Breed History

The exact history of the Chow Chow and the bloodlines it took to create this breed are unknown to us today. What people do know, is that this breed has the very same characteristic of the “black and blue” mouth and the Chinese Shar Pei, making people think that the Chow Chow was created in China. This breed was used in China as a working breed doing many different tasks including hunting, guarding, herding and sledding. Today, this breed is owned as a family companion and watch dog for many families in the U.S.

Breed Appearance

This breed is a medium to large sized breed with males and females measuring an average of 18-22 inches in height and weighing 45-65 pounds. Please note that males and females may be smaller or larger than show standard and still be purebred. This breed is built very stocky in appearance and “bear like” due to their very thick, fluffy coat. This breed has a broad head with two small triangular ears that stand firm on the top of their head. Their head forms into a short, rectangular muzzle with a large black nose at the end. Their two small eyes are almond shaped and are generally a dark brown to black in color. Their tail is small in length, carried high and towards their body. Their coat is available in smooth or rough coat, medium in length and available in solid red, black, blue, cream, tan, and sometimes white.

Breed Temperament

This breed is not meant for everyone. Full education about this breed is highly recommended prior to adding one to your family. The Chow Chow requires a firm and consistent owner. This breed can become very dominate if not raised properly with positive reinforcement training methods. This breed requires early rules and boundaries set within your home that are followed throughout the life of your new pup. When these rules are not met every day, the Chow Chow will not take them seriously and will quickly start to develop many behavioral issues. This breed does well with dogs and pets it grows up next to, however they are known for having difficulty getting along well with outside dogs and pets. This breed when raised properly does very well with children and family. Early obedience classes are highly recommended for this breed and the owner to learn how to properly handle situations and form a solid foundation in the owner and canine relationship. This breed does well with learning. This breed needs to be socialized early and throughout their life to remain social.

Breed Grooming

This breed requires daily brushing and bathing when needed. Professional grooming is highly recommended at least twice a year. This breed does shed.

Special Notes

This breed is not for everyone and comes with a warning to please fully educate yourself about this breed prior to adding one to your family. This breed requires a certain type of owner and household to be the best that they are able to be without an array of behavioral issues. A fully fenced in yard is highly recommended. Do not add a new dog to your family unless you are able to make a life long commitment physically and financial to your new pet. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.

Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2022. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.