The Chow Chow is a dog of great versatility. He is a born sportsman and loves an open-air life--a warrior, always ready to accept battle, but seldom provoking it. He has a way of his own with tramps, and seldom fails to induce them to continue their travels.

Yet withal he is tender-hearted, a friend of children, an ideal companion, and often has a clever gift for parlour tricks. In China, his fatherland, he is esteemed for another quality--his excellence as a substitute for roast mutton.

Though in his own country he is regarded as plebeian, just a common cur, he is by no means a mongrel. That he is of ancient lineage is proved by the fact that he always breeds true to type.

He yields to the Pekinese Spaniel the claim to be the Royal dog of China, yet his blood must be of the bluest. If you doubt it, look at his tongue. Outwardly, the Chow worthily embodies the kind, faithful heart and the brave spirit within.

This is the technical term for the "no nonsense" look which deters strangers from undue familiarity, though to friends his expression is kindness itself. Though the Chow has many perfections, the perfect Chow has not yet arrived.

He nearly came with Ch. Chow VIII.--long since dead, alas!--and with Ch. Fu Chow, the best Chow now living, his light coloured eyes being his only defect. With many judges, however, this dog's black coat handicaps him sadly in competition with his red brethren.

Chow VIII. is considered the best and most typical dog ever benched, notwithstanding his somewhat round eyes. Almond eyes are of course correct in Chinamen. Ch. Red Craze owns the head which is perfect with the correct ear-carriage and broad muzzle, and the scowl and characteristic expression of a good Chow.

Dark red is the accepted colour of the Chow. Modern judges will not look twice at a light or parti-coloured dog, and it is to be feared that if even Ch. Chow VIII. could revisit the scenes of his bygone triumphs, his beautiful light markings would prove a fatal bar to his success.

These are natural, correct and typical marks, though present-day fanciers are trying to "improve" them away. A list of points as drawn up by the Chow Chow Club some years ago is added. The points are fairly right, but the tongue of a live Chow is never black. It should be blue, such a colour as might result from a diet of bilberries.

Click here:

Chow-Chow's Character