"Walking the Dog" in China

Last night I went for a run along a riverfront boardwalked that's well traversed by students, pedestrians, kids learning kung-fu, old men practicing calligraphy with water and many dog walkers. There's even a group that meets in one are and show off how they train their dogs. Kind of like a middle school mixer, but for dogs.

But when I was running last night I saw one lady with a dog and I had to do a double take, then a triple take. She had a full grown dog, must've weighed at least 40 lbs, in her arms. She cradled the large dog and walked down the boardwalk with all the other pedestrians. I looked at her, then looked at her again, she looked at me, then I awkwardly looked at her one more time as I ran by.

One can only think that someone told here you're supposed to take the dog for a "walk" every night and she misunderstood what that meant.

Someone walking his dog properly