Shar-Pei

The history of the Shar-Pei dogs is very unclear. Many of the pottery dating back to as early as the 206 BC are said to have carvings of these dogs. Some dog experts believe that they are the descendants of the Chow Chow. However, this cannot be proved as the two dogs do not have many similarities other than the fact that both of the dogs have purple colored tongues. Their name “shar pei” means a dog with a very sandy coat. The dogs of this breed were used for lot of purposes; some of these purposes are working as farm dogs, for the purpose of hunting, for the purpose of tracking. These dogs were also used as ratters, as herding dogs, as protectors of stock and along with all this; they were also used as guarding the families and houses.

The dogs are very hard working dogs and will gladly work for the whole day without a break as such. These dogs were also sometimes used in the dog fights. This dog had an advantage over the other dogs in the fights, and that is its coat. The dogs of this breed have a very wrinkled up and also a very prickly coat, this made it very hard for the other dogs to grab them. The Chinese people had a very popular belief that the heavily wrinkled and the black pigmented image of the dog would scare off all kinds of evil spirits and all its forms. However, during the communist revolution, the numbers of this breed decreased.

It was due to a business man from Hong Kong named Matgo Law, who acquired a few of these dogs in an attempt to save these dogs from extinction, that the attention of the American people fell on these dogs and thus their numbers soon started to increase. These are a bunch of rather large dogs. They are also very heavily wrinkled. They have a rather square profile. Their heads are broad and also quite flat in nature. They have a very wide muzzle. This wide muzzle is heavily padded and also it a full muzzle and it comes to a moderate stop. The tongues of these dogs are blue black in color. The teeth of the dogs tend to meet to form a scissor bite.

They have a pair of almond shaped eyes. These almond shaped eyes are also having the presence of a very heavily pigmented under lying rims. These dogs have a pair of high set ears, that is, their ears are set quite high on their heads. The tail is quite thick and string at the base but tapers to a point towards the tip. This tapering tail is carried very high, even over the top line of the back of the body of the dog. As these dogs grow older, they lose their wrinkles. They can have three different types of coats. They may come with a horse coat, a brush coat and a rare bear coat.