Chow Chow Breed Standards

THE CHOW CHOW BREED STANDARD (Kennel Union of Southern Africa)

GENERAL APPEARANCE
Active, compact, short-coupled and essentially well balanced, leonine in appearance, proud, dignified bearing; well knit frame; tail carried over back.

CHARACTERISTICS
Quiet dog; good guard; bluish-black tongue; unique in its stilted gait.

TEMPERAMENT
Independent, loyal, yet aloof.

HEAD & SKULL
Skull flat, broad; stop not pronounced, well filled out under eyes. Muzzle moderate in length, broad from eyes to end (not pointed at end like a fox). Nose, large and wide in all cases, black (with exception of cream and near white in which case a light-coloured nose permissible, and in blues and fawns a self-coloured nose).

EYES
Dark, oval shaped, medium sized and clean. A matching coloured eye permissible in blues and fawns.
Clean eye, free from entropion, never being penalised for sake of mere size.

EARS
Small, thick, slightly rounded at tip, carried stiffly and wide apart but tilting well forward over eyes and slightly towards each other, giving peculiar characteristic scowling expression of the breed. Scowl never to be achieved by loose wrinkled skin of head.

MOUTH
Teeth strong and level, jaws strong, with a perfect, regular and complete scissor bite, i.e. upper teeth closely overlapping lower teeth and set square to the jaws. Tongue bluish black. Roof of mouth and flews black (blue black), gums preferably black.

NECK
Strong, full, not short, set well on shoulders and slightly arched.

FOREQUARTERS
Shoulders muscular and sloping. Forelegs perfectly straight of moderate length, with good bone.

BODY
Chest broad and deep. Ribs well sprung but not barreled. Back short, level and strong. Loins powerful.

HINDQUARTERS
Hindlegs muscular, hocks well let down, with minimal angulation, essential to produce characteristic stilted gait. From hocks downwards to appear straight, hocks never flexing forward.

FEET
Small, round, cat-like, standing well on toes.

TAIL
Set high, carried well over back.

GAIT/MOVEMENT
Short and stilted. Forelegs and hindlegs moving parallel to each other and straight forward.

COAT
Either rough or smooth.
Rough: profuse, abundant, dense, straight and stand-off. Outer coat rather coarse in texture, with soft woolly undercoat. Especially thick round neck forming mane or ruff and with good culottes or breechings on back of thighs. Smooth: coat short, abundant, dense, straight, upstanding, not flat, plush-like in texture. Any artificial shortening of the coat which alters the natural outline or expression should be penalised.

COLOUR
Whole coloured black, red, blue, fawn, cream or white, frequently shaded but not in patches or parti-coloured (underpart of tail and back of thighs frequently of a lighter colour).

SIZE
Dogs: 48 - 56 cm (19 - 22 in) at shoulder.
Bitches: 46 - 51 cm (18 - 20 in) at shoulder.

FAULTS
Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree and it's effect on the health & welfare of the dog.

NOTE
Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.

Copyright Kennel Club, London 3/94, Reprinted with permission, FCI (205) Gp5, KUSA/94
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publisher. The publisher of this edition is the Kennel Union of Southern Africa.
Reproduced on this website with kind permission from the Kennel Union of Southern Africa.

 

QUALIFICATIONS FOR ADVANCED REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE, Fedco 12/99. Effective 1 April 2000.

Before submitting any application the following requirements must have been fulfilled.

1. Must be on the Kennel Union Breed Register.

2. Be positively identified by tattoo, microchip or DNA.

3. Be over twentyfour (24) months of age.

4. Be a Kennel Union Breed (conformation) Champion.

5. The registered name of the dog must contain an Affix (Kennel name).

6. The dog has been x-rayed for Hip Dysplasia aged twelve (12) months or older and been issued with an acceptable Certificate, incorporating its KUSA Registered name and number together with positive identification details, confirming it has hips graded HD 0-0.

7. A certificate issued by a registered Veterinarian incorporating the KUSA Registered Name and number, together with positive identification details, confirming there is no laxation of the patellas or clinical signs thereof.

8. A certificate issued by a registered Veterinarian, incorporating the KUSA Registered Name and number, together with positive identification details, confirming that eyes show no signs of entropion or that any surgical procedure has been carried out on them.

9. In the case of male dogs a Certificate is isuued by a registered Veterinarian, incorporating the KUSA Registered Name and number together with positive identification details confirming that it has both testicles fully descended into the scrotum.