It is, as they say, a dog's life.
Like gambling, satellite television and a lot of other things that are fun, having dogs, and cats, has been banned in China for decades. But, like gambling, watching satellite television and many other things which bring pleasure, millions are doing it anyway.
Except for police, the military and researchers, dog ownership is banned. Dog squads periodically crack down. During a raid in a suburb of Shenzhen a year ago, a 42-man squad killed 49 pets in one day.
But according to the Legal Daily newspaper, 100 million dogs and 200 million cats are being raised across China. It estimates one quarter of all Chinese households raise pets.