Vicki, one of our vet nurses on site, and also Muppet's “other” mum, joined Suki, Jenny, Lucky, Icy, Hoy and I at a fabulous "Friends or Food" event at a famous bookstore (Wen Xuan) in a shopping precinct in Chengdu.

This was Muppet's second official outing as an ambassador for "meat dogs" in China and despite a few moments of nerves faced with such a large crowd, he braved it out and did stormingly well.

The children had previously been briefed how to approach dogs safely and Vicki and I were inundated with polite requests of "Please may I stroke your dog.". Once they received the nod, they gently held out their little hands to Muppet’s nose for a sniff, before stroking his soft head.

We explained Muppet's past and how he had been found caged on the back of a truck together with about 800 other dogs on their way to a meat market in the south.

The children were sad for his past – and for all the dogs still being killed in the meat industry - and proudly held up placards and cards with the words:

"Caring for animals. I will."

“Support anti-abuse. I will.”
"Anti dog and cat eating. I promise."
"A lifetime love for cats and dogs. I will."

The children also signed a banner which read "Caring for animals starts with me" and shared their own feelings in writing on the banner too.

A little girl named Deng Yuzhuo wrote the words: "We should love dogs first, then dogs will love us more."

And another called Luo Ruixin, who was kindergarten age, drew two hearts on the banner, and told Suki while she couldn't write yet, she still wanted to show people that we should love all animals.

Suki and team organised a wonderful afternoon, and Muppet really did us (and his species) proud. A touching afternoon sharing time with a whole new generation of passionate ambassadors for the animal welfare movement in China.