Is my chow a chow????

[chow mein]

I'm wondering if my chow isn't purebred but mixed because her nose isn't black. She is a cream/ cinnamon pup (6 mos. old), and though her tongue has turned darker gray it's lighter than my parents' chows. She looks like a chow, of course, and the breeder said both her parents were full chow though only one had papers, BUT
1. her eyes are light hazel, not dark brown or black
2. coat has two textures: soft except for coarser, darker fur on back
3. nose is gray-pink
4. tongue is gray
5. nails aren't black but white
6. snout seems a little longer than typical
7. extremely social. she loves strangers... huh.

Is it just me wondering why she's unlike my family chows that are purebred and standard for their breed? or is it that she's cream and therefore lighter in color everywhere?

[carolyn dewrance]

Yes she is a chow, a lot of cream chow have lighter coloring, so dont worry to much about it her pigmentation is genetic and if you do plan to mate her make sure that the male has darker pigmentation then her, I would love a photo of her you can send it to me at my email address carolynd@storm.co.za so that I can see what you mean. good luck with a wonderfull baby.
carolyn

[Zhuyos mom]

I say you are the proud parent of a cream colored chow chow...like Me and like Monica! Most of your descriptions fit my Zhu and Monica's Frodo. The others sound very similiar to Monica's Baby Kira (okay she's not a baby anymore). Miss Kira's tongue is lavender and her nose is pinkish. As Zhu aged his nose got spotty pink and as a senior has a beautiful pink tone.

So enjoy your baby! They grow up so fast!

[Rogansmommy]

My Rogan is a cream. He has a pink "Winter" nose and chocolate colored eyes. White toe nails as well! He's also 75 lbs. and 22 inches tall at the withers (can you say, OUT OF STANDARD? ). But he's a chow and I love him!

[chow mein]

Thank you all for your replies, especially Carol. Isn't South Africa hot? Is the chow a popular breed there? My Mika is dear to me, and I do already miss when she was in her chowlet stage. She's growing incredibly fast. My dog is very sweet, but I don't understand her a lot of the time. She likes being near me and follows me around the house, but she loves strangers and wiggles her butt outta control around whoever. She rarely barks, but sometimes she'll do it randomly when nothing's going on. She loves eating newspaper, too. I take it away from her, but Mika constantly tries to get to pieces of tissue, paper towels, or magazines to eat them. Quite a few people think my dog is cute, but I'd say every third person has a horror story to tell me involving them being bitten by angry chows. Sigh... I think it's great Martha Stewart has two chows she's crazy about!

[kingalls]

Mr. Nahkohe's nose is edged in black but pink toward the main part of it.
He is pretty much cream colored but has "tinges" a champagne coloring around his ears, back, and toward the tip of his tail. His tongue had a purple/blank racing stripe down the middle when he was younger but the purple/blank has since spread out to where the edges of his tongue are the only pink areas now. His toe nails are white. He does like to bark which doesn't seem to be the norm for most Chow Chows - oh, well - I guess he didn't read the book on that trait
He's a cutie with an attitude

Karen