Only members of China's Imperial Palace could own one. The breed reached Britain after the 1860 sack of the Summer Palace, when Captain John Hart Dunne brought a dog home.

The Asian Toy family. Bred for centuries as palace and monastery companions in China, Tibet and Japan. Early exports were mixed freely, so this family shows heavy genetic sharing inside the group.

Dignified, confident and loyal. Independent.

Voice

Barks to alert you, then settles.

With kids

Good with respectful kids when raised with them.

Other dogs

Usually fine with other dogs when socialized.

Home

A natural apartment dog.

Exercise. Fairly relaxed: daily walks plus short play sessions. Puppies do better with several short sessions than one long walk, and older dogs need gentler outings.

Training. Trains at an average pace. Reward-based methods and a regular routine work best.

Floor-length coat: daily brushing, or ask a groomer for a shorter trim that's easier to keep up. Moderate, seasonal shedding.

For every dog: trim nails when you can hear them click on the floor, brush teeth daily if you can (a few times a week still helps), and clean ears about once a month, drying them well after baths and swims.

Daily calories

About 270–450 kcal for a healthy adult

Dry food

Roughly 0.75–1.25 cups a day at ~400 kcal per cup

Puppies eat four small meals a day at 6 to 12 weeks, drop to three somewhere between 3 and 6 months, and move to two meals a day from about 6 months.

Tiny breeds can be prone to low blood sugar, so keep young puppies on regular small meals.

Measure meals and keep an eye on the waistline; you should be able to feel the ribs.

Keep treats, including training treats and table scraps, under 10% of daily calories.

Calories use the resting-energy formula from the Merck Veterinary Manual (70 × body weight in kg^0.75) times a maintenance factor of 1.4 to 1.8, so very active or working dogs may need more. Cups assume about 400 kcal per cup; check your food's label. Treat any feeding chart as a starting point and adjust to body condition.

Typical lifespan is 12–14 years. Conditions reported in the breed:

Ask breeders for health-test results from the parents (hips, eyes, and DNA tests where relevant), and schedule yearly vet checkups.

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Photos come from Wikimedia Commons and are used under the licenses shown. Only freely licensed photos appear on this site; where none is available, you'll see an illustration.

• Wikipedia: Pekingese (opens in a new tab)
• AKC breed weight chart (opens in a new tab)
• AKC: Puppy feeding fundamentals (opens in a new tab), bloat (opens in a new tab), treats (opens in a new tab) and grooming (opens in a new tab)
• Merck Veterinary Manual: Nutritional requirements of small animals (opens in a new tab)

Ratings for energy, shedding and the like are our own summaries, informed by these sources. Breed facts were checked in October 2026.