I've never met a pure bred Chow, but I have met a Chow/Rottie mix and she was a
doll. She was my friend's dog who just showed up at their house one day. You could tell she had been abused because she was very skittish and even though it looked like she wanted pet really bad, she would run away if you so much as looked at her.
But then she finally did get the guts up to come over to us. My friend and I were playing out in the snow and she came over and wanted her belly rubbed. She soaked in all of the attention and we were super happy that she had finally broken out of her shell.
She had a beautiful black and tan coat; she was like a fuzzy teady bear! And I was there when she got her first toy...she was so happy. But she didn't know what to do with it! She finally realized what it was for and then the joy in her eyes was something else.
But sadly, they did get rid of her...my friend and I still haven't quite gotten over that. Her parents had a church party at their house and just about everybody there said, "She's part Chow?!? Get rid of her, or she'll turn on the kids!" Stupid people...If I had known they were going to get rid of her, I would have taken her...they took her to the shelter and with her personality, I'm hoping she was adopted.
But just thinking about her in the shelter thinking that the only people she had trusted betrayed her and dumped her there...it makes me so sad.
(And to think...she had been abused but then trusted humans once again, and she was made up off the most "dangerous" breeds in the whole wide world! A Rottie and a Chow! I'm suprised she didn't eat us all when she first saw us! *heavily dripping in sarcasm*)
But ya, anyways, I've always thought it would be so neat to own a Chow, and if not a Chow, a Chow mix. I don't think I could handle the Rough Coated Chow, and besides, I like the look of a Smooth coat better.
I've heard that the Smooth type is a little bit more outgoing than the Rough type...is this true?
Oh, and IMO, if a Chow needs to be groomed, it needs to be groomed, Chow or not. If it has an issue with it, just muzzle it. (That goes for all dogs, not just Chows.) Muzzles were invented for a reason ya know.