Shar Pei Puppies
Shar Pei Puppies
  Seeing a Shar Pei puppy is love at first sight, at least is was for me. I remember well my first "pei baby", Kizzymonster. When I first held her she was just a mass of wrinkles with eyes and feet. I laid her across my chest and at that moment I just knew she would be my best friend forever. I was like a proud father at the moment of birth, she was cute, cuddly and had that puppy breath that most people love.
  She amazed me from those first days, she had this uncanny intelligence I had never seen in a puppy so young. Within a day of having her she knew she had to go outside to go potty. It was like it was instinctive with her, there was no training involved. She was so tiny yet for her to have an accident indoors was like something she just would not allow herself to do. She learned things so quickly it constantly amazed me.
  It wasn't long before she let me know that she was the boss, not I. I reflect on this now and realize that all of our Shar Pei train us very well. We like to think we are in charge but in reality a Shar Pei knows how to manipulate humans very easily.
  Shar Pei puppies start developing their own unique personalities at a very young age. Some act like "normal" puppies while others act dignified and somewhat aloof early on. They will readily play with one another but their interaction with humans may be altogether different. Some are sweet and cuddly while others may be a little stand offish. The ones that are sweet and cuddly as babies may grow into that aloof adult who wants attention when he/she wants it or the one who is aloof as a baby may become very dependent on their humans. Regardless of their personalities they all have one thing in common and that is loyalty to their humans. They can all become very territorial and all are very protective in nature. Their protective instincts start at a very early age, we have seen it in puppies as young as 8 weeks. Some may become very wary of strangers and only accept them if their human counterpart does. As with most breeds of dogs they are very good at judging people as to whether they are trustworthy or not. My Grandfather once told me "if a dog or a baby does not like someone there is a darn good reason for it." Over the years I have found this to be very accurate in most cases.
  Shar Pei if not properly socialized can become very aggressive to both humans and animals alike. They can become very ferocious if agitated, we start socialization at a very young age because of this. We have had many compliments on how friendly and well behaved our dogs are. Many veterinarians over the years have told us that they have to muzzle most Shar Pei and what a pleasure it is to see one as friendly and loveable as ours are. Also many of our clientele have stated the very same thing to us having had their veterinarian say the same things. We raise our babies in our home and touch them all over so they are comfortable with an examination. We treat them much like they are little children which in fact if you know the breed that is what they are. They are like having young children in the house, we speak to them as if they are human. We have found as most other people that are owned by Shar Pei that they listen better by talking to them rather than commanding them. Basic obedience training also has its place too, for their own safety it is imperative that they do obey commands. Anyone who has Shar Pei will tell you the same thing though and that is that their intelligence is far above normal dog intelligence. They listen and learn all that is said to them or around them. Their problem solving abilities are simply put amazing. They have the ability to reason things out and you can actually watch them thinking. Their memory is also amazing, if you tell them you will be taking them somewhere as an example day after tomorrow. You better darn well do it because they don't forget and they don't forgive that readily either. They will get mad at you just like a human will, when mad at their humans you will get what pei lovers call the butt. Your Shar Pei when spoken to will basically ignore you turn his backside to you and give you the butt. Ok, at this point I am sure you think my cheese slid off of my cracker. If you don't believe me get a Shar Pei and you will see for yourself, or ask any one who has a Shar Pei in their family. I think you will find they will tell you the same things. You will also find that Shar Pei are addictive, once you've had one you will never be with out one.