Chow Chow

The Chow Chow looks exactly as if someone took a teddy bear, added a lion's mane, and endowed it with the facial expression of a perpetually slightly dissatisfied aristocrat — and this one image says almost everything about it. This is one of the oldest breeds in the world, counting in China well over two thousand years, where it was prized as a guard, draft, and court dog; the lush mane around the head to this day gives it a leonine, dignified appearance, for which it is sometimes called the lion-dog. It also has a certain secret hidden in its mouth: a blue-black tongue, an oddity that in the canine world it shares with only a few breeds. Except that the greatest surprise awaits those who, at the sight of this fluffy lion, expect a living cuddly toy — because the Chow Chow behaves completely differently than its appearance would suggest. It behaves like a cat.

And a cat in the most dignified, imperious edition. The Chow is independent, calm, and full of reserve — it itself decides when and to whom it is permitted to touch it, and it dispenses its tenderness with the deliberation of a monarch handing out medals. It can come, accept exactly as much petting as it deems appropriate at the moment, and then get up and walk away in the very middle of the stroking, apparently having deemed the audience concluded. Toward strangers it can be cool and distrustful, and it has its opinion on every subject and does not intend to consult it with anyone. It moves, meanwhile, in a manner as characteristic as the rest of its person: because of its straightened hind legs the Chow's gait is stiff and a bit angular, so the dog does not so much walk across the room as dignifiedly stride through it, as if it were about to receive an honorary badge at any moment. And despite all this seriousness it is impeccably clean and almost devoid of doggy smell — because tidiness, of course, also befits someone of its stature.

All this aristocratic haughtiness has, however, its other face — and it is precisely this that makes the Chow truly exceptional. When this dog does grant someone its affection, it does so with a strength and depth hard to expect of it. The Chow usually chooses one person for itself — its human — and to them it gives a faithfulness that is quiet, lifelong, and absolute, treating the rest of the world with polite distance. It is not a dog that loves easily and everyone equally; it is a dog that loves rarely, but with its whole self. And it is precisely for this reason that winning a Chow's heart can be one of the most satisfying feelings a dog can give — because it resembles the moment when a proud, self-sufficient cat of its own will chooses you in particular and recognizes you as the only person in the world beside whom it is worth lowering its guard. It is a love you have to earn — and once you receive it, another equally loyal is hard to find.

Keeping this leonine majesty in good form requires a thoughtful diet, because the Chow's body has a few tender points.

The Chow Chow is not a dog that will throw itself at your feet and court your favor — and it is precisely this pride that constitutes part of its remarkable charm. It is a dignified loner with leonine majesty and a feline soul, that does not pretend to be someone it is not and does not grant itself to random people.

Care for its magnificent coat, joints, coolness, and weight, respect its independence, and give it time to decide for itself to let you in — and once it does, you will understand why the people to whom the Chow has given its heart speak of it with such emotion. Because to be chosen by this dignity-filled lion in a dog's skin is a little like the most unattainable creature under the sun looking over the whole world and then quietly deciding that of all people it is precisely beside you that it wants to lay its proud head.