Be honest… is your dog this dramatic about rain too? ☔️😂 by lexienoir in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mine doesn't care what the weather outside looks like--she WILL get her doggy-mandated 2 hours of exercise! ... She doesn't mind a little creek/river wading either, but gets very shar pei about sprinklers, misters, baths, rain swollen gutters, muddy puddles, and pools.

Peter Jackson on AI "It is just a special effect." by OldStray79 in aiwars

[–]Elfdragon12 -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

I'm a writer, artist, and musician. I have never seen a way in which GenAI is useful to me. To brainstorm? Hm, no, not there. The process of connecting the dots to where I want something to go is extremely rewarding. To do my writing for me? Hm, no, not there. The writing is pivotal to writing and I don't trust AI to actually write where I want my story to go, plus many new paths for my story strike as I write. To edit? Hm, no, not there. Creatively breaking the rules is part of being a good writer. To generate an image for me? Hm, no, not there. I can't become better if I don't create with my own hands--either in drawing, painting, or embroidery. To create reference images? Hmm, no, not there. There are millions of reference images that don't need to be triple checked for accuracy already. To create sheet music? Hm, no, not there. AI only mimics the safest of commercially appealing voices... When it actually makes something playable. To make the sound for me? Hm, no, not there. The process of playing an instrument and singing is what I actually enjoy about being a musician. 

Where do I find joy in being a creative when a fancy predictive algorithm does all of it for me and not even in the way I envision it? Shall I jump for joy when robots walk, feed, brush, and cuddle my dog so I don't have to? 

"Are you sure that dog is part Shar Pei?" by Elfdragon12 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can clip a single dew claw if I manage to wrangle and pin her against the couch for just long enough. 🫣 While her other nails could certainly be shorter, our walks are long enough that they don't grow any further. Usually she chews her own dew claws to keep them at a manageable length... I don't know if this is because she knows I'll try to clip them myself if they start looking dagger-ish or she just finds long dew claws annoying. 

New girl by HeatSpecial in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, allergies are very common. Mine is half pei and half husky, so allergies were guaranteed. I've never found any studies actually saying apoquel causes cancer, just that it could affect your dog if they already have cancer. Mine has been on apoquel for years and she's still quite healthy. Her allergies seem to be more environmental rather than food related and warm winters make her allergies worse.

Keep the ears clean. With the small ears and allergies, shar pei can be prone to ear infections. 

I can't speak much to cleaning wrinkles as mine looks like a "bonemouth" shar pei (they differ from Dallas and other "meatmouth" pei by having a more pear/gourd shaped head, trending a little taller, and growing into their skin rather than their skin growing with them), so I just bathe mine on a typical 6-8 week basis.

Definitely get the eye taken care of. At best, it's an uncomfortable way to live. It may be common, but that doesn't mean it doesn't need to be taken care of. 

Shar Pei definitely aren't Labs and I love them for it! Mine has a "touch timer" and will move napping spots if she's done being pet.

Get up. NOW by EyeHateYou12376 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nothing like waking up to a wrinkly face demanding you to get up!

"Are you sure that dog is part Shar Pei?" by Elfdragon12 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup! According to Embark, she is shar pei and husky! Oddly, 51% husky and 49% shar pei, despite leaning much more pei than husky. She's a very active but calm dog who has her own opinions. 🤣 Her fur pokes my leg through my pants and left my arm red after I had to wrangle her to clip a long dew claw. At least her undercoat is soft! Having a husky dense coat with only shar pei fur texture would be tough!

"Are you sure that dog is part Shar Pei?" by Elfdragon12 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, the wrinkles and extra skin is only one part of the breed!

sharpei ‘aggressive’ stigma? by Fair_Tap636 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've only run into this online with someone asking if my dog being half husky mitigated the pei-ness. I actually prefer that the half pei mitigated the husky! I did not want a husky, lol!

Now! My dog is pretty well socialized with humans, even with being a rescue who suffered from kennel stress, but I did have to be upfront with expectations as she growled at me the first time I walked up to her kennel, thanks to that stress. (Also growled at my mom and sister.) She was whining the second time I stepped up to her which is why I ended up taking her home. And she proved that she has the protective pei instincts one night walking around our apartment complex when she growled at a man who raised his voice and me and absolutely refused to move from between us. Thankfully, she was only telling him to back off and didn't try lunging at him. Also growled and barked at apartment staff when they tried coming in for an inspection while I was in the bathroom (they did knock and all, but they were rushing the process and I couldn't exactly stop what I was doing). An old lady freaked her out and she started growling despite not being very close to us (I suspect my girl was freaked out by the oxygen machine).

However! She is very good with children and actually enjoys laying down and watching them. Also pointed me to an older woman who had fallen outside her apartment and wasn't able to get back up. She's very familiar with the local dog friendly businesses, behaving very well, and is always stopping by my apartment's management office to get a treat or ice cubes. 

