Lion-like mastiffs were traditionally trained as sheep dogs by herders. [Photo by Xu Zhuoheng/China Daily]

But the main reason for their abandonment was the excessive breeding of Tibetan mastiffs between 2003 and 2013 when a pedigree mastiff could be sold for between 50,000 yuan ($7,272) and 1.5 million yuan in China's coal-rich Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, as well as in the Jiangsu, Shandong and Henan provinces.

Similar to luxury cars, villas and overseas assets, a Tibetan mastiff was once seen a status symbol for China's nouveau riche. And the market for Tibetan mastiffs reached its height in 2012, when a dog was reportedly sold for 20 million yuan in Qingdao, Shandong province.

But China's growing wealth has not only found its way solely into the mastiff market.

In recent years people also started to raise giant spiders, lacertilians, chinchillas, ponies and even snakes in urban areas.

However, as China's economy slowed down, the newly rich reduced consumption and demand for the dogs began to fall.

But due to the previously skyrocketing prices for Tibetan mastiffs in previous years, many herdsmen started to raise Tibetan mastiffs in an intensive management model in both Qinghai and Tibet.

As they were not professional breeders or dog lovers, many of them did not know enough about such dogs, including how to tell a real one from the mixed-blood one.

Then, as the result of falling demand and poor quality dogs, there was a glut of mastiffs, which led to large-scale abandonment.