Shar-Pei Standards .....

 

General Appearance:  Alert, active compact, short coupled,squarely built. dogs larger and more powerful than bitches.

Characteristics:  Loose skin, frowning expression, harsh bristly coat.

Temperament:  Calm, independant, very affectionate and devoted to people.

Head and Skull:  Rather large in proportion to the body, skull flat, broad, moderate stop. Length from nose to stop approximately equal to the length from the stop to the ociput. Fine wrinkles on forehead and cheeks, continuing to form dewlaps.Muzzle distinctive feature of this breed. Broad and full with no suggestion of tappering. Thelips and top of muzzle padded, causing a slight bulge at the base of the nose.When viewed from the front the bottom jaw appears wider than the top due to padding of the lips. Nose wide, large and preferably black, but any colour conforming to the coat colour permissable.

Eyes: Dark, Medium size almond shaped with frowning expression, amber and lighter coloured eyes permissible in dogs of paler coats. Function of the eyeball or lid is no way disturbed by surrounding skin, folds or hair. Any sign of irritation of the eyball, conjunctiva or eyelids, highly undesirable. Free from entropian.

Ears:  Very small, rather thick, equalaterally triangular in shape, slightly rounded at the tip, set high on the skull, with the tips pointing towards the eyes,set well forward over the eyes, wide apart and close to the skull. Pricked ears highly undesirable.

Mouth: Tongue, roof of mouth, gums and flews, solid bluish black preferred. Solid pink tongue is undesirable. Dogs with self coloured pigment and amber coloured to light brown eyes would be expected to have a LAVENDAR tongue.Teeth strong, with a perfect scissor bite, i.e. the upper jaw teeth closely overlapping the lower teeth and set square in the jaws. Padding of the lower lip should not be so excessive so as to interfers with the bite.

Neck: Medium in length, strong, full, set well on the shoulders, with loose skin under the neck.

Forequarters:  Shoulders muscular, well laid and sloping. Elbows close to the body, Forelegs straight, moderate length. Good bone, Pasterns slightly sloping, strong and flexible.

Body:  Height at withers approximately equal to the length from the point of shoulders, to the point of buttock. Depth of brisket approximately half of height at withers. Chest broad and deep, underline rising slightly under loin. Back short, strog. Topline dips slightly behind withers and then rises over short broad loins. Adult dogs should display moderate wrinkling over shoulders and base of tail. Excessive skin on body when mature highly undesirable.

Hindquarters:  Muscular, strong, moderately angulated. Hocks well let down without excessive wrinkling or thickening.

Feet:  Moderste size, compact toes, well knuckled, fore and hind dew claws may be removed.

Tail:  Rounded narrowing to a point, base set very high may be carried high and curved, carried in a tight curl, or curled over back. Lack of or incomplete tail highly undesirable.

Gait/Movement:   Free , vigorous, well balanced, rear single tracking is normal at a fast trot. Stilted gait undesirable.

Coat:  Extremly harsh coat, straight off standing on the body, but flatter on the limbs. No undercoat. Length varies from short and bristly under 1.25cm (1/2 inch) or longer and thicker between 1.25cm(1/2 inch) and 2.5cm (1 inch), but still off standing and harsh to touch. N.B. NO PARTICULAR COAT LENGTH WITHIN THE ACCEPTED LENGTH SHOULD BE PREFERRED OVER THE OTHER. Never trimmed.

Colour:  All solid colours except white are acceptable. Frequently shaded on tail and back od thighs with lighter colour.

Size: Height 46 to 52cm (18 to 20 inches) at withers.

Faults:  Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault  should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.

Note:  Males should have two apparently normal testicles decended into the scrotum.