How do you know where the local Chinese restaurant is? You look for the area without any stray cats or dogs.
Do you really believe in the intention behind these jokes?
To be honest, why wouldn't I?
Its wrong to propagate a negative stereotype about a group of people, even as a joke. Many of them don't look upon such actions as favorable and condemn those who do such things. They shouldn't be blamed for the actions of others.
Never mind. Maybe this wasn't as funny as I thought it was.
It's good that you aren't going to continue telling such negative stereotypical jokes. Running around pretending that sort of thing is funny can do a lot to harm the Asian community!