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Early History of the Chow Chow

Without a doubt, the Chow Chow (hereinafter referred to as Chow) is one of our most ancient breeds, dating as far back as the 11th century BC and described as heavily built, and having harsh, bristly hair, straight back legs and blue tongues. They were called Tartar dogs. The public are usually familiar with the rough coated Chow, however, the smooth coated Chow has a history at least as old as the rough coated. The smooth coated Chow quite possibly could have been the original Chow. When imported to England, there were as many smooth coated Chows as rough coated. included in the shipment. The last carnivores to separate were the canines and the ursines. About 28 - 12 million years ago, the Hemicyon appeared which was an irmediate between dog and bear, a moderate size, and dog-like in many respects. A direct descendant was the Simicyon, an animal varying in size from a fox to a small bear. They inhabited the sub-artic regions and as the Ice Age descended upon them, they moved southwardly towards Siberia and Northern Mongolia. Other than its bear-like features, the Chow also has a blue-black tongue, a broad skull, short muzzle, and square body much like the small bears of Tibet aned Manchria The bear species have 44 to 46 teeth - the Chow has 44 teeth (although they will lose two teeth when they become adults). The normal dog-group has 42 teeth. The ancestor of the Chow was probably established in Mongolia many many years before the evolution of ape-man into homosapiens. Barbaric tribes north of China inavded China and brought with them their war dogs, which were called "mastiff", indicative of their size, power and hunting ability. They were described as "lion-like, large and powerful, and distinguished by black tongues" which legend has it that "the blackness of the mouth was to ward of evil spirits" and such legend enhanced the Chow's reputation as a guard dog of both palaces and monasteries. Records show that China's Emperor Wu Want (1122-1116 BC) was given a large number of these dogs as gifts. These "war dogs" were found to be worthy of the use of man and were highly valued for hunting, herding and guarding. The Chow was also found to be living like royality themselves with the Emperors and noblemen of the time, but they were also use eaten, being raised much like cattle. Marco Polo was the first European person to visit China and write about the Chow in his travel ledger. The Chow was brought to England and housed in the London Zoo as a wild dog. Queen Victoria was presented with some of these Chows, which she kept in cages at Windsor, after which an interest grew in breeding these beautiful dogs for exhibition. The Chow's lovable character became widely known, and many well-know and famous people, European Royalties, Presidents of our United States, doctors, celebrities, actors, actresses, and the list is endless. There are several colors recognized as standard which include red (reds can range from bright self-red to very light reds, almost blond), black, blue(a blue is a smokey grey, it can have silver shadings, or be a solid color, with a slate nose), cinnamon (pale to deep), and cream (almost white with apricot tinge to his coat and ears. NOTE: Creams often have difficulties retaining pigment (the black color of mouth and nose which is required if you exhibit), however, good pigment can be found if correctly bred. There is so much to know about our wonderful Chow, but I will mentioned one more thing in this educational page, and then will refer you to other sources with which to do more research if you are truly interested, and that being how the supposedly to their name. Occurring in the 11th century, BC, one of its original names was 'Chao' meaing ' a large, primitive, extraordinary dog of great strength', along with 'Ao' which was probably short for 'Chao' : Chao Ao. But also in the same century, it is called 'Man Kou' meaning 'dog of the barbarians' or 'Tarter dog'. By 100 AD it was called 'Mang' (dog with much hair), 'Chao' (dog of great strength), or 'Ti' (red dog). Many centuries later after being imported to the western part of the world, it was first called the 'Foreign Dog' and then the 'Chinese Edible Dog'. Then later because the people from the western world wanted to drop the part about it's edibility, they (England) changed its name to 'Chow Chow', either adopting the name from the ship's cargo (which was called 'chow chow', which the Chow was imported with, or it may have been a derivitive of the original 'Chao'.

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