Chow Chows Revealed

You are perhaps aware that each breed of dog comes with its own unique nutritional requirements that have come down the generations much like his coat, temperament, attitude and body size.

As a pet owner, it is necessary you know that your pet doesn’t look for a change in his diet. On the contrary, he finds it odd to eat anything new and different from what he’s used to. And you must also take care to see that his nutritional needs are being met by his diet.

His diet should contain:

1. Sources of nutrients found in his ancestors’ native environment. If should therefore not be strange and unfamiliar to his digestive and glandular systems but familiar and easy to digest and
2. The content of protein, carbohydrates, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals should match the requirements of his breed’s nutritional requirements

By feeding your pet right, you could not just invest in a healthy pet but also save a lot of money by not having to take him to the vet for problems of nutrition. Problems arising out of wrong or bad foods result in dry, itchy or flaky skin, hot spots, yeast infections in the ear, thyroid, liver or kidney problems, costing you an alarming amount of money every year.

This is why you need to study the nutritional needs of your pet before deciding on which food to give him. This results in a win-win situation: not only is your dog healthy, but you save money too.

Freshly cooked food: It is widely acknowledged that the best food you can give your pet is the one you make fresh for him everyday, using quality ingredients and without preservatives.

You will observe in time that it takes only about a couple of hours a week to cook for your Chow Chow so that his nutritional needs are satisfied. It will also turn out to be less expensive than buying commercial pet food.

In the early days, the Chinese ate the Chow Chow’s meat, though this breed lived on a diet of grains and vegetables. As a result, succeeding generations of this breed showed an indication of its development as a vegetarian by having a different structure of mouth, jaw and tooth as opposed to meat eating dogs. Its teeth are flatter than the sharp incisors of carnivorous dog breeds.

In its native environment, the primary sources of the Chow Chow’s food were rice, wheat, soy, and occasionally, fish. Even today, if you blend these foods, it would be the most ideal for him, On the other hand, foods to avoid serving him are beef, horse meat, lamb and poultry or their by-products.

1) Foods good for him: You perhaps don’t know that there are over 170 different molecular forms of the mineral called calcium. Its source is something this breed can easily digest, avoiding the possibility of the Chow Chow ever developing kidney stones.

2) The amount of calcium he takes in depends on his age, sex, activity level, stress levels, medical conditions and other dietary factors. After the dog is a year old, let him eat one meal a day. Be consistent with the amount of food you give him and his meal timings. If you give him just one meal a day, feed him towards sunset, since then he can go to bed after his meal.

3) When choosing the right feed for your pet, bear in mind that he cannot eat a lot of meat, unlike other dogs. If you do, he will break out into numerous skin ailments. For protein, give him eggs, rice, cottage cheese and a spoonful of meat every meal. However, rice is very good for him as this does his digestive system good and is great for a shiny coat.

4) Try "Pro Plan" once he is an adult. Mix it with warm water and if you choose to give it dry, see that it is a ready-expanded meal or the gases this forms in his stomach when the dry food becomes moist could lead to the problem of torsion and lead to his eventual death.

Rather than give him prepackaged food from supermarkets that are filled with preservatives, stick to the same diet with a few changes every now and then, just so he stays healthy. Vary the amount of food every now and then. Usually, a healthy Chow Chow eats four cups of food a day, over two meals.
Don’t give your dogs raw hides as this causes their deaths since they cannot digest it and sometimes choke on the hides. If you want to give him something to chew, give him a cow hoof. Make clean and fresh water available for him both inside and outside the house.

2 Feeding schedules: Usually, pups eliminate an hour or so after a meal. Once you regularize his feeding schedule, you will have some control over when he needs to eliminate.

1) Set the time for his dinner so that after the meal you can take him out of the house.

2) Just before you crate him, don’t feed him a large meal or he will eliminate when you’re not around to take him out. Instead, set two or three feeding schedules a day.

3) Let him eat only for 30- 40 minutes, then take it away.

4) Several hours before he is confined for the night, feed him. This, coupled with exercise sessions, confinement periods and trips outdoors to the elimination area will help him develop a fixed routine for eliminating.



The Chow Chow is a tough customer, no doubt, but if you have the guts and grit to take him in to your home, they can make a swell pet! Remember, he’s aristocratic, arrogant, reserved and aloof—so you have to adjust to his whims and fancies.

But he’ll do you proud, no matter what, so take one home today. Be assured you have a life of love and understanding from your dog friend.

Socializing your pup isn’t something you do one fine day and then not again till you get the urge. It is an on-going process that begins when you bring your pup home and ends with his death.

To begin the process, right from the time you take him home, encourage visitors to come over and visit you and your new Chow Chow. Ideally, these people must belong to different races and cultures, be in different age groups and to both sexes. Let him go forward and be friendly, and respond to your friends’ toys, treats and gestures.

Once the vet certifies he is well and healthy, take him out with you on errands. When you meet a friend, let the person hold him or give him his time, attention and a treat. Your "dog friendly" friends could be good for such occasions. Socializing him means taking him out to as many places as possible so that his breadth of experience is wider and he mixes with people better. So, take him to the convenience store, park, supermarket, mall or playground, hang around for a while till he soaks in the environment.

