Shar-pei puppies are delicious beyond belief. When you take one for a walk down the street, you had better leave yourself plenty of time, because everyone you meet will want to stop to admire, enquire and exclaim!!
But before you get down to the actual breeding, there has to be a lot of thought given to which dog is to be selected for which bitch. We do our very utmost to research the lines of dogs we use for stud, and our bitches are almost all down from the same lines which we know to have been healthy and fit, as well as excellent temperament, our own.
Because of the originally very limited gene pool brought in at first from Hong Kong to the USA and then to UK , there are potential problems that the good breeder makes every effort to avoid. The problems tend to be recessive, that is they may come about when the tendency for a problem is on both the male and female sides of the match. The good breeder tries to make sure that there is good health on both sides, going back as far as can be discovered, though this sometimes unfortunately does not work out.
This is the reason we always insist that anyone who buys a puppy must insure it so that it can get the best veterinary attention if it should ever need it.
Two of Indi's babies. Are they not gorgeous?
Because of this recessive problem, when looking for a stud dog, we have frequently gone to dogs which have been imported into this country from the United States.They are from champion show lines and their parents and ancestors have been checked to make sure that they are still alive if they should be, and are in good health.
In addition to this, it widens the gene pool and puts more distance between the relationships. We also imported a champion dog ourselves.
Puppies.
We are not a commercial kennel and we only breed fairly infrequently. The cost of feeding and maintenance , even basic vets fees such as regular vaccinations, etc. and travelling to shows soon eats away any cash from sales of pups! (Not to mention the cost of importing a dog from USA and quarantine). We are most concerned with trying to breed puppies in order to choose from them dogs to keep that we think will do well in the showring. Obviously we cannot keep them all, and in any case not all pups will come up to the VERY high standards necessary to win in today's showring, where there are some superb animals, so there are sometimes puppies available to good homes.
To keep a sharpei you need a *secure* garden where they can have space to run about, but not disappear down the road, (and where no one can walk away with them.)
We prefer to let pups go to homes where there is someone at home Most of the time. Pups can get bored easily, and though sharpei are *exceptionally clean* and easy to house train, someone must be there to let them out or they become very distressed.
We also advise the use of a crate to ensure the puppy's wellbeing when it has to be left alone. At first they may complain at being put in, but I always give a noggin of cheese at the time and that helps. There is no risk of causing damage or getting hurt while in crate, and if they are let out to do what they have to do as soon as you get home they soon accept it well.
