Contact Details
Lesley Stewart
Wooroolin, QLD, Australia
Phone : 07 41642241
Email : chowtown14@gmail.com

"Out of the mists of antiquity, southwards from the barren wastes of the Arctic, came the inscrutable Chow Chow: a basic relic of a Miocene canine, intermediate between dog and bear and the only breed to possess the blue-black tongue. Driven by the urge of self-preservation across the vast expanse of Eastern Asia, they settled, and were established as an indigenious breed, on the high cold steppes of Mongolia long before the coming of man.

A great deal of the Chows early history has been lost over the centuries however we do know that the Chow is one of the few pure breeds left to-day.Early writings indicate that Genghis Khans armies were accompanied by thousands of powerful and very courageous dogs with black mouths, broad heads and much hair, wearing heavy harness and accompanying each warrior, used to attack and bring down the enemy.

Many nomadic tribes are also said to have used these dogs for hunting, guarding their precious livestock and that the peculiar stilted gait of these dogs was a tremendous advantage when pulling heavy sleds through the snow. The natives in Mongolia attributed their comparitive freedom from leopards and wolves to the courage and tenacity of these short muzzled dogs, which are described elsewhere as being "Of a suspicious nature, hostile to strangers and completly different to any other breed"

These dogs accompanied the Tartars when they invaded China in the 11th century BC. Many were gifted to Chinese royalty and noblemen and the Chinese regarded 'The Peculiar dog of the Tartars' to be of great value. The dogs were used for hunting and guarding important establishments and the Chinese took great care in the breeding, developing the black and blue colours.          When China's economy fell into decline dog farms came into being and many Chow crosses were found in these establishments however the pure bred Chows were kept safe with noblemen and in the many monasteries.

The Chow Chow found its way to England in the late 1700s when sailors took several of these dogs back to England as curiosites. One such dog was gifted to Queen Victoria and spent a lonely; solitary life in a Londen Zoo.   In 1895 the first Chow Chow Club was formed and a standard drawn up using Chow V111, 1890 to 1905, as the best example of the breed.