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My wife and I have been looking for a Chow Chow for a few months now, and I think we may have finally found one. We wanted the purebred look of one, but also wanted to know the background of the dog. We spoke with a few rescue organizations that had purebreds, but most of them do not recommend the Chows or know their background around children (Chows that haven't been raised with kids usually aren't good with them, and tend to have a hard time adapting). We also needed one that was a little past it's puppy age since we work and aren't home 24/7, but still have plenty of hours in the day for a young/middle age dog.
Anyhow, after going around in circles with rescue leagues and failing to find many that were good or known with children - We found one from a breeder. She is a champion pedigree female that is going to be retired from breeding at 4 yrs old. The breeder lady said she is wonderful with children (she has 5) and is super friendly with everyone; basically she said she's unlike a chow in friendliness and behaves amazingly around other people and other dogs.
We have a up there that is going to give the dog a check-up and let us know that she has a good bill of health and up-to-date on all shots. Is there anything else we should know about the dog? Any future risks to the dog since she was previously a breeding female?
We're very excited and can't wait to go pick her up. This will be my first dog in my own house; I always had a dog growing up with my family, but I didn't have one while in college.
Ask the person who is doing the checking to actually see the dog w/children, to observe how it interacts. The breeder could be lying or be honestly mistaken. Chows are known for having temperament issues so a physical interview w/the dog is critical.
Also, check to see how the dog was kept - crated, free run of the house, outside, etc. It could be a clue to temperament/behavior.
Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 07-30-2009 at 09:57 AM..
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I'm getting some red flags for some reason.
Why was she retired at 4 and, more importantly, why was she bred before 4? I'm not sure that's enough time to perform due-diligence and adequately evaluate health and temperment before you take the plunge into breeding. Why is the dog up for adoption rather than sale and why isn't she keeping her?
I could be way off but I'm not having a positive response.
I have a friend who got a rat terrier from the humane society......the previous owner had her as a breeder.(not professional)...and after the vet told them they couldnt breed her again....too many pregnancies too often....they dumped her in the shelter....her nipples still distended from the last litter....All Heart there! No more pups ..... off you go!
She has turned out to be a very nice addition to her new home. She has a terrier personality and I wouldnt call her good with kids...but she gets along with other dogs....and has resolved her health problems....and is much beloved where she now lives.
Why was she retired at 4 and, more importantly, why was she bred before 4? I'm not sure that's enough time to perform due-diligence and adequately evaluate health and temperment before you take the plunge into breeding. Why is the dog up for adoption rather than sale and why isn't she keeping her?
I could be way off but I'm not having a positive response.
It's not uncommon for show kennels to breed their females twice and then retire them if they don't like the quality of the pups. It might be, like what happened with my pug, that the female is lovely, but not suited to the ring for temperament reasons (not ALL dogs have fun in the ring, and to win a dog needs to look like he's enjoying himself!) and that temperament is passed down to the pups. My pug's sire is a champion, but his mother only got points because she was just so laid back in the ring she'd never finish her championship. After the second litter, the breeder decided that it was better to retire her. And show dogs aren't bred every year. It's healther to wait between litters.
If you're not into showing, some of this might be new. But I was thinking about co-owning a show dog and learned a LOT of this when I was doing my research.
This dog sounds fine, if she's good with kids. She will need to be spayed, however.
She's retiring her from breeding because she had to have a cesarean on the last litter. The breeder chose not to continue breeding her because she felt it was too hard on the dog. Both of her litters had healthy pups though and the dog we're getting is healthy now as well. We're having a Vet perform a health exam on the dog and verify to us that she is in good health before we buy her.
We're getting all the AKC pedigree paperwork as well for her. Her pedigree/parent dogs are from multiple champion bloodlines, so we felt that was a testament to her genetic health as well. I don't think we'll ever seriously/hard-core show dog her, but we may take her to local events if anything pops up. We are planning to have her spayed shortly after she settles in with us.
Why did we choose a Chow? My wife began wanting one simply based on looks, and that was the initial attraction. I've always had long-hair mixes when growing up, and coincidentally my last dog was mostly chow. But my wife fell in love with a Chow's looks when we started watching dog shows. After that, we began to heavily research the breed and found it's pros/cons in lifestyle and temperament. The bad temperament issues were very important to us, so we wanted to be sure to find one that was friendly, extremely well socialized and good with all people and children. This was also the reason we kept running into dead ends with Rescue leagues- they either did not know the dogs history or couldn't recommend them with children. Obviously it's tough to find a chow that is overly friendly with all people and other dogs, so we've been rather selective on picking the right one for us in that regard. This chow was one that finally met our requirements - she looks like a show dog chow, but doesn't have the bad temperament that goes along with it. The breeder said she's wonderful with people, and the breeder has 5 young children that she behaves great with as well.
We will definitely be sure to observe the dog with the breeders children though, I think that's a great idea. The poor economy has hit the breeder (5 kids, plus another on the way!!), so she's choosing to scale back on her breeding kennel due to costs. We are buying her, not adopting, so the breeder still sees value in the Chow being from a good pedigree; the breeder has a few of her dogs for sale, and this chow was one of them because she didn't do so well at breeding but would make an excellent pet. I'll be sure to observe how she acts around the woman's children, as well as how she reacts to us when we first meet her as strangers.
