About Me

Even when I was a kid, there was a dog in my life. He faithfully accompanied me for the first 9 years of my life. To him I owe my love for dogs, he  taught me what it means to have a dog as a faithful companion in life.

Today I live with my husband and our dogs in eastern Switzerland and dogs are a central theme in my life. For many years we lived in Kunming, in South West China, and dogs were also the center of our life there. The way that Chinese people treated dogs, and above all the affinity of the Chinese to foreign dog breeds, aroused my interest in local  breeds.

At this point, I started to get more involved with the Shar Pei,  I liked their look of almost all the Chinese breeds the most. I read everything that I could find about the breed on the German and English-speaking internet, but also quickly realized that what I read had little to do with the Shar Peis that I saw in China.

One day when I saw a little Shar Pei puppy at the local dog market, it was immediately clear that I had to buy this dog. Balu was different from all the dogs I had ever had. Unfortunately, he died only 7 years later in April 2018 after a disc surgery. For me, he was always a great buddy, much more than a dog. He was my inspiration and motivation to do  more research about the breed and to learn everything I could. To this day, Balu is still a big part of my motivation to continue along the Shar Pei path, researching and learning more about them.

Much has happened since I started to study the Shar Pei, and I have many people to thank for accompanying and supporting me along the way. Whether geneticists who have explained  in detail the genetics of dogs, veterinarians and medical doctors who have given me comprehensible scientific background knowledge, or friends who have encouraged me to keep going. And most important, my husband, who always has my back.

However, without my friends in China and Hong Kong, I would be nowhere. Their fundamental knowledge of the breed and their willingness to share this knowledge with me, has been absolutely vital. Matgo Law gave me the first insights into the history of dogs in Hong Kong, and taught me how important it is to have internalized and understood the standard of the breed. Franki Leung ,in his always good-humoured and practical way, has helped me develop a strong relationship with the CKU in the area of Chinese breeds.

And I particularly thank Cao Yujian, President of the Chinese Shar Pei Club in Dali / Guangdong, Huang Zhuhua, Hu Jingan, Zhenwei Ye and all other Chinese breeders who always have an open ear for me, have created a deep understanding of the breed with me and entrusted me with many of the images on this website.

Memberships

I am a proud member of the Dali Shar Pei Club in Guangdong.