The first day I spotted Oscar and Lola, almost six years go now, in a little pen outside a swap meet waiting to be scooped up is a day that I will not forget. Practically in tears from having a bad week, I turned my head and locked eyes with a pretty set of green ones belonging to one part of my pair of soul mates. After tearing my eyes away from this love at first sight, my gaze traveled to what surrounded those eyes. Low and behold they were surrounded by wrinkles flopping everywhere, and right next to him appeared to be his smaller twin. Making a long story short, I told my dad I wasn’t leaving without both of them because why on earth would you break up such a perfect pair? Not to mention they are my personality in dog form.
This peaked my curiosity for some time, and what I found through some research was terribly interesting. The name Shar Pei directly translates to “Sand Skin” which is probably the more accurate label for my monsters. Every time I hold them I end up with a rash. This rough fur however, came in handy for these tough little creatures. Though there is not a lot of information left about this breed, a few things are known for sure. They are an ancient breed, having been around since 200 B.C., they originated in China and were used as guard dogs. Whether they were used to protect royalty or the common farmers is not clear but their behavior proves that they protected people. Sadly, when China became a communist nation there was massive dent in the Shar Pei population. Some people think it was because the government didn’t want this unique powerful breed getting out but their attempt at wiping them out failed. Hong Kong began breeding them as well as Taiwan; they must have realized how cool and special of a breed the Shar Peis were.
Most dog breeds have a story, as well as individual dogs themselves. Oscar and Lola were much luckier than some of the other furry creatures in the world, namely those who were destroyed during the rise of communism in China as well as those still yet to find homes. All too often we
I knew most of this information off hand, but some of the terminology and clarification I received was from this website. Feel free to check it out!