July 2009

The Shar-Pei Club of Great Britain hosted a day-long health seminar on April 19, 2009 following their Shar-Pei of the Year competition on Saturday, April 18th. I was invited to be a guest speaker along with Lee Arnold, (Chairman of the Chinese Shar-Pei Charitable Trust, Director of the American Kennel Club, and Vice President of the AKC Canine Health Foundation) and Ruth Barbour FRCGP, {Member of the General Committee of the United Kingdom’s Kennel Club (KC), Chairman of the Breed Health and Welfare Strategy Group for the KC, and member of the KC’s Finance and General Purposes Committee, the Judges Sub-Committee and the Training Board}.

Their “Weekend of the Shar-Pei” was a celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Shar-Pei Club of Great Britain’s Shar-Pei of the Year competition (SPOTY). For me, it was a perfect Shar-Pei weekend. I flew out of JFK airport, New York at 7 pm on Thursday and arrived the following day at 7 am in Birmingham, England. It was cool, gray and drizzling but Tim Ball and Joy Bradley greeted me with blazing smiles. We had a short drive to the Royal Court Hotel in Keresley, Coventry where the Shar-Pei people and dogs would gather. I made my usual error of trying to get into the right front seat but quickly yielded the wheel to a gracious Tim. The hotel was hosting two groups, the Shar-Pei weekend and a very large concatenation of British Buddhist women. Their chanting rhythms formed a soothing sonic backdrop to my visit. The dogs were quiet and well-behaved.

Despite little to no sleep, I was excited to be back in England. I had been a guest of the Midland Shar Pei Club for a health seminar many years before and remember that trip and my stay with Pat and George Pearce fondly. I was scheduled to depart early Monday morning and I wanted to see just a bit of the country before flying back home. I quickly discovered that I had brought the wrong electrical adaptor for my laptop computer so Tim and Joy whisked me into Coventry for a quick purchase and some sightseeing. After buying my plug connection to the electronic age, I got a look at the preserved ruins of Coventry’s medieval Cathedral and gaped at other ancient buildings that had survived the heavy bombings of the industrial city during World War II.

The rain held off that afternoon. I took advantage of my downloaded map of the rural public footpaths to ramble about Keresley parish. Setting off at a brisk pace, I had the trails to myself for a glorious spring afternoon bounded only by the hedgerows. Arriving back in time to join Lee, Tim and Joy for dinner at the hotel, I hoped (in vain) that I had exhausted myself enough to sleep soundly later.

Saturday was the Shar-Pei of the Year Competition and I was given a ringside seat with Lee Arnold, Ruth Barbour and the club officials. The dogs were beautiful, well-mannered and sound. The competition was a pleasure to watch. Saturday evening’s dinner speaker, KC and AKC Judge, KC General Committee member (and many more KC committees and sub-committees - too numerous to mention) Frank Kane, was pressed into service when the “surprise” invitational judge was caught in a traffic jam. He took command of the judging with aplomb. His “Shar-Pei of the Year” was Ch & Am Ch Asias Red March Whip it Good owned by Tim Ball and Joy Bradley. Shar-Pei Veteran of the year was Sue Butterfield’s Ch & Fr Ch Forgevalley Pause and Pose Chequerpei ShCM and Shar-Pei Puppy was Jackie Smith’s Ch Panrico Bridget Jones (what a sweet, beautiful pup – she was a delight to watch joyfully romping around the lawn later in the day). I discovered at dinner that Frank is also a wicked wit who had us in stitches even before he commenced with his scheduled remarks.

The guests then enthusiastically bid on an array of donated items with the encouragement of Lee Arnold as auctioneer. The club raised almost £2000 for the Chinese Shar-Pei Charitable Trust and another £400 for the club’s coffers in a very successful evening. I came home with a beautiful white teapot and selection of fine teas tucked into my baggage. I trust Frank Kane has his crystal lamp prominently displayed.

The evening was still young and soon Disco Fever erupted as the crowd took to the dance floor with abandon. I admit to shimmying to the ‘70’s hits and enjoying myself immensely. I spied Joy (“it’s not my thing”) Bradley out there gettin’ down with the best of them. It was good to see Linda Rupniak with whom I had toured Guangzhou, China in 2002 in a group that included Pat Pearce and Barbara LaVere and was guided by Lana Tsan and Eric Omura to see Shar-Pei in their land of origin.

I heard that the group partied until the wee hours but I went up to my room to try to review my slides and get a few hours of sleep. When it was time to appear at the dais for the health seminar, I was running on adrenalin and about 10 hours sleep in the previous 3 days. Fortunately, that seemed to work.

