PEKINGESE DOGS

Photo by Seth Wenig/AP

If you watched the second night of the Westminster Dog Show, you already know that the winner of the Best in Show award was a Pekingese named Malachy, or CH Palacegarden Malachy, if you want to use his formal name.  This was not the dog that Mom and I and Mel and Barry wanted to win.  Our first three choices were:
1.  The Dalmatian
2.  The Doberman Pinscher
3.  The Kerry Blue Terrier

Well, except for Barry, who wanted the German Shepherd to win.  Nicky was busy taking a nap upstairs, so he didn't have an opinion.  But mostly, Mom kept saying, "Any dog except the Pekingese."  But then the Pekingese won, and we were all disappointed.

AP photo

It's not that we have anything personal against the Pekingese breed.  We just don't like the way the dogs are groomed when they are going to be shown, because they look like some kind of mop with a black bug face sticking out of it.  Or at least that's how they look to me.  Also we don't like how these dogs have been bred to have a certain look, which causes them to have a lot of health problems.

But since Malachy the Pekingese won Westminster, I decided I would tell you a little bit about him and about his breed.  Last year, Malachy, who is 4 years old, was also in the BIS group, but the Scottish Deerhound won instead.  When Malachy won this year, it was the first time since 1990 that a Pekingese has won Westminster.  For Malachy himself, it was his 115th BIS win.  The judge, Cindy Vogels, said that Malachy was "a super dog who had a stupendous night."

Pekingese dogs come from the Chinese city of Beijing, which used to be called Peking.  This was where the Emperors lived, inside the Forbidden City.  Only members of the royalty were allowed to own these imperial dogs, and if you stole one, you could be put to death.  Pekingese dogs were thought to be semi-divine  because they looked like Chinese guardian lions, who kept the evil spirits away.  When people who weren't noble visited the Emperor, they had to bow to his dog.  And when an emperor died, his dog was killed and buried with him so that it could protect him in the afterlife.

During the Second Opium War in 1860, five Pekingese dogs were captured by British soldiers and given to Queen Victoria.  These five were the beginning of the Pekingese breed in the West.  The first time Pekingese were shown in the UK was in 1893, and the breed was recognized by the AKC in 1909.

All that DNA testing that scientists have done lately with dogs has shown that the Pekingese breed is over 2000 years old.   This means it was one of the first dog breeds to develop from wolves, which is also true of basenjis.  Of course, if you look at a Pekingese, you would not think that it looks much like a wolf, but we have to believe what the DNA tells us.

Pekingese have a compact, muscular body, and bowed legs, which means they walk funny and not very fast.  The ancient Chinese may have bred the dogs to have legs like this so that they would stay around and be nice little lap dogs, and not run off all the time.  Pekingese have double coats, and they can be lots of different colors, although the most common are gold, red, or sable.  They weigh between 7 and 14 pounds, and they are 6 to 9 inches tall.  There are smaller pekes that only weigh about 6 or 7 pounds, and these are called "sleeve pekingese" because the emperors and empresses used to carry them around inside their big sleeves.

Writer Edith Wharton with two pekes

Because they have such flat faces, Pekingese may have breathing problems, and they can catch colds easily.  Also they might have trouble with their eyes, such as getting eye ulcers or dry eyes or progressive retinal atrophy.  Since they have long backs, they can sometimes injure the disks in their spines.  But if they stay healthy, pekes can live for about 10 or 15 years.

The temperament of this breed is sensitive, independent, and very loving.  They were bred to be companion dogs, and that is what they are good at, but they also make good watchdogs.  If they are fed too much, it's easy for them to get too fat, and sometimes pekes can be difficult to housebreak.

So that's the story of the breed that won at Westminster this year.  Malachy is supposed to be an excellent example of all that is best in his breed, but who can tell anything about him, under all that hair?  Which is why I personally still wish the Dalmatian had won!