Shar Pei Breed History
Just a few years ago it's numbers were so small that the Guinness Book of Records labeled it as the worlds rarest breed. As dog lovers outside China caught sight of the ugly beautiful dog and learned of it's affectionate temperament , they campaigned to save it. Their success has been phenomenal, though the purchase price of good breeding stock is high. ORIGINS The Shar Pei is said to have originated in Southern China and has been traced to the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD220) at a time when ownership was at it's height in China. Archaeologists have found an abundance of dog statues in tombs and they are often called the Shar Pei "tomb dogs". The Shar Pei were originally used to hunt wild boar, protect livestock and guard homes. For centuries, the dog was particularly prized for it's intelligence, however if this trait was not evident, the dog was slaughtered. In 1947 when communism took over China, the government believed that dogs were frivolous items for the privileged and placed a heavy tax on them. Sadly to say that by the 1950's only a few groups of Shar Pei were known to exist. Fanciers in Hong Kong are credited with saving the breed. From 1970 to 1975 a small group of dog lovers in China searched the country looking for any surviving specimens of the breed. During that time two articles appeared in Dogs , an American magazine. Those articles sparked the interest needed to save the breed. Three years later a second article appeared in Dogs , it was a letter from Mr Matgo Law, an avid dog fancier from Hong Kong , asking for help to save the Shar Pei. Mr Law received an over-whelming response to his letter AUSTRALIA In 1979 the first Shar Pei arrived in Australia from the USA however they were not registered with the Australian National Kennel Control because they (ANKC) believed that the dog's should be registered first in the Country from which they originated. There were close to 20 progeny from those first Shar Pei. In October 1982 the Kennel Club of England recognized the Chinese Shar Pei and Barbara Trevare-Domeyer from Sydney started working on the importation of the first registered Shar Pei to Australia. Barbara's first import arrived in 1981, however it was not until July 1983 that her first breeding dog, a black brush coat male arrived. Barbara was able to start her breeding programme in 1985 when she imported a bitch in whelp. From this litter a red male, Winmead Ho Ping performed extremely well in the show ring and can still be found in many extended Australian pedigrees of today. Other pioneers of the bred were Beverley Muscat and Wendy Smith from Victoria who obtained their foundation stock for the House of Huang from Winmead. Ladies, we salute you...... Australian National Kennel Councill Litter Registrations
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