In 2008, the Kennel Club initiated a “Fit for Function, Fit for Life” campaign to ensure that purebred dogs are “healthy, of good temperament and fit for their original function”. Shar-Pei had been particularly criticized for exaggerated wrinkling that contributes to eye and skin problems. Changes were made to the breed standard to “remove the exaggeration of loose skin folds across the neck, skull and legs” and to specifically state “Free from entropion” in the revised standard. All dogs are expected to “… see, breathe and walk freely”.

I was asked to speak about eye and skin problems in the breed as well as to give an update on Shar-Pei fever and amyloidosis. It was requested that I educate the Shar-Pei breeders and fanciers and inform the Kennel Club representatives about the unique health problems in Shar-Pei and what steps could be taken to improve their overall health and well-being.

The Club President, Jane Lilley, made the introductions and wielded a fierce gavel to keep us all on schedule. Lee Arnold opened the morning session with a presentation about the AKC Canine Health Foundation’s structure and function and then described how the Chinese Shar-Pei Charitable Trust has funded research into inherited disorders that affect the breed since its creation in 1995.

Reminding myself that Lee Arnold does a world class performance like this professionally for huge audiences every day and following him should not make me nervous, I began with an hour-long session on entropion and other eye problems in Shar-Pei. I explained the anatomic configuration that predisposes Shar-Pei to entropion (weak eyelid tarsal plate, excess hyaluronan, deep-set or sunken eyes, often complicated by allergies and infection). “Sunken” eyes have been omitted in the revised KC standard. I explained why some pups need temporary eyetacking and why not every pup that gets temporary eyetacks goes on to need permanent entropion repair and others that did not need ‘tacking do develop entropion that requires correction. I described “spastic entropion”, why it occurs and how to differentiate this from entropion that needs surgical correction. Entropion is painful and, uncorrected, can lead to eye damage including blindness and often causes behavioral problems including irritability, shyness and aggression. The presentation included information on Shar-Pei’s unusual type of glaucoma. The PowerPoint presentation format allowed me to graphically display many examples of the eye conditions and treatment.

After a short coffee break, I began a two-part presentation on Shar-Pei skin issues by focusing on hyaluronosis and why Shar-Pei owners and breeders need to have a basic understanding of what hyaluronan (HA) is and does. (It is the main component of mucin. Excess production of HA creates wrinkles on the Shar-Pei and gives the dog its overall “look”. HA is also at the root of many of their unique disorders.) I gave a basic overview in a little over two hours and the topic needs more detailed explanation than will fit in this article. More to follow in another Barker issue.

The sun was shining and we broke for lunch on the patio. I greatly appreciated the many Kennel Club members that approached me at lunch and throughout the day to discuss Shar-Pei health issues and how they related to other breeds’ similar problems. The focus was on “how do we make the lives of our dogs better?” and the energy was palpable.

Dr. Ruth Barbour from the UK’s Kennel Club spoke about the “Fit for Function” campaign after lunch and described how and why they are moving to revise many breeds’ standards to improve the overall health of the dogs and eliminate unhealthy exaggeration. I enjoyed my many conversations with Ruth on Saturday and Sunday. A physician who is retired from general practice, Ruth is dedicated to improving canine health through intelligent management of breeding practices.

I resumed my presentation on hyaluronosis and various skin disorders in Shar-Pei, including cancer. I concluded with a description of Shar-Pei Fever, amyloidosis and what we have learned about the immunopathology and genetics behind these diseases. We took an afternoon break to partake of the beautiful cake made to celebrate the weekend provided by Julie and Mike Gardner. At the end of this final segment (as I had with the previous blocks), I took questions from the audience. It was a long day of many hours just sitting in front of slide presentations for the group and yet they were still enthusiastic, interested and asking great questions. I was quite overwhelmed by their support and gratitude. The Club presented me with a beautiful sculpture of a Shar-Pei head that is sitting on a shelf in my reception area and a big box of wonderful chocolates. I was walking about two feet off the floor (and it was not all sleep deprivation).

I had a wonderful visit and thoroughly enjoyed giving the seminar. Lee changed his flight arrangements and I had the pleasure of his company on the return trip to New York. (I still did not sleep and fortunately had no scheduled appointments for Tuesday). Tim Ball has written to tell me of plans for a bigger and better Shar-Pei weekend (3 days!) in 2011 and I look forward to participating. Many thanks to all my British friends for hosting the Shar-Pei weekend and 10th SPOTY and kudos for your dedication to improving the breed.

Link to:
Joy Bradley's article on the the 2009 SPOTY and Health Seminar