CHINA BREED GROUP 
(First Beijing Dog Show in 5,000 years)

by Eric T. Omura

According to Chinese horoscope, 2001 is the year of the snake. This year is the year of the dragon. From dragon to snake means the year 2001 shall be the year of consolidation.  The dragon faced the challenges and conquered new horizon this year, it is time for the snake to take over the job of consolidation.  Snake is smart, and above all tough to face and overcome, to build the new horizon earned by the dragon.  The old Chinese saying says, dragon is helpless in shallow water.  So its the time for the snake to secure the territory.

Click on the picture to enlarge. NASA judging team in Beijing, China. (October 5, 2000) Front row from far left: Me, Sandra (judge for grooming), Tseng Bo-cuan (all breed judge from Taiwan) etc. Front row from far right: Mathew Fan (judge for Chinese breed group), Beijing organizer staff,  and fourth from right Ms. Lana Tsang.

This interpretation of the cosmos is also the story for North America Working Dog Association. This year the Association conquered new ground locally in Hong Kong, in China and in Taiwan.  To start the story at home, the Association has succeeded in working with a sponsor to start obedience training and pet grooming classes for the Hong Kong public.  We foresee that the formulation of these educational classes in Hong Kong shall have far reaching impact into China.

In China, the year 2000 had been the most fruitful year for the Association.  We have broken new grounds in China being the pioneer in many places in China. We have successfully launched the first dog show in Beijing, China since 5,000 years.  We defined "dog show" exactly as competition being run under the dog show rules; not just any party gathering.  

We have made history that the Chinese breed group is well established in China.  Besides the normal kennel club division, we insisted that in China, we must have an extra Chinese breed group to compete.  If you look into any breed chart closely, there are so many dogs of Chinese origin.  After the numerous shows organized by us in China this year, the consensus is high and well accepted in the public here  of the extra group. The same goes for Shar Pei of which I have already reported to you in details previously.

Click on the picture to enlarge. Next to me at the back: Representative of kennel club from South Korea In front of me sitting in grey jacket: Gordon Esselmann from U.S. NASA, and next to him on the right, his wife.

Some more of those ground breaking events which NASA launched this year.

1. The year of the dragon was kick-off with the first dog show in Shengyang, northeastern China (January 2000).
2. The first dog show in Dalian city northeastern China (September 8 and 9, 2000).
3. The first police and military dog working trial in Nanjing, central China.

Equally meaningful and epoch making event is that the Judges from the Association was officially being invited to judge in a show in Taiwan.  Never before did it happened in the whole canine history of China and Taiwan.  I do not exclude there might have been case before that someone as an individual from Hong Kong had been invited to Taiwan to judge a certain unofficial show.  This is a case where an official kennel club organization in Taiwan officially invited North America Working Dog Association to judge in their show.  This event itself has far reaching effect in Asia and points to new possibility, where not just individuals but also as associations, as long as we all love "dogs" can work together sensibly for the common good.

Click on the picture to enlarge. NASA judging team in Taiwan dog show

To cut the b.s. (business speech) short, please let me entertain you with much more photos to spice you with extra excitements for this Christmas.

Click on the picture to enlarge. Nanhai Dog Show (April 23, 2000) Shar Pei Specialty Show BOB (traditional type) and reserve BOB (medium type - meaty bone mouth) I judged together with Mr. Lai Wing-ka (standing far right) from Nanhai City.

Click on the picture to enlarge. All the king's horses and all the king's men at the royal court of Nanhai Show ground (April 23, 2000)

Click on the picture to enlarge. Then we went on to another show later on this year in Xiqiao county, Nanhai City (November 26, 2000) BOB on the left (medium - meaty bone mouth type) and reserve BOB on the right. (traditional - bone mouth type) Picture taken together with Mr. Tim Bradach (all breed judge from America) on my left and Mr. Lai Wing-ka (Shar Pei judge from Nanhai)

The Reserve BOB was also an extremely sound dog and I struggled very much how should I give the title.  The final decision was on the tail setting. I expected the traditional type to have a very clear tail set, strong and sturdy.  If the head of a Shar Pei is the coat of arms of a knight, then the tail should be the banner which should be steady and proud, waving clear showing the knight's position from far far away .

Height is another controversial but important feature of this Shar Pei breed, I always take special precaution of measuring each dog to encourage people to go for the higher standard of 21" to keep breeding regressing to shorter and shorter height.  Theoretically, people talked about 22" based on visual experience thirty to forty years ago, this height is not confirmed in recent records.  (see attached records).  I support the 22" if people can breed back to such size but not realist at the present moment as the record shows.  22" would be a very majestic sharpei, the dream dog but let's put our feet on the ground to work with what we have got for the time being.

Click on the picture to enlarge. The close-up of BOB (medium - meaty bone mouth type).

Handy Links

History Of The Shar Pei     Shar Pei Height Data    New China Dog Shows

Bears and Dog Shows, Cruelty Halted

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