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| This is what the Shar Pei used to look like. Image source. |
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| This is what a heavily inbred dog can look like today. |
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| The same dog after a face lift to save its eyesight. |
The Daily Mail details a recent facelift given to a Shar Pei whose over-wrinkled face and resulting eye entropion was leading to blindness.
The vet blasted the over-breeding which led to Molly suffering from one of the worst cases of the entropion he had ever seen.
Mr Marks said: 'Molly is a result of very bad breeding between dogs that are essentially diseased.
'Molly was bred to satisfy a certain criteria on what they think a dog should look like rather than its health.'
Ms Walsh bought Molly for £500 just last month, but has already shelled out £720 in vet bills.
She now plans to sue the owners, from Wales, who sold her the pet, claiming they were not honest about her state of health.
She said: 'I'm very angry. It's not about the money, it's the fact they were dishonest.
'How could they let Molly go through a year of pain without doing anything?'
A row erupted two years ago about the over-breeding of pedigree dogs following a BBC documentary that exposed health problems among some of the most extreme cases.
The Shar Pei was among 12 breeds documentary makers demanded be dropped from Crufts as a condition for continuing to air the celebrated dog show. The demands were not met by the Kennel Club.
The "modern" Sharpei is a Kennel Club-created mutant created by extreme exaggeration and rapid inbreeding.
A commentator to the article, however has it exactly right when she writes where the real problem lies:
Did Molly's owner research this breed before she blindly went and bought her pup? I doubt it.
Did Molly's owner buy her for her looks? I'm pretty sure of it.
I am by no means excusing the breeder, as they obviously have not been breeding responsibly, but as long as there are people like Molly's owner willing to pay to get dogs like these, there will be a breeder meeting the demand.
Bingo.
Exactly right.
Do not buy a wrecked car because you liked the color of the paint, and then sue because the alignment is wrong and the engine does not run.
Anyone buying a Shar Pei today should know they are likely to be buying a bucket load of problems ranging from serious health issues to serious temperament issues. These problems are talked about routinely in breed literature, and are not deeply hidden secrets.
Yes, the breeder is criminally irresponsible.
Yes, the Kennel Club is an organization that embraces systemic cruelty through the breeding of diseased, deformed, and defective dogs.
But dog buyers too are culpable. This dog was a mess the day it was bought!
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Years ago (BJs) a pal gave us a pup that was ID'd as a 1/2 pit bull and 1/2 Sharpei. Very sweet dog without the excess skin rolls on her face,more like a hound with the excess skin on the neck. She was great. But roll forward 5 years. Found her passed out in the back yard. We took her to vet. She was in Kidney failure at 6 years. He advised that Shar Pei's are prone to organ failure and even though she was part Pit, the Shar Pei breeding was affecting her. We tried against all odds and spent LOTS of money, but she died overnight at the office.
ReplyDeleteI learned two things. I will never own another Shar Pei in any shape or form and I will never leave a sick dog overnight at a vet's office. At least she could have died at home in her bed with her beloved 'daddy' at her side.
I like the breed but prefer my terriers who usually live longer and healthier lives. Yeah, they have accidents and pass too young,but at least they are enjoying themselves when they do it.
Debi and the Jack/Rat Pack.
Sir:
ReplyDeleteThe modern Shar Pei is a long term effort to produce "cruelty free", organic fur.
By our estimates, a half yard of pelt can be harvested from each specimen. Not only is the harvest painless, but it improves the donor's later quality-of-life. Truly, a win-win.
Our organization, Shar Pei fur for American Mothers (SPAM) is busy breeding new sub-breeds of Shar Pei via the carefully controlled introgression of genes from other breeds. We anticipate that we will soon be showing Golden Shar Pei, Irish Shar Pei and Poo Shar Pei as more niches are developed in the retail fur trade.
These breeds will be sanctioned for showing AFTER pelt reduction, somewhat analogous to tail docking and ear bobbing of other breeds.
The Gold Standard for pelt reduction will be if the show dog can blink, but only one eye at a time and only when wagging his/her tail.
Thank-you for providing a venue for SPAM to showcase our efforts to humanely breed and show Shar Pei dogs....and turn our pelt reduction clinics into money printing machines.
Best regards
-Joe
It veers into the absurd! Just a cursory internet search shows the difference between the Traditional Shar Pei(Bone Mouth) and this ridiculous, disfunctional sad creature. Talk about ruining a breed. The real dog is agile, functional and beautiful. It just confirms that there are a lot of cruel assholes out there- including the idiots who buy the AKC dogs...
ReplyDeleteThat's just criminal. I never realized that the "old-fashioned" ones were so "normal" looking. I've only ever seen the ones that look like the one in the middle picture.
ReplyDelete