Thank you guys for the few tidbits of advice, definitely a few key things for me to check.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Viralmd
It's not uncommon for show kennels to breed their females twice and then retire them if they don't like the quality of the pups. It might be, like what happened with my pug, that the female is lovely, but not suited to the ring for temperament reasons (not ALL dogs have fun in the ring, and to win a dog needs to look like he's enjoying himself!) and that temperament is passed down to the pups. My pug's sire is a champion, but his mother only got points because she was just so laid back in the ring she'd never finish her championship. After the second litter, the breeder decided that it was better to retire her. And show dogs aren't bred every year. It's healther to wait between litters.
If you're not into showing, some of this might be new. But I was thinking about co-owning a show dog and learned a LOT of this when I was doing my research.
This dog sounds fine, if she's good with kids. She will need to be spayed, however.
You're right, I'm not terribly familiar with show dogs. With hunters it can be difficult to evaluate the dog's level of proficiency (and relative health) before it has really settled into its skin around 3 years and until the dog has been appropriately titled (very important to a lot of people and can be exceptionally expensive and time consuming) breeding would more or less be out of the question.
After reading the OP's last post it really sounds like you guys are going about this the right way and have a better than decent idea about what lies ahead. I over reacted to incomplete information.
She's retiring her from breeding because she had to have a cesarean on the last litter. The breeder chose not to continue breeding her because she felt it was too hard on the dog. Both of her litters had healthy pups though and the dog we're getting is healthy now as well. We're having a Vet perform a health exam on the dog and verify to us that she is in good health before we buy her.
We're getting all the AKC pedigree paperwork as well for her. Her pedigree/parent dogs are from multiple champion bloodlines, so we felt that was a testament to her genetic health as well. I don't think we'll ever seriously/hard-core show dog her, but we may take her to local events if anything pops up. We are planning to have her spayed shortly after she settles in with us.
Why did we choose a Chow? My wife began wanting one simply based on looks, and that was the initial attraction. I've always had long-hair mixes when growing up, and coincidentally my last dog was mostly chow. But my wife fell in love with a Chow's looks when we started watching dog shows. After that, we began to heavily research the breed and found it's pros/cons in lifestyle and temperament. The bad temperament issues were very important to us, so we wanted to be sure to find one that was friendly, extremely well socialized and good with all people and children. This was also the reason we kept running into dead ends with Rescue leagues- they either did not know the dogs history or couldn't recommend them with children. Obviously it's tough to find a chow that is overly friendly with all people and other dogs, so we've been rather selective on picking the right one for us in that regard. This chow was one that finally met our requirements - she looks like a show dog chow, but doesn't have the bad temperament that goes along with it. The breeder said she's wonderful with people, and the breeder has 5 young children that she behaves great with as well.
We will definitely be sure to observe the dog with the breeders children though, I think that's a great idea. The poor economy has hit the breeder (5 kids, plus another on the way!!), so she's choosing to scale back on her breeding kennel due to costs. We are buying her, not adopting, so the breeder still sees value in the Chow being from a good pedigree; the breeder has a few of her dogs for sale, and this chow was one of them because she didn't do so well at breeding but would make an excellent pet. I'll be sure to observe how she acts around the woman's children, as well as how she reacts to us when we first meet her as strangers.
Thank you guys for the few tidbits of advice, definitely a few key things for me to check.
From my understanding, you can not show the dog if she has been spayed. I would be very careful, Chows are notrious for being ill-tempered and unstable. With kids, you may be better off getting a puppy, and starting from there. I would be hesitant to bring in a grown dog, around little kids, especially a chow.
You're right, I'm not terribly familiar with show dogs. With hunters it can be difficult to evaluate the dog's level of proficiency (and relative health) before it has really settled into its skin around 3 years and until the dog has been appropriately titled (very important to a lot of people and can be exceptionally expensive and time consuming) breeding would more or less be out of the question.
After reading the OP's last post it really sounds like you guys are going about this the right way and have a better than decent idea about what lies ahead. I over reacted to incomplete information.
No, no, no. That wasn't an overreaction at all, this was the reason I posted the question. I've done my basic reading on the Chow breed, but I don't know much about the health effects of breeding on a dog. I wanted to post the question to see if people could stir up any questions I had overlooked, and you had some of the same gut reaction questions I had as well. The dog seems to be perfect for us, so I don't want to get caught up in that and miss something I should've found out ahead of time.
The part about breeding before 4 years old got me to go look up more information on them, as I didn't know when it was acceptable to begin breeding them. Chow chows are ready to begin breeding after the age of 2, and can generally handle about one litter per year. They've matured and developed enough by then to handle the physical strain of the process. So it sounds like they bred her appropriately and after enough time. So I learned something new in the process and helps make it a better decision.
Also, we do not currently have children yet, but we figure we'll have one at some point in the dogs life. So, as of now it's not an issue, just planning for the future with the dog in the family.
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