What Is a Standard of Chinese Shan-Pei?
In order to understand a breed standard, one must first have an elementary knowledge of dogs. One should know a croup from the withers and a stifle from a hock, and also be able to understand the utilitarian purpose for which a breed was “designed.” Efficiency usually sets the standard for any breed. Those animals who performed best for a given task were bred to others with similar qualities. Characteristics required to complete the master’s tasks were deliberately bred into the dog.
The standard of excellence of any breed is the only guide by which we preserve a breed. It is a word picture that describes an ideal whole. Unfortunately, the minor details are sometimes emphasized at the expense of what should be more fundamental, such as soundness, balance and total conformation. The ideal for any dog must encompass features of type and soundness.
This is certainly true with Shar-Pei. How many times have you heard, “I just love those Shar-Pei puppies, but when they grow up they lose their wrinkles! Wouldn’t it be nice if you could keep them puppies forever?” To achieve this, and because there is a market for these dogs, some breeders breed the most wrinkled dog to another very wrinkled dog, thereby trying to increase wrinkling in adult dogs. Some may breed the smallest dogs together in attempts to breed a so-called “mini-Pei.” Some of these breeders have discovered that the smallest is not as large as his litter mates because of some health problem (such as absorption). The end result may be a smaller or more wrinkled Shar-Pei, but not necessarily a sound or healthy Shar-Pei. If the dog cannot properly digest food, he will naturally be smaller. Is this what we really want? While it is true that many breeds have been “miniaturized,” it takes knowledgeable breeders with years of experience to accomplish such a task successfully.