Dog Breed Guide

Shar Pei

Profile

Size

Medium

Country of origin

China

Origin

Ancient

Bred for

Watchdog, Hunting, Dog fighting

Height

44 - 51cm (17 - 20in)

Weight

18 - 25kg (40 - 55lb)

Life span

8 - 12 years

Deep wrinkles all over the body, a broad, hippo-like muzzle and small triangular ears are its hallmarks. Puppies are especially wrinkly, and as they grow the wrinkles become less noticeable except on the head and neck. The short coat feels rough like sandpaper, and the breed's name means "sand skin" in Chinese. It comes in many colors.

Another hallmark is its blue-black tongue, a feature it shares only with the Chow Chow.

The Shar-Pei is calm and loyal and affectionate with its family, but very wary of strangers and other dogs. It is independent and can be stubborn, so socialization and training from puppyhood are important. Dirt collects easily in its wrinkles, and skin problems and entropion, in which the eyelids roll inward, are concerns.

Good to know

Guinness World Records once listed it as "the rarest dog in the world." In 20th-century China, heavy taxes on dog ownership and outright bans caused the Shar-Pei's numbers to plunge, and by the 1970s only a few dozen were said to remain in the world.

The person who rescued the breed from this crisis was Matgo Law, a breeder in Hong Kong. In 1973 he wrote a letter to an American dog magazine, appealing for help to "save the Shar-Pei." American fanciers responded by seeking out the dogs, and the breed escaped extinction.

Then in 1979 a Shar-Pei puppy appeared on the cover of the American magazine Life, and its wrinkly face set off a huge craze. The number of Shar-Peis in the United States later grew to more than 10,000.