Chinese Shar-Pei
The wrinkles and the harsh prickly coat were both defences in a fight, giving nothing to get hold of. The tongue is blue black, which few breeds share.
Photo by Beverly & Pack, CC BY 2.0
Overview
The Shar-Pei's wrinkles and its harsh prickly coat, which is what the name means, were functional in its original role: loose skin let the dog turn inside its own hide when grabbed, and the bristly coat was unpleasant to bite. It was a Chinese farm and fighting dog.
It nearly went extinct under the Chinese communist government and was rebuilt in the 1970s from a small number of dogs sent to Hong Kong and the United States, which left the modern breed with a narrow gene pool.
Temperament
Aloof, calm and strongly territorial. Shar-Pei are devoted to their own families and genuinely indifferent to strangers, and they are quiet and clean in the house.
They can be dog aggressive, which the fighting history explains, and they are stubborn. They are also poor at reading other dogs' body language, because the wrinkles and the small ears obscure their own signals, which contributes to conflicts.
Care and grooming
The wrinkles need cleaning and drying several times a week or they develop skin fold dermatitis, which is the most common problem in the breed.
Familial Shar-Pei fever, an inherited inflammatory condition causing recurrent fever and swollen hocks that can lead to fatal amyloidosis, is the serious one and is directly linked to the gene that produces the wrinkles. Entropion, where the eyelid rolls inward, is common and often needs surgery in puppies.
Living and exercise
Forty five minutes a day of moderate exercise, in cool weather, because the thick skin and short muzzle make heat difficult.
Eight to twelve years is the expectation. Buying from a breeder who is selecting for fewer wrinkles and a longer muzzle is buying a healthier dog, and there are such breeders.
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