Drug detection dog "Jufeng" or "Hurricane" is at work in southwest China's Yunnan Province, June 24, 2021. One-year-old Jufeng officially started work in April. Jufeng assisted the border police of Xishuangbanna in Yunnan in case, seizing opium weighing 56.35 kg.Photo:China News Service

 The premiere of a six-episode documentary that tells touching stories about the separation between pets and their owners was held in Beijing on Monday, winning applause and tears from the audience.

The documentary titiled Libukaini (lit: I cannot leave you) will be released on Chinese streaming platform iQIYI on Thursday.

Each episode focuses on its own particular theme, including aging, guide dogs and willingness, with the aim to paint a realistic and objective picture from a third-person perspective for audiences. 

Some pets that the public may not be familiar with also appear in the documentary such as police dogs, guide dogs and birds in a bid to get viewers to pay more attention to the "voices" of the pets by showing how they live and grow.

Promotional materials Photo: Courtesy of iQIYI

 Many scenes and stories in the documentary moved audiences at the premiere. The owner of a seriously ill pet struggles to say goodbye after he chooses to put it to sleep. The guide dog and its owner have to face the separation after completing the final mission.

Show director Du Xing said at the premiere that he hopes to depict the trust and dependence between people and pets, various emotions and values related to people such as love, family, friendship, loneliness and freedom as well as death, and discuss how we can live in this world better.

Some audiences shared their feelings after watching the documentary, saying that the work made them miss their pets at home or those that already passed on.

One audience said she was devoted to pet rescue. She repeatedly stressed that people shouldn't judge an animal's worth by its breed and called for people to do their part to rescue a pet through adoption rather than buying one.