To honestly know if your Sharpei will help improve the breed, you must first be very familiar with the breed standard. If you aren't familiar with the breed standard, how will you know what you are striving for?
 Knowing the breed standard is more than memorising it, you must understand and visualise what it means. This takes time and experience…There are no short cuts…short cuts are for back street breeders, they care nothing of the breed, they breed for Greed!...

 

Reasons for breeding
The breeding of Shar-pei is an undertaking that should not be taken lightly. There is a great deal of thought and work that should occur before the final decision is made to breed a Pei.
First of all, you should ask yourself why you would like to breed your dog. Every breeder's goal should be to improve the breed. If this is your goal (and hopefully it is), a great deal of education awaits you, both in learning about the Sharpei, the breed you have chosen and what would improve it. We must have the ability to look beyond ourselves and our dog and honestly ask ourselves:…would breeding my dog be beneficial to the breed?...

Quality
There is a general misconception that KC registration symbolises quality.  The Kennel Club is simply a registry, not a guarantee of quality, good health, or correct temperament

Quality is probably one of the most important things to be objective about concerning our dogs. We all have the tendency to think our dog is the greatest ever born... and they probably are to us, but remember love is blind!

One of the first misconceptions that most people have, is that if a dog is registered it is of high quality. We wish this was the case, however, … this simply is not true. Registration only shows that the dog's sire and dam were registered. Registration is a prerequisite to breeding or showing a dog, but should not be a deciding factor concerning quality…

Another thing to consider should be the type of contract under which you purchased the dog. If the breeder you bought the dog from sold it to you as a pet (on a spay/neuter contract), you should honour that contract. Also the breeder will be heavily involved in Showing their Pei's, as a breeder is striving for the perfect specimen to show in the ring, why else would anyone breed, if not for betterment of the breed. An experienced Breeder will have spent many years evaluating dogs, and if they have already made a predetermination about the dog's quality, you should be willing to accept that evaluation, the case may be that a puppy after development has grown into a beautiful specimen, however the breeder may contractually prohibit breeding to protect their bloodline from indiscriminate breeding by owners who are un-knowledgeable and in one fell stroke can ruin the reputation of a bloodline by producing a litter of unhealthy puppies...

If you bought your dog as a show/breeding prospect, you still must make an honest evaluation of your dog as an adult. A beautiful puppy can develop badly, the runt of the litter may grow into a beautiful creature and become a champion…
If a breeder sells you an eight week old pup as a show dog, think! they can say it may be a potential show quality, but never show quality, as it can go off up until six months, this is why lots of breeders sell a 4 to 6mth Puppy on to pet homes, as its bite is not perfect, it's front, etc, etc, therefore their Pei would not improve the breed standard!...It is between 4 to 6 months before you will know that you have a good show dog...Providing you are not kennel blind!...

Many owners think that their dog should have at least one litter, for their temperament or some other obscure myth….not true…. all dogs should not reproduce, no matter how much you love them or how many titles they may have.

Knowing the breed standard is more than memorising it, you must understand and visualise what it means. This takes time and experience…There are no short cuts….Do your homework, research the breed, look at many different dogs; at shows, at various kennels, etc. Find breeders who are willing to be honest about their own dog's strengths and weakness – you should learn a lot. Remember at shows to watch the dogs, and not the judge's choice, since their choice may or may not be the soundest dog at the show.

Educate yourself on sound dog movement and the structure of your breed  also, consult with the breeder of your dog (Hopefully you have chosen one who is not kennel blind and is willing to honestly evaluate the dogs they breed and Show) Be cautious about opinions solicited from other breeders whom you don't know well. It often puts the person on the spot to be asked what they think of your dog. Most people will be hesitant to give you an honest answer, since most dog owners want to hear compliments about how perfect their little darling is, not the truth. Find a few people whom you know well and trust, and be willing to hear the truth.

