Base colour
All solid colours acceptable except white
- Tail and rear part of thighs frequently of a lighter colour.
- Permissible: Darker shading down the back and on the ears
About the Shar Pei
Origin: China- FCI status
- Recognised by FCI
- FCI group
- Pinscher and Schnauzer - Molossoid and Swiss Mountain and Cattledogs
- Origin
- China
- Known hereditary risks
- Not researched yet
About
What the breed standard says
- Bred for
- Hunting- and watch-dog
- Behaviour and temperament
“Calm, independent, loyal, affectionate to his family”
Quoted from FCI standard n°309. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.
Characteristics
- Size
- —
- Exercise needs
- —
- Easy to train
- —
- Amount of shedding
- 1 of 5
- Grooming needs
- 3 of 5
- Good with children
- —
- Cost to keep
- —
- Tolerates being alone
- —
- Intelligence
- —
- Health of breed
- Not researched yet
Pros & cons
Pros & cons for the Shar Pei
What you get with the Shar Pei
- Purpose stated in the standard: “Hunting- and watch-dog”
- The standard describes the breed as: “Calm, independent, loyal, affectionate to his family”
What you are taking on
Nobody has written this side yet. It is a judgement rather than data, so it waits for a person — not for a missing source.
Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard. One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.
Characteristics
FCI standard · Shar Pei
Coat and colour
As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording, tagged permissible.
Coat
A distinctive feature of the breed: short, harsh and bristly.
The coat is straight and offstanding on the body, but generally flatter on the limbs.
No undercoat.
The coat may vary in length from 1 cm to 2,5 cm.
Never trimmed
Colour
- Preferred
- Permissible
- Undesirable
- Disqualifying
Preferred, permissible, undesirable and disqualifying are FCI’s own words about the breed. They describe what the standard asks for — not an assessment of any individual dog, and not ours.
Shortened from FCI standard n°309 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.
What the standard penalises
What a judge marks the Shar Pei down for, and what puts one out of the ring, in the registry’s own words. This describes the breed standard — it is not a checklist for the animal in front of you, and a pet with a disqualifying fault is an unshowable dog rather than an unhealthy one.
Severe faults
Marked heavily against a specimen in the ring.
- Deviation from a scissor bite (as a transitory measure, a very slightly overshot mouth is permissible).
- Snipy muzzle.
- Spotted tongue (except pink spotted tongue).
- Large ears.
- Low set tail.
- Coat longer than 2,5 cm
Disqualifying faults
Puts an animal out of the ring altogether.
- Flat foreface with badly overshot bite; undershot bite.
- Solid pink tongue.
- Lower lip rolled in, interfering with the bite.
- Round, bulging eye. Entropion, ectropion.
- Skin, folds or hair disturbing the normal function of the eye.
- Pricked ears.
- Absence of tail; stumpy tail.
- Heavy folds of skin on body (except withers and base of tail) and limbs.
- Not a solid colour (albino, brindle, patches, spots, black and tan, saddled pattern)
Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Shar Pei in general; any individual animal can differ.
Health guide
What to ask for in a Shar Pei
No breed-specific health panel has been written up for the Shar Pei on this platform yet. That is a gap in our records, not a clean bill of health — ask the breeder which hereditary conditions their lines are tested for, and ask to see the results for both parents, dated and from a named laboratory.
Gallery
No photographs yet
This is where Shar Pei owners’ own photographs will go, from the pet profiles they keep here. Nobody has added one to a public page yet.
A photograph in a pet profile stays private to its owner. We will not put one here unless they ask us to.
Puppies
No puppies listed right now
No Shar Pei breeder has a record on this platform yet, so there is nothing to list. That is a gap in our coverage, not a fact about the breed.