World's Most Expensive Dog - A Tibetan Mastiff

Let me just empty my pockets and see if I can find $1.5M for a red Tibetan Mastiff!! Do they even offer life insurance for dogs?  Does this dog need to travel with bodyguards?  Does he poop gold?

"Big Splash," or "Hong Dong" in Chinese

Tibetan Mastiffs are huge and fierce guard dogs that have stood watch over nomad camps and monasteries on the Tibetan plateau for centuries.

They are thought to be one of the world's oldest breeds, and legend has it that both Genghis Khan and Lord Buddha kept them.

More recently, however, they have become highly-prized status symbols for China's new rich. The dogs are thought to be a pure "Chinese" breed and they are rarely found outside Tibet, giving them an exclusivity that other breeds cannot match.

Accordingly, prices have risen from around 5,000 yuan a puppy five years ago to the hundreds of thousands and even millions.

Big Splash, or "Hong Dong" in Chinese, is 11-months-old but already stands nearly three-feet-high at the shoulder and weighs more than 180lbs, according to his breeder, Lu Liang.

via telegraph.co.uk & huffingtonpost.com