How To Care for your Shar Pei
By: Jodi Timmons
JoJo's Wrinkles
Feeding:
Feed your Chinese shar-pei high-grade dog food.
The first ingredient should be meat. Crude protein should be 17 to 20 percent and crude fat no more than 20 percent. Also,
the fiber content needs to be 4 percent or less. For treats I use cottage cheese, yogurt, and sardines, liver cheese. Try using something you
would eat not store bought treats.
Its usually not the best to buy the most expensive food. Look at the back of all the
dog food at you supermarket, pet store, or feed store. Usually the least expensive food has less protein then the most expensive
food. Shar Pei's DO NOT need more then 20% protein in their food. I use a food that has 17%. So the less protein the better!
Only feed adult small bite food. Never feed puppy food!
If your Shar Pei wants to eat everything when you feed him/her. You need to feed 2x's
a day, instead of leaving the food out all the time. You do not want your puppy to grain weight to fast. This could hurt his
bones and they will not grow correctly.
Most Pei's will drool after eating and drinking. You will have to wipe their mouths.
I also give my Pei's human vitamins. Vitamin C, E, and Omega 3. I give them these 3x's a week. When
shedding I give everyday for 2 weeks. You can also pour a little cod liver oil over their food 2x's a week. And rub some cod liver oil into the skin too.
Teaching your Pei to act good around other people and dogs:
Socialize your Chinese shar-pei at a very early age to be with children and other pets and dogs. They're very
playful with children but can be aggressive with other dogs. Its good to take your Pei with you to pet stores, pet play grounds,
and for walks down the street. This gets them use to being with other people too. If you only let your Pei stay at home and
never socialize with others he/she can become very protective and you might have issues when you have company.
Training:
Avoid using a sharp voice when training your Chinese shar-pei. This breed does much better with kind words. 90%
of the time they take to women faster since they have a softer voice. They respond well to positive reinforcement training
(usually special treats I use little real cheese (in bite size) and Sesame Oat Bran human treats they came in trail mix, but
you can buy bags of just the Oat Bran. However, it's still important to be firm when handling your Chinese shar-pei. They
can try and take over and be the boss.
Washing and Brushing:
Give you Pei a bath only once a month. Their skin can get dry fast if over bathed. You can use baby wipes in
between baths. If his/her skin is get dry you can use cod liver oil on the baby wipe and wipe him/her down. DO NOT GET WATER IN YOUR PEI'S EARS WHEN BATHING. Best shampoo is Maximum ChlorhexiDerm. Brush your dog's coat with a bristle brush at least once a week (he may
need to be brushed several times a day while shedding). I like use a flea comb it gets closer to the skin while shedding.
At least 2 to 3x's a month clean you Pei's ears. Use a ear wash you can get at your vet or a pet store. I use Malaseb Flush ear
flush name brand it works the best that I have found. You just put 4 to 5 drops in each ear and they will shake their heads
and get all the yukky stuff out. Then take a Q-tip and clean in his/her ear. You don't have to go to far in the ear with the
Q-tip to get it clean. Trim he/her nails 2x a month. Try not to get to short they will bleed.
Potty training:
When your baby Pei's arrives. He/she will be 99% house broke. BUT your home is different then mine. So he/she
will not know where to go do his/her business at your home. Please for the 1st 2 to 3 days take your pei outside or where
you want him/her to potty every hour on the hour. At night keep him/her in the kennel that he/she arrives in and 1st thing
in the morning take them out to potty. After 1 to 3 days of this they will know what to do. They are very very smart and if
you do what I ask you will not have any problems with them going in the home.
Chinese shar-pei tend to snore. So don't think something is wrong if he/she does.
At anytime you have a question please feel free to call or email.
