South Koreans turn to dog tarot to understand their pets’ feelings

A greyhound named Khan sniffs at a spread of tarot cards at a fortune-telling shop in the South Korean capital of Seoul, before ​placing a paw on one.

Across the table, his owner, Ahn Hye-joo, waits anxiously ‌to learn the meaning of the card, which depicts a dog chasing its owner.

Hwang Soo-kyung, a tarot reader who runs the Ace Sophia fortune-telling parlour in the city’s upmarket Gangnam district, said the image indicated anxiety ​related to the five puppies fathered by the pedigree animal.

“These feelings Khan experiences are ​something vets or dog trainers don’t know, since it doesn’t manifest as ⁠a major issue to them,” said his owner Ahn, whose eyes lit up as she ​listened.

A growing niche offering among fortune-telling shops, “pet tarot” is driven by a surge in pet ownership ​as fewer South Koreans choose to have children, deterred by costly housing and education.

Government surveys show that this year 29.2% of households in South Korea, the country with the world’s lowest birth rate, own pets, compared with 17.4% in 2010

Hwang, who opened her shop in 2014, said demand for pet tarot has grown as ​owners increasingly view the animals as family, or sometimes a sole domestic companion.

“They come back because once you start asking what your dog is thinking, you can’t really stop.”

She designed a deck of the cards for pets, who sometimes include turtles and reptiles, in response to customers’ queries whether ​she could discern their ​animals’ thoughts.

If a ⁠pet chooses a card featuring swords, for example, that can signal the animal is physically unwell, perhaps suffering from joint pain, Hwang added.

Some owners ​feel the readings provide more than entertainment.

Ryu Su-mi brought in her ​rescue dog, E-seul, ⁠who has been skittish around anyone dressed like a paramedic ever since Ryu collapsed at home and was hospitalised.

Hwang said the dog’s choice of card showed the trauma was still there, but ⁠healing.

“I’d have ​no way of knowing that on my own,” Ryu ​said. “We look each other in the eye every day, but there’s clearly a lot we’re missing.”