It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of diamond spiked collars, it was the age of the Yulin dog meat festival …

Two Beijing canines went viral in the Chinese media yesterday in ways that couldn’t be more of a reflection of the deep divide between rich and poor in our fair megalopolis.

Let’s start with the worst of times. A very bad, bad doggie went on a teeth-baring rampage across a wide swath of Chaoyang District yesterday. Spotted as far north as Chaoyangmen and as far south as Longtanhu Park, the dog is reported to have bitten more than 10 (and in some sensational reports, more than 20) people, all while evading capture and crossing major roadways without being hit.

According to the Beijing Youth Daily (via SCMP), the pup bit dozens of people during that period, while one witness (quoted by 163.com) said more than 20 people were nipped by the the grayish, whitish, medium-sized mongrel. At least 12 of those victims promptly visited a nearby disease control center for rabies vaccinations, according to a post by Weibo user Wang Jilei. A video showing the victims’ wounds can be viewed here, and here is a screenshot from that clip (initially broadcast on BTV):

Reports say the police are searching for the aggressive animal, though there is no word yet on if it has been apprehended.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the proverbial tracks, another canine is also attracting major attention for even more surreal reasons: Instead of nipping at people, this dog has taken a big bite out of the IT world, after his owner photographed him next to not one, but eight iPhone 7’s.

The ostentatious caretaker of this Alaskan Malamute, named Keke, is none other than Wang Sicong, the son of ultra-rich property mogul Wang Jianlin. When Wang’s son posted a photo of Keke cozying up to a stack of the highly coveted smartphones on September 16, social media went as rabid as the far wilder dog that would go on to terrorize Guanghua Road days later.

Some of the netizens captivated by this picture posted cheekily indignent comments like: “Does the dog plan to host a lucky draw?” or, better still: “I can’t even live as well as this dog,” (according to a September 20 article in The Telegraph).

This isn’t the first time that Keke has caused a frenzy on Chinese social media. In May of last year Wang Sicong posted photos of his four-legged friend sporting gold Apple watches on both his front paws. One of those devices was worth a staggering RMB 250,000 at the time, and that level of extravagance compelled plenty of outrage from commenters. However, not all the reactions have been negative – Keke now has more than a million followers on his very own social media blog, and many netizens have taken to fondly calling him “China’s richest dog.”

One can only hope that the ferocious pooch prowling around Guanghua Road hasn’t seen Keke’s latest decadent social media post. Otherwise, he’ll really have a reason to foam at the mouth.

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Photos: The Telegraph, BTV/Sina Weibo, SCMP