Fury, The Little Fierce Pekingese

With a name like Fury, you would have thought he was a large ferocious dog. Fury was in fact a small dog, a Pekingese but equally fierce.

He did not think of himself as a toy dog but rather a guard dog. After all, he came from a line of dogs which is also commonly called the "Lion Dog". He certainly has the look of a lion.

He behaved like a fierce lion though he didn't quite have the roar to match!

A gift from an uncle

My uncle kept a number of Pekingese dogs. Each time we visited him, my siblings and I had great fun playing with his dogs. They looked really cute walking on their short stumpy legs. It reminded me of the way the Chinese women in the 17th century walked when they had to have their feet bound. She had to take dainty steps and walked in a swaying manner. The Peke's unusual rolling gait may have been deliberately bred so they couldn't wander far in the Chinese Imperial court.

When one of my uncle's bitches had a new litter, he came by our house one day with this new puppy which was 8 weeks old. We were overjoyed with his wonderful gift. This was our very first puppy! He looked like a lion with his flat face, two big black eyes and a funny little nose. His fur was brown in color and long.

Photo courtesy of indiadynamics.com

On the day that my uncle brought the puppy over to our house , my siblings and I were watching television. Television was very new then and my father had just recently bought one. So you can understand we were glued to it like a new toy. There was this program about a stallion called Fury and a boy who loved him. We loved to watch the series.

The puppy that my uncle brought had such a fierce looking face that somehow all three of us agreed Fury was the perfect name for our new puppy. It was in fact a most appropriate name as he displayed a fierce and protective nature just like the stallion in the series "Fury".

Pekingese card by Maciej_Frolow

No one ever told Fury that most people are not afraid of small dogs. They treat them like toy dogs. Well, try telling that to Fury. Fury is very protective of his home and its residents. We have had visitors who were afraid to go beyond the front gate when Fury started barking at them. His bark was more like yapping but interspersed with some fierce growls was enough to stop anyone stepping into Fury's turf.

Often we had to forcibly drag Fury away before a visitor could come in. So we felt quite safe having a small Pekingese to stand guard over our home.

- to take a walk everyday.

- play with his toy bone.

- his fur brushed and brushed ( I think it is therapeutic for him ).

- run about the garden.

- resting his head on someone's lap and having his head stroked (he usually falls asleep then)

Only royalty could own this dog breed

The Pekingese is an ancient breed of toy dog originating in China. It is named after the city of Peking, now known as Beijing. They are commonly referred to as "Lion Dog" because of its resemblance to the Chinese stone guardian lions which stood in front of the Chinese Imperial palace. They were the favored pet of the Chinese royalty who were the only ones who could own a Pekingese.

They were considered sacred and whenever the dogs did something wrong they were not punished. A servant had to take the punishment for the dog. Anyone who stole one of these dogs would be put to death.

There are a few legends about how the Pekingese came into being. A common legend has it that a lion fell in love with a marmoset ( a monkey species). The lion was too large and so he went to Buddha with his woes. The Buddha allowed the lion to shrink down to the size of the marmoset and the Pekingese is a result.

Another legend has it that the Pekingese is the result of the mating of a lion and a monkey. That is how it gained its nobleness and color from the lion and the ungainly walk from the monkey.