Second Chance: Mr. Law could not have anticipated the tremendous response and only about a dozen dogs were ready to be imported into the USA. Mr. and Mrs. Albright, Mr. and Mrs. Victor Seas, Ruth Fink, Lois Alexander and Mr. and Mrs. Ted Linn eagerly accepted the first puppies imported into the USA by Mr. Law's Down-Homes Kennel. Slowly they began to trickle in as Mr. Law searched his homeland countryside feverishly for more quality breeding stock.

The honor went to Mr. and Mrs. Victor Seas on July 6 1973 when they recieved Down-Homes Kung Fu. Interestingly he was actually smuggled out of Macao and the Sea's not only paid for the dog but the smuggling fees as well. An interesting discovery I made is that this dog is, by all accounts that I can find, also referred to as Down-Homes King Foo although I have no concrete verification of this.

In August 1973 the Albrights (Ernest pictured above) received Down-Homes Mui Chu (pictured inset) followed in short order by Down-Homes China Souel and in October 1973 Lois Alexander received Down-Homes Little Pea. Little Pea had been bred to her father, Down-Homes Sweet Pea, while in Hong Kong and after her arrival in the US whelped the first litter of US Shar-Pei pups from the Down-Homes Kennel stock.

Prior to the arrival of the Down-Homes stock it is important to note that there already existed a known 6 or 7 Shar-Pei in the United States from other sources. One of these being Herman Smith's dog Lucky. Lucky arrived in 1966 after being whelped in 1965 by breeder C.M. Chung. Lucky is thought to the the first Shar-Pei exported to the United States but he was not registered until 1970.