Predictable Pekingese? Not!

As a veteran Pekingese owner and volunteer at Pekingese Rescue of South Africa, I feel it my duty to inform other and potential Pekingese owners about the breed.

Unlike other people who write about the breed, I will not do a 'copy & paste job.  What you read here is based on my experience with the breed, which spans more than 15 years.  During this period, I have had 13 Pekingese, ten of which are still part of the family.  The pack's age ranges from six months to 13 years. Therefore, I feel I am more than qualified to educate others. Note that I am NOT a Pekingese breeder and never will be.

The Pekingese is a small dog that stands roughly 25cm tall and weighs between 4.5kg and 6.5kg.  It has a long coat with very distinctive ears, of which the fluffs often reach down to the floor. The dog is recognised by its very flat face, large eyes and short, stocky legs that give it a funny duck-like gait.

Firstly I would like to bust the myth that this dog breed's eyes pop out when they get a fright.  Any person with some kind of grey matter inside the hollow structure fit at the top of his or her spine could apply some logic to the situation.  The eye is an organ attached to the skull by muscles and ligaments. No amount of adrenalin released during 'fight or flight' will let those ligaments tear, resulting in the eye popping out.

Due to their flat faces, Pekingese are prone to eye injuries because the eyes sit like a vehicle's headlights, right at the front of the face.  That is why one would often find Pekingese with only one eye and often without any eyes.  This is not because the eye popped out, but simply because the animal faced an injury of which the most common is a dog fight.



Sleeve Peke (10 years old) on the left.

Next, I would like to meet the genius Pekingese breeder who can predict the birth of a Sleeve Peke.  This Pekingese looks precisely like a full-grown adult, but it stands less than 15cm tall and generally weighs under 3kg.  I know because I am the proud owner of a Sleeve Peke who will soon be turning 11.  She is smaller than our six-month-old puppy and has the most petite face and paws imaginable.  A Sleeve Peke is a freak of nature that, from the time of birth to about six months old, looks just like any other Pekingese.  Then something magical happens - it develops adult features without growing any further.
I am horrified at how many dog owners starve their Pekingese to let them qualify as Sleeve Pekes because they want to keep the dog's weight under 4kg.  Little do they know that it is not the dog's weight but the overall height that qualifies it as a Sleeve Peke.

A Sleeve Peke female would produce standard size puppies even if paired with a Sleeve Peke male and, due to her petite build, will most likely die giving birth.  There are also no guarantees that puppies sired by a Sleeve Peke male will be Sleeve Pekes, and therefore breeders who advertise Sleeve Pekes should all burn in hell because they are outright liars.  Dog breeders belong in hell anyway, but that is a story for another day.

With the two most prominent myths about this dog breed out of the way, I would like to conclude this chapter by explaining the Pekingese's personality.

I believe the myth of a Pekingese resulting from the pairing of a monkey and lion is not far-fetched.  A Pekingese has many cat-like mannerisms.  It will lick its paws and wipe its eyes.  Peke's agility mimics that of a cat, especially its jumping ability.  For a dog with such short, stocky legs, it can jump onto chairs and tables and off again without any difficulty.  When running at full speed, a Pekingese uses its tail for balance, just like a monkey would when climbing up a tree.  Another astonishing Peke mannerism is that, when lying flat on its back, the dog would grab your arm with its forelegs and hold on for dear life, clinging like a monkey.  One would be able to lift your Peke in that position, making it look like a hairy monkey clinging to your forearm.

The Pekingese is a stubborn, unpredictable, protective dog who does not get along well with small children.  It is accessible to house-train due to its intelligence, but because of its stubborn nature, you will find that it is not a dog to take to puppy school.  It will sit, stay and heel when it feels like it, not when you command it.  What makes the Pekingese unpredictable is that it will be playful one moment and, without warning, turn into a little monster and bite the nearest object, which is inevitably a nose or finger.  Because of their skull structure, these little dogs usually have a severe underbite, and those teeth do much more damage than one expects from such a tiny dog.  For this reason, I am of the opinion that a Peke is not suitable as a pet in a household with children under the age of ten.  When part of a pack, it is also important to remember this unpredictive behaviour because, as the saying goes, it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

A dog lazier than a Pekingese I am yet to meet.  Although the Pekingese can be highly playful, its two main goals in life are to eat and sleep.

But, you might ask, if the Pekingese is such a wonderful little dog, why is there a need for an organisation such as Pekingese Rescue?  The answer is quite simple, really.  Children like cute puppies.  The Pekingese is a cute puppy.  Parents buy cute puppies.  Because parents buy cute puppies, breeders produce more cute puppies.  The adorable puppy turns out to be an adult dog that demands a lot of time, does not listen and requires daily grooming.  Adult dogs become abused and then abandoned.  Vicious cycle, is it not?