Wanting to get a chow, but have a few concerns...

[suesschow]

Hello everyone!

Firstly, I'm so happy to have found this website! Maybe someone can help me out.

I'm wanting to get a dog in the next year or so (school and work prevent me from doing so now) and am giving it a lot of thought. I don't want to jump into anything without doing my research. The only dog I can really see myself with is a chow chow. I don't want anyone to think that I've just come to this conclusion at random lol. I've grown up around chows and know their temperment. But that's one of the reasons why I like them so much. Loving, affectionate, and protective. But what do I do to keep it from being over the top?

My uncle has had chow chows since before I was born. The one now is named Charlie. Charlie and I have always gotten along really well! Last year, over Christmas holiday, my uncle was traveling to visit family, so I asked if I could take Charlie home with me to my parents house for christmas when I was visiting. Charlie and I have always been good friends but we don't see each other very often, but he is a big honeybear with everyone he meets. He was a little nervous when we picked him up for a trial run, but when we got him back to the house he was so happy to be around everyone and to cuddle with me on the floor. If one of us wasn't in the living room, he'd go looking for us with his tail wagging.

The trial run went great! I went home with my brother, and my grandma brought him later on. I showed him around the house and my parents who he likes. I then took him for several walks and introduced him to my friend who Charlie enjoyed. He went on walks with us. I had to watch out for strangers, but it wasn't a big deal, i saw that one coming. Charlie slept in my room with me and even insisted that I lift him on my high bed so that he could be close. He would go to sleep and I'd be up on my computer or watching tv. I could do anything, play with his ears, cuddle with him, and he wouldn't wake up. But as soon as I got out of bed, he was up and ready to go with me wherever. I even had to take him to the bathroom with me lol. Haha we had to go everywhere together which I didn't mind for the first couple of days, I needed to keep a close eye on him anyways because of our cat (he adores cats but my cat ran, so he gave chase). I called him my loverboy. And then on the third day, he wouldn't readily let anyone near me. I would try to correct him by letting him know that I was ok, and that they were fine but he really wasn't taking that as an answer. He went to being Mr. Social and liking everyone to being very protective of me. It was definitely flattering having someone being so protective, but it became overbearing. He started growling at my friend who he had liked the day before. He growled at my dad who he's know for years and years. I was careful before but had to be extra careful now.

I really like the protectiveness of chows and the strong relationships you form with them. I think that is very important. He loves me as much as I love him. I know not every dog has the same personality which is why I'm going to be deligent with finding the right match and socializing them early (which is what my uncle did with his chows). I want a strong bond with my chow, but how do I keep this from happening? Everyone jokes about it and says that he loves me so much because I give him so much attention. Was that wrong?

Thanks in advance! Sorry it was so long. I just thought all the extra information would help!

[Pinoy51]

You did everything right with your "trial chow" except one thing, discipline. When you allowed him to stay in your bed, he started to "own" you.
It is very important that you claim your space, your items (incl. food) as your possession. Specially when you still form a bond with your Chow, he needs to know who is the boss. The one who claims space and food is the boss.
So when you allowed him to stay in your space, while you were doing other things he took over, and now he protects you (his possession) from others.
Not only Chows are doing this, in some extreme cases the dog even restricts the space of his owner and gets food aggressive.
This all because you didn't claim the alpha position in your small pack.
The good news is that can be corrected, don't let him use your space. Distract him with other things, but be firm, move him away from your chair, make him move out of your way, go through doors ahead of him, specially when you take him for a walk and own the food.
Let him work not only for his treats, but also for his regular meal until he accepts his role as your follower. This will take care of the growling against family members and people he should know. Strangers and Chows is a complete different chapter.
Later once he respects you and the positions are clear between the two of you, you can relax. He then can share the couch or if you prefer the bed with you.
But I would think twice if I were you when it comes to sharing the sleeping place with a dog.
This signals very strongly you're equal to me.
I have my two chows in the same bed room, but they're on the floor, the bed is tabu.
Hope this helps you to understand a bit, the psychology behind dog dominance.

[tabate45]

You didn't really finish the story. How long did you have him after the protective behaviour started and did it get any better? You are also talking about an adult dog getting close with you pretty fast. You were his new toy. It seems like he is a well adjusted dog that probably meant no harm, just protecting his new buddy. A dog gotten as a puppy and raised and socialized properly usually only get growlie when they perceive a problem. My female is the only growler, and it's from behind a chair if a new person comes over. And that's only because she is timid, not protective.
Also, Pinoy is right. The bed is a human place and the mat or floor is the dog's place. Both ours sleep in the bedroom, one on each side.