The next step is to study your dog's pedigree. Most don't have the privilege of personally knowing all the dogs in a pedigree, but ask people who do know, search for old photographs, and study the other offspring of the dogs listed there. Find out as much as possible about your dogs parents, grandparents etc  longevity is important and is often a key health indicator for future generations. Championships titles in a pedigree have value, though their value is limited. Gaining a championship is not necessarily proof that a dog is of good quality (some champions simply don't deserve the honour), If there are no titles there, it may be an indication of a general lack of quality. On the other hand, a pedigree may be a veritable "Who's Who" of the show world, and still your dog may not be of the quality to breed. Search, search, search, and find out all that you can…we did say that it wasn’t easy ...

Ask yourself, how is the Pup-pei you bought doing in the Show ring?...
See Kavishi (Show Results) link on home page, go back on archives too, to see who is consistently showing their dogs...

Now if you think you are an expert in the above and still want to breed! Think about the list below….

 If you do not breed for the Show ring, Think First…Before you consider mating your Sharpei you should seriously consider the likely futures for the resulting litter, the consequences to your bitch, your family and yourselves and the overall wide ranging outcomes that will ensue. You must give your bitch a very high level of care and nutrition throughout the pregnancy (9 weeks) and after, puppies are babies and need a lot of time and knowledgeable care to ensure the best start, at least eight weeks of constant high quality care before they can go to new homes...

Consider the number of unwanted dogs in Rescue centres throughout the country, so ensure that you will be able to find caring, responsible and permanent homes for the resulting litter...
 

Why do I have to learn all the stuff about genetics just to breed a dog?

Dog breeders engage in ‘genetic experiments’ each time they plan a mating. The type of mating selected should coincide with set objectives. For some breeders, determining which traits will appear in the offspring of a mating is a combination of luck and chance. For others, producing certain traits involves more skill than luck… the result of careful study and planning.
Dogs must first be understood as a species, then as genetic individuals…

When evaluating your breeding program, remember that most of the traits you're looking for, cannot be changed, fixed or created in a single generation. The more information you can obtain on how certain traits have been transmitted by your dog's ancestors, the better you can prioritise your breeding objectives…

Thousands of genes interact to produce a single dog. All genes are inherited in pairs, one pair from the father and one from the mother.
If the pair of inherited genes from both parents is identical, the pair is called homozygous (identical)
 If the genes in the pair are not alike, the pair is called heterozygous.(dis-similar)

Serious Breeders with specific objectives must prevent random mating from occurring. Breeders must understand how to manipulate genes within breeding stock to produce the kinds of dogs they want…

 

What the heck is Phenotype and Genotype?

It is also important to understand that there is a major difference between the appearance of an animal (called its phenotype) and its genetic makeup (called its genotype). Most commonly encountered discussions of canine size, weight, coat colours, are basically phenotypic, as in most cases we can only describe the appearance of the dog in front of us…

They look like Sharpei, or…. the Phenotype is Sharpei

The definition of Phenotype is "the genetically and environmentally determined physical appearance of an organism."
 In other words, the parents and the conditions create the appearance.

The Genotype is the specific genetic makeup of an individual, usually in the form of DNA. It codes for the phenotype of that individual.

Typically, one refers to an individual's genotype with regard to a particular gene of interest and, in polyploid individuals, (An organism with more than two chromosome sets ) it refers to what combination of alleles (Many genes come in a number of variant forms, known as alleles) the individual carries…
Any given gene will usually cause an observable change in an organism, known as the phenotype. The terms genotype and phenotype are distinct for at least two reasons:

1. To distinguish the source of an observer's knowledge (one can know about genotype by observing DNA; one can know about phenotype by observing outward appearance of an organism).
2. Genotype and phenotype are not always directly correlated. Some genes only express a given phenotype in certain environmental conditions. Conversely, some phenotypes could be the result of multiple genotypes.

This is only a brief explanation....Think its complicated? ..so is serious dog breeding, it takes time and interest to learn how to manipulate the creation of another sentient living being, by selective breeding…If you want to do it ..Do it right.. There is no other way!...If I have offended anyone in this write up, then  you simply do not understand 'The Prime Objective for Breeding' ...
 

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