One of the oldest outlines in dogs
The Chow Chow has been recognizably itself for a very long time. Pottery figures and bas-reliefs from the Han dynasty, made two thousand years ago, show a heavy-headed, thick-coated, curl-tailed dog that anyone would identify on sight today. In northern China the breed worked as a hunting dog for the nobility, as a guardian at gates and temples, and as a cart and sled dog where the ground suited it.
Its Chinese names are more descriptive than the English one. The best known is Songshi Quan, which translates roughly as puffy-lion dog, and once you have seen an adult in full rough coat you will not need the translation explained.
The English name arrived by a stranger route. In the late eighteenth century British merchant ships coming home from Canton listed assorted curiosities in the cargo manifest under the pidgin term “chow chow” — a catch-all for miscellaneous goods — and the dogs travelled home in the same lots and picked up the label. One was exhibited in London as a curiosity in the 1820s. Queen Victoria took the breed up later in the century, which did for the Chow what her interest did for several other breeds, and the American Kennel Club recognized it in 1903.
The blue-black tongue and the rest of the face
Two things set the Chow apart from every other breed at a glance, and the first is the tongue. It is blue-black, and so are the roof of the mouth, the gums and the flews. The only other breed that shares this is the Chinese Shar-Pei, which points back to a common origin in the same part of the world. Puppies are born pink and the colour comes in over the first weeks, so a young Chow is often caught mid-change with a mottled tongue, which is entirely normal and rather charming.
The second is the expression. The skull is broad and flat, the muzzle is short and blunt and wide right to the end, and the eyes are dark, almond-shaped and deep-set. The ears are small, thick, rounded at the tip, set wide apart and carried tipped forward. Put all that together and you get the famous Chow scowl, which describes a face rather than a mood — the dog underneath is usually perfectly content.
Then there is the gait. The hind legs are notably straight, with very little bend at the hock and stifle, and the result is a short, stilted, up-and-down stride that no other breed produces. A Chow crossing a room looks like it is walking on stilts made of springs, and it is one of the small pleasures of owning one.
Rough coat, smooth coat, five colours
There are two coat types and both are double coats. The rough coat is the one everybody pictures: an abundant, standing outer coat that holds away from the body over a thick woolly undercoat, heaviest around the neck and shoulders where it forms the ruff that gives the breed its lion outline, with feathering on the back of the legs and a well-plumed tail carried over the back. The smooth coat is shorter, hard and lies flat with no ruff and no feathering, but the dense undercoat is still there underneath.
The standard recognizes five colours: red, black, blue, cinnamon and cream. Red covers everything from a light golden shade to a deep mahogany, and it is the one most people picture. Blue is a soft slate grey. Cinnamon runs from fawn through to a warm tan. Shading is common and correct — the ruff, the tail and the feathering are often a lighter tone than the body, which gives an adult in good coat real depth in ordinary daylight.
Adults stand about seventeen to twenty inches at the shoulder and weigh somewhere between forty-five and seventy pounds. The coat makes them look larger than the tape measure says, and picking one up is a two-arm job.
Dignified, clean, and quietly devoted
Chows get compared to cats constantly, and the comparison holds up. They are dignified, self-contained and undemonstrative. A Chow is thoroughly attached to its own household and simply not that interested in anybody outside it, and it makes up its own mind about a visitor at its own pace. What you get in return for that reserve is a very deep loyalty, given to a few people and given completely.
They are also exceptionally clean dogs. Chows groom themselves, take care where they put their feet, and are among the easiest breeds to house-train — many puppies get the idea within days of arriving. And they are quiet. A Chow is not a running commentary. It will tell you when somebody is at the gate and then go back to lying in the doorway where it can see two rooms at once.
Socialization is the investment that shapes the adult, and it is worth building into the first year rather than the first month. New people, new floors, car rides, umbrellas, hats, bicycles, calm adult dogs going about their business. A Chow that has met a hundred ordinary things by six months treats the hundred and first as ordinary too, and grows into the settled, unbothered adult the breed is known for.
Grooming as a weekly habit
The coat is the part of Chow ownership with a schedule attached, and once it settles into a routine it becomes a companionable half-hour that both of you look forward to. Two or three sessions a week with a pin brush and an undercoat rake, working in sections right down to the skin, keeps a rough coat standing the way it should. The places that want the most attention are behind the ears, through the ruff and down the trousers, and most Chows settle onto their side and doze once the rhythm starts.
Twice a year the undercoat turns over with the seasons. For a fortnight the rake comes out daily, you fill a bag with soft undercoat, and then the coat comes back in fresh and the routine returns to normal. Smooth-coated Chows follow the same calendar with a shorter session each time.
Baths are occasional rather than scheduled, and the drying matters more than the washing — a coat this dense wants a proper dry right down to the skin. Wipe the folds around the muzzle and eyes while you are already brushing. Nails a little and often, ears wiped as part of the same session, and teeth brushed early enough that a puppy decides the toothbrush is a game. A groomer who knows double coats is worth finding, and most owners settle into a standing appointment every couple of months to handle the feet, the rear and the seasonal turnover.
Training, walks and the warm months
Exercise needs are moderate and easy to live with. Two steady walks a day suits most Chows, and this is a strolling breed rather than a running one — the pleasure is in the pace and the company. In a Florida or Tennessee summer, the early and late hours are the pleasant ones for both of you, with shade, water and a cool tile floor in between. Leave the coat full rather than clipping it short, because a double coat works in both directions and the standing outer layer keeps sun off the skin; a groomer who knows the coat can set you up with the right approach.
Training a Chow calls for a different mindset than training a dog bred to take instruction all day. Chows are intelligent and independent, and they cooperate when they can see the point. Short sessions, real rewards, the same words from every adult in the house, and a light hand throughout. Start in the first week the puppy is home, keep it cheerful, and stop while the dog still wants another go. What you get is a dog that has decided to work with you, which is worth considerably more than one that has been drilled into it.
Coming to meet the Chow Chow puppies
Nothing on a screen conveys the density of that coat, or the weight of a Chow puppy leaning against your shin, or the way one looks levelly back at you and takes its time deciding. A rough-coated puppy in particular is a bigger, denser, more solid thing in the hand than any photograph suggests.
Our Chow Chow puppies come from our network of licensed breeders, and our team can tell you what the weekly grooming routine looks like and what a particular puppy has been like. We have a store in Orlando and one in Nashville, and you are welcome to sit on the floor with a puppy for as long as you like before deciding anything. Find directions and hours, and ask about financing while you are here. Every puppy here goes home with its vet records, its vaccination history and a health warranty, and our team will walk you through what those cover.