Breed Profile: Shar Pei

The Shar Pei, or wrinkle dog, is a truly unique sight: an imposing body covered in bulging wrinkles. For a long time the old Chinese dog breed was a real rarity on our streets, but nowadays the wrinkly Asian is winning more and more friends in the Western world too. The reason for this is probably not the exotic appearance of the Shar Pei alone, but also its calm nature, which makes it the absolute dream dog for many admirers. But of course the gentle wrinkle dog also has its rough edges, which absolutely must be considered before acquiring one.

A brief breed history of the wrinkle dog

As the name already suggests, the Shar Pei comes from China. It is one of the oldest known dog breeds, which was probably already kept as a working dog around 200 BC. Even then, the wrinkle dog was put to many uses as a hunting, guard or herding dog. Since the breed was kept mainly by the poor rural population, high dog taxes during communism meant that the Shar Pei nearly became extinct – for a long time it was regarded as the rarest dog breed in the world. Today the population is secured through a breeding programme, but breeders still have to proceed extremely carefully to prevent inbreeding.

Appearance of the Shar Pei

The most striking thing about these medium-sized dogs is quite clearly their wrinkling – even if modern breeding is now concerned with curbing excessive wrinkling for health reasons, so that only moderate folds of skin on the head and withers are desired. In puppies there is still a lot of excess skin, but this grows out by adulthood. The build of the Shar Pei is compact, and the tail is carried rolled over the back. The powerful head has something hippopotamus-like about it, but without appearing clumsy.

The coat is usually short; there are three common coat types: the Horse Coat, the Brush Coat and the Bear Coat. The Horse Coat is the most common coat type; the hair is hard, short and rough. The hair of the Brush Coat is somewhat longer and softer, but here too there is no undercoat. The longest coat occurs in the Bear Coat: here the coat is long and fluffy, which gives the dog a Chow-Chow-like appearance.

Character traits of the Shar Pei

The nature of the Shar Pei is convincing in its composure and self-assured aura, which make it a pleasant source of calm. It attaches itself closely to its main person and remains loyally devoted to them for life, but it also shows itself to be loyal towards the rest of the family members: it guards and protects its family and its home with passion, while towards strangers it is rather aloof.

A Shar Pei is not only self-assured and composed but also quite intelligent. As a result, a representative of this breed needs consistent and confident training, as otherwise it may, under certain circumstances, develop into a stubborn creature resistant to training.

The Shar Pei is not everyone’s dog

The character of the Shar Pei matches the ideal picture of many dog owners, and the sight of the crumpled puppy face with its “chubby wrinkles” makes many a heart beat faster. Nevertheless, the Shar Pei is truly not suitable for everyone and should not only be bred by professionals but also kept only after careful consideration.

For the Shar Pei not only demands a confident dog handler but also binds itself loyally to its human for life. If, for whatever reasons, that person is no longer able to look after their dog, getting used to a new home is hard for any dog – but for a Shar Pei the world falls apart. Anyone who takes a wrinkle dog into their family should therefore be as sure as possible of being able to keep this home for the rest of the dog’s life.

And you should also consider the health of the wrinkle dog even before acquiring one: because of the small number of breeding animals, puppies should come from reputable breeders who select the parent animals carefully, otherwise there is a risk of congenital breeding defects. Since, in the case of excessive wrinkling in adulthood, skin inflammations and the like can under certain circumstances also occur in the folds, it is desirable that the dog grows as far as possible into its coat by adulthood, which can be ensured through careful breeding. But then the skin of the Shar Pei is also no more sensitive than that of other dog breeds.

The ears of a Shar Pei also need careful attention: because they are very small and close-fitting, there is increased production of wax. The ears should therefore be checked regularly, so that in case of doubt one can intervene quickly and prevent ear infections through targeted cleaning.

The Shar Pei will probably always remain an exotic sight on our streets. And even if it brings unique positive qualities with it, that is probably also the best thing for this breed. For the demands that the wrinkle dogs place on their owners, their care and their breeding are high and cannot be met by everyone.