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Shar Pei is a breed of dog whose distinctive feature is deep wrinkles. The name itself translates to "Sand Skin," not because of their colors, but because of their texture. As young puppies, they have lots of wrinkles, but as they mature, the wrinkles disappear as they "grow into their skin". They were not recognized by the American Kennel Club until 1991.
Appearance: Coming in many colors, it has the same
characteristic blue-black tongue of the Chow Chow. The loose
skin and wrinkles covering the head, neck and body are
superabundant in puppies, but adult Shar Pei grow into their
skin and these features should be limited to the head, neck
and withers.
Improper breeding that is detrimental to the health of the
Shar Pei, produce adult dogs with wrinkles covering all of its
body. Small ears, a hippo muzzle shape and a high set tail
also give the Shar Pei a unique look.
Health: A common problem caused by irresponsible
breeding is an hereditary and painful eye condition,
entropion, which turns the eyelashes inward, thus irritating
the eye. Untreated, it can cause blindness. This condition can
be fixed by surgery ("tacking" the eyelids up so
they won't roll onto the eyeball for puppies or surgicaly
removing extra skin in adolescent and older Shar Peis).
Allergy-induced skin infections can be a problem in this breed
caused by poorly selected breeding stock.
One of the serious problems that a Shar Pei can have is
Shar Pei fever. The disease causes short fevers lasting up to
24 hours, after which there may be no recurrence;
alternatively they may recur at more frequent intervals,
becoming more serious. There is also a possibly related
disease called amyloidosis, caused by unprocessed amyloid
protiens depositing in the organs and most often in the
kidneys or liver leading to renal failure. Susceptability to
this disease is recessive, and surfaces when both of a dog's
parents carry it. At this time there is no test for either of
these diseases and they seem to be prevalent.
History: The Shar Pei breed comes from the Guangzhou
province of China where it was well-known as a fighting and
guard dog. It is suspected that due to the laid-back nature of
the Shar Pei, the dogs had to be drugged to induce them to
fight. Originally, the intense loyalty of the Shar Pei defined
its work -- guarding the Chinese royal family. The dogs are
ideally suited for defense; the small ears and deep-set eyes
are tough to grab and if grabbed on the skin, the wrinkles
enable the dog to turn around and bite back.
Once Mao took over, he killed everything that had to do
with the royal family, including the Shar Pei. At one point
they were close to extinction, and were listed in the Guinness
Book of World Records as "The rarest dog in the
world". Since then, however, the Shar Pei has begun to
thrive in many parts of the world as an excellent family dog,
due to their loving and devoted nature, which shows that they
were originally a utility and companion breed rather than a
fighting breed. Recent DNA analysis has concluded that the
Shar Pei is one of the most ancient dog breeds.
Famous Shar-Pei:
Lao-Tzu, Martin Prince's dog in The Simpsons, who only
appeared in one episode; "Bart's Dog gets an F".
Fu Dog from the Disney cartoon, American Dragon: Jake
Long, might be a Shar Pei.
Satchel, from the syndicated comic strip Get Fuzzy, is
half yellow lab and half "wrinkle dog"
(Shar-Pei.)
Malcolm and Derek, from the TV version of Creature
Comforts.
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