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| Pekingese in Brief |
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Country of origin: China.
Group: Toy (AKC); Companion (UKC).
Life span: 12 to 15 years.
Color: Red, fawn, black, black and tan, red sable, silver sable, white, and parti-color.
Coat: Long, coarse outercoat, with thick, soft undercoat. Profuse mane around the neck and feathering on thighs, legs, tail, and toes.
Grooming: Brush at least twice weekly; bathe monthly or more often. Clean nose wrinkle daily.
Height/weight: No official height requirement; 6 to 14 pounds.
Trainability: Medium to high.
Activity level: Medium.
Known health problems: Umbilical hernia, corneal ulceration, stenotic nares (pinched nostrils), and intervertebral disk disease.
Best home: Indoors with people who love to brush them.
Good with children: Yes, as long as the children are careful to protect their small companions from rough play.
Good with other pets: Yes. Pekes aren’t picky about their pals.
National breed club: Pekingese Club of America, www.pekingeseclub.org
Rescue: Pekingese Charitable Foundation Inc., www.pcfinc.org | |
Reprinted from DOG FANCY July 2005
Pekingese: A noble presence
Although independent, the Pekingese enjoys his time in the spotlight.
Terry Winkelmann
Peeking out from her hiding place behind the couch, 4-year-old Betty lies in wait. Patiently. Quietly. Confident that any minute now, one of her feline housemates will stroll by. And then the 7-pound Pekingese will pounce. Like a lion! Grrrroowwl.
“It’s so funny the way the Pekes love to play with the cats,” says owner Lorna Flanagan of Boonton, N.J. “In the yard, they’ll [try to] hide behind a blade of grass and sneak out real slow and freeze if anybody looks at them.” The game is afoot.
“A Peke is a 90-pound dog in a 10-pound body,” says Flanagan, breeder referral chairperson for the Pekingese Club of America. “They’re full of personality and not at all yappy or hyper.”
The playful Pekingese was discovered by the Western world in the mid-19th century and accepted into the American Kennel Club in 1909. For centuries, only members of the Chinese Imperial Court could own the dogs believed related to sacred Foo Dogs, mythical lion-like guardians of palaces and temples.Chinese nobility carried very small Pekes in the sleeves of their courtly robes, earning the diminutive dogs the nickname “sleeves.”
In fact, even the smallest Pekingese feel surprisingly heavy for their size. They carry their weight in their chests more than hips, leading to a common injury: “They can throw their backs out jumping up and down from the furniture,” Flanagan cautions. To be safe, handlers tend to carry Pekes around and build ramps over stairs for their convenience. The regal dogs seem to take the extra coddling as their due.
Maryann and Robert Jackson of Seneca, Ill., have owned and shown Pekes for 53 years. At one point, the couple added a 10-week-old, 50-pound Wolfhound named Eve to their household. For the rest of her life, Eve was best buddies with Pearl, an 8-pound black Pekingese. “Pearl would curl up against Eve’s back, and that’s the way they always slept,” Maryann recalls. Canine friendships with a size differential can work, but supervise closely when pairing a Pekingese with a large or giant breed. “I’m always very cautious about very small breeds left alone with large dogs in a home,” says Pekingese Club of America president Sylvia Reznick, of Hewlett, N.Y.
Flanagan’s crew likes to sleep with the cats. “They have bunk beds with ladders, and often I’ll find the dogs and cats all curled up together in bed,” she says. Raven, Flanagan’s other 4-year-old female, “talks.” “She makes this weird little chortle noise when she wants something,” Flanagan says. But while the noble Pekes may first attempt polite communication or paw the air for attention, they’re fully capable of making themselves heard. “Every time the mail truck pulls up outside, Angel sounds the alarm,” says Dorothy Cooper of her 3-year-old rescued female. “You’d think there was a little Rottweiler inside the house.” Cooper, founder of Pekingese Rescue Network Inc., fields rescue inquiries in New Jersey and New York for the Pekingese Club of America.
Extremely intelligent and not a little stubborn, few Pekes participate in agility or obedience work. “Those who do are fantastic at it,” Flanagan says. “For the most part, though, they only do what they want to do.”
The independent dogs like to be the center of attention, but “it’s not a constant thing,” she says. “They may demand to be picked up and petted, but after 10 minutes they’ve had enough.” You may put me down now, thank you. You’re dismissed.
Terry Winkelmann is a DOG FANCY contributing editor and lives in St. Louis.
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