hello chowchow lovers!

Introduce yourself and ask questions of the forum Chow Chow enthusiasts.

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osolovesmiski
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hello chowchow lovers!

Post by osolovesmiski »

hello everyone my name is Sandra and im new to the forum so i thought i would introduce my chows Miski is a 2year old female and Oso is a 1yeald old male. We got miski first when she was 2months old and decided a year later to get her a playmate so we added Oso to our family we got him when he was 3months old. I love my chows they bring joy to my life each day as im sure yours chows bring to you aswell. iv been reading some of the forums and iv seen many of you say that chows cant be of the leash which i agree on but this applys only to miski because she will bolt any chance she gets chasing cats and rabbits or anything that catches her attention. but i can have oso of the leash at the park he always stays close or a few feet away but comes when i call him and i think this is because he has scared of his collar and leash when he was a puppy so i would just walk him without one so i guess he learned to stay close from then.But now he is awsome on the leash when we go for walks he isnt afraid anymore and walks at my pace, miski on the other hand pulls on the leash alot i have taken her to training and it hasnt worked so if anyone has any tips it will be very much appreciated!
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Auddymay
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Re: hello chowchow lovers!

Post by Auddymay »

Lovely Chows you have, welcome! As to the pulling, well, my Lily is always on the end of her lead. She does not pull hard, but neither is it correct. She even has a front clip harness. This helps immensely, but does not correct the problem completely.
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Michael's Maggie May
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Re: hello chowchow lovers!

Post by Michael's Maggie May »

Maggie thinks she is supposed to be lead dog on a sled team. I have won obedience ribbons with my past dogs but Maggie will not heel with me unless she has had enough of the walk and is exhausted. I have contacted trainers for advice and they want to use shock collars and I object to that kind of training. I think my problem is that I take her to the State park nearby and let her explore on an 8 ft lead then when I walk her in the neighborhood I want her to heel and she just doesn't get the difference.I tried Ceasar's collar, I tried choke chains but it breaks the hair around her neck so now I'm using an English style lead where the collar and leash are the same material. I have to be careful for she loves me to chase her.
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Ursa's daddy
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Re: hello chowchow lovers!

Post by Ursa's daddy »

I use a harness on both my dogs. I think it is better for them and for me. I typically use a 5 ft lead on each dog and walk then holding both leads in one hand. When they first get out of the house, they are all excited, and pull, but after about 5 minutes they calm down. I do have a lead which has two loops, one at the end , and one near the clip. If I choose to use this lead, I can have a hand right over the dog. Usually, I just make a loop in the 5 ft lead if I need a shorter lead. Either way, this gives me considerable control over the dogs.

What ever you use on the dog, you will have to do a lot of training. I do not let the dogs run without a lead except in enclosed areas. My male has gotten out a few times, and I can actually lead him by just grabbing a few fingers of fur around his neck. If he thinks that I am restraining him, he will comply. I have not seen a chow that would just stick close to its owner without a lead. It just does not seem to be a characteristic of the breed.
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Sirchow
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Re: hello chowchow lovers!

Post by Sirchow »

Everyone has different ideas on how to get a chow to walk nicely and I can only tell you what I did that works with Bramble. As a youngster up to 18 months I dispaired of ever getting her to walk nice and she ruined dog walks for me by pulling all the time. Eventually by trial and error and her getting loose a couple of times I hit on this full proof method for us. She wears a harness with a long retracting lead. I am not sure the make of harness matters that much as the harness is for security and long lead walking. I then control her from pulling when we are on roads and other places a long lead is inappropriate by putting a nylon 1 1/2" wide slip lead over her head high up under her chin where the most control comes from. If you need to check a dog dont pull backwards pull up the way. The nylon being very slippy doesn't catch the coat or pull it out and slackens as soon as she stops pulling. It is also much gentler than a choke chain which I am not keen on. Our two both soon differentiated between the slip lead on which means walk nice and the slip lead off which means I can run arround. The problem with this slip lead is its very slippiness in that it can be jerked off if the chow throws itself backwards and refuses to walk with you and thats where the retractable lead/harness comes in. Mine both walk perfectly now one each side and no pulling and I can easilly walk them together with their slip leads on. Admittedly t is a bit of a faff putting them back on after free time when I have to keep hold of four leads but they put their heads out to help thankfully.
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Siriol, Bramble, Izzie and Isla.
BeckiHutton
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Re: hello chowchow lovers!

Post by BeckiHutton »

Oh my goodness, the first picture looks soo much like my lily does... he/ she is beautiful
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Pretty little lily :). Thank you sweetpea for the wonderful banner
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TyChowgirl
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Re: hello chowchow lovers!

Post by TyChowgirl »

I've tried different methods on Ty for pulling. I started out with a no pull harness and starting the day we got him tried to make him get used to the idea of walking by my side instead of ahead of me. That worked for a little bit till he hit about 5 months and I started to alternate the slip collar to the harness. He outgrew the harness and I kept the slip chain. It worked for a while, but the only downside was the fur pulling and when he would get scared ( pretty much any time we encountered a boy on a skateboard) he would really really pull. I stopped the slip chain the last time this happened because when we got home I noticed there was a small open wound on his neck from him pulling on his collar and the collar pulling on his fur. I felt horrible. It's now a small furry scab (after some cleansing and neosporin for a couple of days) but the next day I went to get a harness again. I was going to get the same I had before (only larger of course!lol) but when I asked the lady at the petstore about which one they recommended more, I ended up coming home with the no pull harness that hooks in the front with the martingale style. I love it. It's easy to put on and he loses the power of his body because of how it affects him in the front. It's a tad awkward with the leash in the front, but it does the job when he decides he does want to pull.
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osolovesmiski
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Re: hello chowchow lovers!

Post by osolovesmiski »

BeckiHutton wrote:Oh my goodness, the first picture looks soo much like my lily does... he/ she is beautiful
Thanks thats Oso hes my male chow and lily is so precious ! they do look alike!
osolovesmiski
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Re: hello chowchow lovers!

Post by osolovesmiski »

thanks everyone for the advise i had a harness before but she would try to chew it off and plus she has outgrown it however i think i will buy another one and try again aswell as a lead for the neck for better control. i have tryed a choke collar but she would still pull on it to the point where she couldnt breath so i never used it again i felt so bad for even trying it. thanks again for all the great tips i will keep you guys updated if it works!
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Ursa's daddy
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Re: hello chowchow lovers!

Post by Ursa's daddy »

I do like the harnesses for my two, and I understand about having the dogs chew on the harnesses. I remove the harnesses from my two when we get home. I used to leave them on, but they found they could make a fun game of grabbing the harness and pull on each other. It seemed to be more fun than the rope toy. However, the rope toy was hard to chew in two, and the harness was no match for some dog teeth.
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