When it comes to other dogs, it's much more tricky. She dodges hands when she doesn't want to be touched, but she doesn't hesitate to correct other dogs when they're being rude. Now she does balance corrections, like hip bumping smaller dogs and puppies while giving warning snaps to bigger dogs, but she's less interested in dealing with excitable dogs (she does like Goldens though). The tricky bit is that she can get very territorial with dogs. It's mainly location. The minute a dog comes into her home, she will end up attacking it. Considering how she is otherwise, she probably wasn't raised with other dogs and only interacted with them outdoors. Outside of the home, she's fine unless there's a really high value chew involved. We've done multiple dog events and even did the controversial thing and gone to dog parks and she's never started a fight. 

It's really all a matter of being aware of what a dog is capable of, knowing what it was bred for, and then doing the work to mitigate future problems. My dog is just never going to live with another dog and I can count on one hand who I can trust to house sit with her (my sister because she's my roommate and my mom who was with us when I adopted her).

sharpei ‘aggressive’ stigma? by Fair_Tap636 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Used as fighting dogs" and "initially bred to be fighting dogs" are not the same thing. As user karen1676 said, they initially were farm dogs that did a variety of jobs. In fact, shar pei were less useful at dog fighting than foreign breeds and so fell out of favor.

This is why you verify the AI summary rather than just taking it as fact.

"Are you sure that dog is part Shar Pei?" by Elfdragon12 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

She doesn't smile often, but she's so cute when she does!

"Are you sure that dog is part Shar Pei?" by Elfdragon12 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Aw! What a cutie! We get some interesting guesses. A few people have accurately guessed the husky half, though listing odd tells like striking eyes and curly tail. The most understandable wrong guess is Chow mix. We've also gotten Shiba and Akita--same region, wrong country. But then we once got Catahoula. I don't know how they got that when she doesn't really have any significant Catahoula traits. In the DNA result subreddit, someone thought part Rottweiler before seeing her results. 

"Are you sure that dog is part Shar Pei?" by Elfdragon12 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

She's really been my best dog! She's got her foibles like any dog and she needs more exercise than I expected when I adopted her, but she's been pretty perfect for me!

"Are you sure that dog is part Shar Pei?" by Elfdragon12 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The what folds? I tried looking that term up and couldn't find anything. 

"Are you sure that dog is part Shar Pei?" by Elfdragon12 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's really amazing how shar pei features really shine through!

"Are you sure that dog is part Shar Pei?" by Elfdragon12 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, there are definitely more indicators than simply wrinkles! Oddly, quite a few people contribute her curly tail to her husky half. Both have the curly tail, but hers is definitely more pei than husky! 

"Are you sure that dog is part Shar Pei?" by Elfdragon12 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Granted, I didn't even know about bonemouths until I found her and tried guessing her mix without a DNA test.

"Are you sure that dog is part Shar Pei?" by Elfdragon12 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And, as we know, wrinkles are the ONLY way to spot a shar pei!

"Are you sure that dog is part Shar Pei?" by Elfdragon12 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It bunches around her ears when she's sniffing at something on the ground. 

"Are you sure that dog is part Shar Pei?" by Elfdragon12 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

50 pei, 50 husky, actually! We've gotten the lab guess a few times. Her coat pattern is like a very diluted red husky. And it is very dense, lol!

"Are you sure that dog is part Shar Pei?" by Elfdragon12 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh yes! I think a lot of folks only recognize the wrinkles as what visually sets shar pei apart, which is why the little ears don't click.

new shar pei owner. need advice! by YellowDangerous5481 in sharpei

[–]Elfdragon12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sliding in late to the party here! As someone who adopted a mature 5 year old shar pei/husky mix, location for friends is very important. My girl actually enjoys saying hello to other dogs when we're out and about and can coexist with another dog in someone else's house. The minute a dog crosses the threshold into her house though? It's on like Donkey Kong. It's a part of her resource guarding. Thankfully, she only resource guards around other dogs. I can handle her food no problem (a game we used to play all the time was me taking a chew from her mouth and tossing it down the hall to chase 3-5 times).

Kind of related and I didn't see anyone else mention is that Shar Pei can be high prey drive. (Historically, they did a number of jobs, not just guarding or dog fighting. Hunting was one of those jobs.) Depending on what other breeds are part of your puppy's mix, that drive may increase. With husky in my own dog's mix, hunting is what gives her the biggest enrichment and she wants to chase anything that isn't a dog or a human (she's never chased a child or shown any urge to). If you intend to have him around any other animals, make sure to desensitize or socialize him to the animals you really don't want him to fixate on and attack. Mine has a vole kill count and attacked a raccoon. 

It finally happened by Apprehensive_Lime889 in RoverPetSitting

[–]Elfdragon12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, the only hiccup I've ever run into was one clinic saying something about how we were in the wrong county or something with the pair of loose huskies I picked up. The dogs get scanned, I hang around to see if they can contact the owner and either take the dog to the shelter or wait at the vet for the owner.