Interesting Facts About Shar Pei - The Wrinkle Dog

Interesting Wrinkle Dog Facts – A Bit More About Shar Pei

The last weekend I borrowed a book on Shar Pei – the Wrinkle Dog from one of my dog lover pals. She is not a Shar Pei owner, but just for the sake of interest she had purchased the book. I have some documents on Shar Pei too and would like to share some of the most interesting facts about these amazing dog breed with you guys.

Shar Pei is one of the highly intelligent dog breed with independent and dignified character. Quite snobbish by nature these wrinkle dogs are sometimes standoffish with the unknowns. Shar Pei is a good family pet with loyalty and devotion to the family in full swing. Highly alert, courageous and confident, yet calm, the wrinkle dogs have a history as guard dogs and herders.

Here are some really interesting facts about the Shar Pei dog breed. Read on…

• The name "Shar-Pei" actually means "sand coat".
• Shar Pei – the wrinkle dog is amongst the few non-shedding dog breeds. However, they may shade very little and occasionally.
• Shar Pei dogs are probably one of those freed dog breeds in the world that come in wide range of colors. Shar Pei’s color range includes red, fawn, sand, black and even blue and lilac.
• A Shar-Pei can also have what is known as “dilute" pigmentation. That means the nose leather, nails and the anal region have the same color as the coat itself. Fact is all these coloration have been officially accepted provided the coat color has to be a solid color and uniformly blended all over the body.
• This dog breed resembles the Chow Chow – another rare Chinese breed for having bluish black tongue. Lavender tongue is not disqualification in Shar Pei but not desirable. Pink tongue like the other dog breeds and spotted tongue is a disqualification.
• There are three distinctive types of Shar Pei dog breed. While some have lots of wrinkles, others don’t. Horse Coat and Brush Coat are the couple of short coat versions . Bear Coat version has comparatively longer coat. The Horse coat version is rather shorter version of the two short coat varieties.
• Horse coat variety had been the original coat type before the breed was actually introduced to America.
• Interestingly, unlike most dog breeds the Shar Pei has an intense dislike of water, but they have been reported to have tendencies of getting into ponds and lakes according to their own will. First time owners should aware of the fact that they should be well trained and tactically introduced to bath.
• These wrinkle dogs have descended from the Guangdong province of China. Originally the Shar-pei used to be a lot different from what we see in the western countries. These days the Chinese and people from Hong Kong tend to differentiate the wrinkle dogs as western types Shar-pei and original type Shar-pei.
• Researchers have analyzed of DNA of the Shar-pei dogs and have concluded that this breed is amongst the most ancient dog breeds that exist these days.
• Shar-pei dogs are prone to a typically inherited disease called Shar Pei Fever, which is also known as "Swollen Hock Syndrome". Shar Pei Fever makes the dog suffer a 24 hour fever, accompanied with swelling of joints and affects kidneys, leading to renal failure.
• Shar Pei has been officially recognized by CKC, FCI, AKC, UKC, KCGB, ANKC, NKC, NZKC, APRI, ACR.

Learn WHY SHAR PEI DOGS HAVE SO MANY WRINKLES in their body!