Fooey on Foo Dogs

The entrance to a Chinese dwelling is a special place. As the gateway to the outside, an entrance must serve two functions - to attract and retain good fortune, and to keep out bad fortune.

To attract good fortune, an entrance should be clean and free of trash and clutter. To scare away bad fortune, a foo dog should be posted on both sides of an entrance. A foo dog is a dog/lion hybrid made of stone or metal, that bad fortune cannot tell is fake, like those plastic owls found in pigeon infested areas. Luckily for humans, bad fortune is not as smart as a pigeon.

Like bouncers in front of a nightclub, foo dogs let in the good, beautiful, and profitable, but intimidate the bad, ugly, and destitute. Each foo dog has a job - the male protects the house and the female protects the family.

Seeing two fierce foo dogs at the door, visitors and guests to the dwelling know that they will be entering a space filled with good fortune and comfort. Maybe they'll make a profit to boot. Any evil spirits tagging along will be left behind.

Visitors to the Chinese Garden in Portland are greeted by two large metal trash cans, squatting where the foo dogs should be. Ignorant of the evil spirits rooting around in the alluring trash cans, visitors blithely step through the garden's entrance, bad fortune drafting in their wake. Just so the evil spirits don't starve, there are two more trash cans by the back door.