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Chow Chow

The ancestry of the Chow is attributed to China where he was kept as a guard dog, and also used for hunting. He made his way to England sometime during the late eighteenth century. He is unique with his stiff, stilted movement, blue-black tongue, and such is his appearance that he cannot be mistake for any other breed. He is aloof and stan-offish, extremely loyal to his owner, with a tendency to be a one-man dog. Not noisy, but when roused he is well able to defend home and owner. The Rough Chow has a coat which is abundant, thick, and stands off from the body. It requires about five minutes daily grooming to keep it in good condition. The Smooth Chow has a woolly undercoat with a short topcoat of plush texture. Although red is the most popular colour of both varieties, Followed by black, they can also be seen in the most lovely whole blue, or shades of fawn.

Greneral Appearance ** Active, compact, shortcoupled and essentially well balanced, leonine in appearance, proud, dignified bearing, wel knit frame, tail carried well over back.

Characteristics ** Quiet dog, good guard, bluish-black tongue, unique in its stilted gait.

Temperament ** Independent, loyal yet aloof.

Head & Skull ** Skull flat, broad, stop not pronounced, well filled out under eyes. Muzzle moderate in length, broad from eyes to end not pointed at end like afox. Nose, large and wide in all cases, black with exception of cream and near white in which case a light-colourred nose permissible, and in blues and fawns a selfcoloured nose.

Eyes ** Dark, almond-shaped, fairly small and clean. A matching coloured eye permissible in blues and fawns. Clean eye, free from entropion, never being penalised for sake of mere size.

Ears ** Small, thick, slightly rounded at tip, carried stiffly and wide apart but tilting well foeward over eyes and slightly towards each other, giving peculiar characteristic scowling expression of the breed. Scowl never to be achieved by loose wrinkled skin of head.

Mouth ** Teeth strong and level, jaws strong, with a perfect, regular and complete scissor bite, i.e. upper teeth closely overlapping lower teeth and set sqaure to the jaws. Tongue bluish black. Roof of mouth and flews black blue black, gums preferably black.

Neck ** Strong, full, not short, set well on shoulders and slightly arched.

ForeQuarters ** Shoulders muscular and sloping. Forelegs perfectly straight, of moderate length, with good bone.

Body ** Chest broad and deep. Ribs well sprung but not barrelled. Back short, level and strong Lions powerful.

HindQuaerters ** Hindlegs muscular, hocks well let down, with minimal angulation, essential to produce characterristic stilted gait. From hocks downwards to apear straight, hocks never flexing forward.

Feet ** Small, round, cat-like, standing well on toes.

Tail ** Set high, carried well over back.

Gait & Movement ** Short and stilted. Forelegs and hindlegs moving parallel to each other and straight forward.

Coat ** Either rough or smooth. Rough" profuse, dense, straight and stand off. Outer coat rather coarse in texture, with soft woolly undercoat. Especially thick round the neck forming mane or ruff and with god culottes or breechings on back of thight. Smooth" coat short, abundant, dense, straight upstanding, not flat, plush-like in texture. Any artificial shortening of the coat which alters the natural outline or expression should be penalised.

Colour ** Whole coloured black, red blue, fawn, cream or white, frequently shaded but not in patches or parti-coloured * underpart of tail and back of things frequently of a lighter colour.

Size ** Height: dogs: 48-56 cms ( 19-22 ins ) at the shoulder; bitches: 46-51 cms ( 18-20 ins ) at shoulder.

Faults ** Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.

Note ** Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.