[suesschow]

Thanks for the answers! I appreciate it! I definitely want to get all the chow-discipline rules down before I think seriously about getting one.

That's pretty understandable and makes sense. He would get on the floor when I fell asleep, so I don't know if that was his way of making sure I fell asleep ok before relaxing. I didn't realize that would make him be more possessive, so that's good to know. I did make him do tricks for treats and food, making him sit, lie down, etc and was good about saying no. He was eager to please. So I guess I at least did that right. But the bed thing does make sense and can see how that may have sort of cancelled out everything else I was doing. I guess I was excited about seeing him again and spoiled him a little. He was content sleeping on the floor until I invited him up on my bed

tabate45, we only had him for one more day after the behavior started. He apparently went back to being his normal self after he left, which is good. Could it have been that he was feeling out of place not having his house to protect, so since he saw me as his new friend that he had to transfer that energy to me? It was off and on around the family too. He is a great family dog, and is comfortable around everyone he was socialize with as a puppy, so I feel like he was just tense in general and it showed. I probably made him the center of my attention and, you're right, he saw me as his new thing to play with and didn't want to share me.

[Fozzbear]

Well done for being responsible and thinking all of this through before you get a chow - wish more were like you. I agreee - it is just a discipline/alpha of the pack thing that you have to perfect. Good luck!

[wokman]

Great response Pinoy51. I second what Fozzbear says I wish more people would take the time to know what they are getting into instead of grabbing the first fur ball puppy they see and later dumping it in a shelter when their expectations are not meet. I found, let them follow you, not you following them.

[Pinoy51]

Hi Wokman,
agree with you, the trouble with Chows is that they're super-cute puppy fur balls.
Many people don't realize that sooner than later they're going to get a strong, independent and intelligent companion, very capable of forming his own opinion and capable of acting on what he perceives as being necessary. He will lead, if no-one else does in his opinion.
Before I got Simba I decided to get a Chow because of the breed character and the cuteness was just a bonus.
I got Nala because I felt Simba was bored just with his old dog aunties, who were not willing to play with him.
Both Chows exceeded my expectation in terms of intelligence, but I had to throw out all my standard obedience training rules and had to fully rely on alpha role and leading by example. I'm still amazed how perfect this worked and that with relatively little effort they learned my rules and several dog tricks as another bonus. They follow, but take their time. They communicate and want a response. If you answer in their language a dialog can be established, which is rare with other dogs.
Every Chow need rules and boundaries, but one needs to earn his respect first by being a calm assertive leader in order for him to be able to listen and learn those boundaries. If their is no mutual trust and respect between human and Chow, the relationship to a Chow will remain problematic and in a too many cases gets out of control. Unfortunately it is the Chow who get's always the blame for misbehaving and not the human for not being capable to lead a Chow. The truth is, they're the most amazing dogs I ever met. I'm so proud of them, they became my four legged partners and friends.

[suesschow]

That's good advice. Being calm is something I feel most people forget about doing.

I, too, am drawn to the breed by their character. It's something as a human being that I get and can understand. I could get a different breed. Chows are cute and I could get something else that's cute to substitute. Everyone wants a cute dog, but that's not what i'm looking for in a companion. I have never seen a stronger bond than the one between my uncle and his chows. And it is based on trust and respect like you said. That's what I'm going train myself to establish so that we can hit the ground running when I finally do decide to get my first. There's a lot of reading in my future, good thing I have time

Thank you everyone for your advice and support. I am very appreciative. I will keep you updated when I get one. It may just take a year or two . Told my uncle to be on the lookout for people he knows that will be having puppies sometime then. But I assure y'all that I won't get one until I'm ready, no matter how tempting.

[Pinoy51]

@sueschow
I wish everybody would be as responsible as you. And as it looks, you have a great example how to do it right in your family. Even I wasn't as dedicated as you are to prepare myself for a life with Chows. All I knew from reading about them it will be very different from living other breeds. That what brought me to this forum, I became a member as an "insurance" that I can ask for advise if I hit something unexpected.
And I got tons of advise and help, my problem were health and feeding in the beginning ,as SImba tunrned out to be allergic to wheat and a super picky eater.
Now with more than a year of Chow experience and more than a decade of helping rescue dogs, I can give a bit back here.
This place takes care of Chows in so many aspects. I glad you found Chowchow.org, you will become a valuable member to support the wellbeing of Chows and humans related to them.