She said she fears that fleas carried by the dog will harm her 2-year-old daughter.

"But considering that we live near each other, I have no choice but to give my neighbor an approval," Zhang said. "Besides, if we don't agree, he can still secretly keep an unregistered dog."

Residents are also confused about what they should do if their neighbors refuse to let them keep a dog they have had for some time.

"Surely it doesn't mean that I have to abandon my dog," said a woman surnamed Wang, who lives in Lixia district.

Legal experts had similar concerns.

"No matter how the rules are modified, they should be modified in such a way that dog keepers can abide by them," said Yi Shenghua, a lawyer at Beijing Yingke Law Firm.

"Besides, a person's hobby of raising dogs should be respected by others, or the rule will only end up being a dead letter."

Yi suggested that residential communities be authorized to grant pet licenses, which would enable community police to intercede in specific cases.

"If a 80-year-old man lives next door, it's not right to raise a big wolfhound," Yi said.

Many cities have amended their dog-raising regulations. For example, Guangzhou and Chengdu and other cities allow households in certain areas to have only one dog. And Shanghai will institute a one-dog policy in May.