If, however, you don’t socialize your Chow Chow for some time, he will go back into his earlier unsocialized state and turn his earlier shy self. Immediately resume the socialization process with him. You’d know he’s regressing if he tucks his tail behind him when he sees a stranger or barks while backing off.

Socializing your pup: Pups need a lot of positive experiences to become confident and well adjusted adults. This is why they need to be exposed to a variety of people, dogs, children and people and to sights, sounds and smells.

 Adjusting to people: Your dog is a part of your family comprising human beings, so it is necessary he get along with people. He needs to be in the company of a lot of people and earn praise or rewards for good behavior from them in order to be well behaved.
To do this:
1 Ask your friends over to meet and play with your Chow Chow. Make them crouch down and meet him at eye level.
2 Ask your kids or the neighbor’s kids to come in and play with him, if they know how to be gentle with him. If a pup doesn’t know what it means to be with a kid, he can be aggressive towards them when they’re older.
3 If kids run around squealing and shouting, it sets off prey instincts in dogs if they are not familiar with them.
4 Gently but firmly correct bad behavior right from the start.

5 Gelling with other dogs: If dogs cannot speak the way we do, they have their own means of communication—through body posture, facial expressions and vocalization, they get across their message of fear, anger, aggression, submission or playfulness.

If he learns canine language, he will be able to put his feelings across effectively but if raised in isolation, he may misinterpret cues from other dogs or send wrong signals that will result in anger in other animals.
Like us, they too must learn acceptable norms of behavior such as when not to nip a friend or when to jump on Mom and when not to. So, from play behavior too, they learn to live by the code of their society.

How is your Chow Chow with other pets? For many dogs, getting along with other house pets is more of a problem than dealing with other dogs. So, if you have small animals beware, since hamsters or rabbits elicit prey instincts in dogs.

Fortunately, cats and larger pets aren’t at that much of risk. If you have a multi-pet home, introduce your pets to your pup at an early age. Supervise them when they are together, and reward them with praise or treats when they behave well with your pup.

When dogs and cats are raised together, the former usually accept cats. But considering your Chow Chow has strong hunting instincts, any cats in the house are in danger.

Why is your Chow Chow shy? Your Chow Chow may be shy if:

1 One of his parents is shy: Shyness in dogs is a dominant genetic trait. So, if one parent is shy, half the litter will also be so.
2 He’s badly socialized: Your pup should ideally be socialized between the ages of five and 12 weeks of age. If they are left unsocialized, they are probably timid and need a lot more effort to be well adjusted.

 How to deal with shy dogs: Two winning techniques to deal with such dogs are: the flooding technique and desensitization and counter-conditioning. Flooding involves exposing the dog to a frightening situation until he is no longer scared of it.

Desensitization and counter-conditioning refers to gradually exposing the dog to the stimulus that brings on fear in a low-intensity form so that he doesn’t get frightened. By counter-conditioning, we mean that you add a reward when he proves he’s no longer scared. As he shows his confidence, gradually increase the intensity of the stimulus without bringing on fearful behavior.


1 Socializing shy dogs:
i. Ensure he’s healthy since shyness can also be due to poor eyesight or hypothyroidism.
ii. List all the things that your pet is scared of before you begin training and rank them.
iii. Teach him to stay in a relaxed posture, perhaps the sit-stay.
iv. Next, introduce him to the situation he’s least scared of and gradually go high up in the list you made in Step 2 till you reach the highest. Ask a friend to train your dog. Put him in a sit-stay position and ask your friend to stand at some distance from him. If his presence affects your pet, the latter will begin to show signs of concern such as sneezing, hyperventilating, shaking, panting, etc. But if he isn’t concerned, he will sit in a relaxed posture.
v. Repeat this till you’re sure he isn’t frightened of anyone.

2 Spaying and neutering your pup: If you don’t intend breeding your pup, it’s best you spay or alter him. Ask your vet the best age at which he can be spayed or altered, but usually it’s after he reaches sexual maturity.

There are many reasons why spaying or altering is considered a good idea. First, an accidental pregnancy could lead to unwanted litters that endanger the mother’s health. It also prevents the outbreak of female diseases such as pyometra. Besides, male dogs are easier to manage if neutered.

By selectively breeding the Chow Chow breed and producing only the best and the healthiest alone can you do a great service to this wonderful breed

There are many ways in life to achieve the same desired results. Of them, there are hard ways and easy ways, right ways and wrong ways. The best course is to combine the easy way with the right way and get the best results. This requires a lot of supervision and positive reinforcement. Let’s see how best to achieve what we want in order to housetrain our Chow Chow.

Where to begin: To get the kind of behavior you desire, you must:

1 Allocate an area for elimination outside the house
2 Show him the way to this spot
3 Praise him generously after he finishes


If you praise and reward him immediately after he finishes his job, it encourages him to eliminate in that area alone. The odor of his urine that he leaves behind this time will linger till his next visit and he will soon mark that area as his sole place to do his business.

 Time it right: At age six to eight weeks, your Chow Chow should go out to eliminate every couple of hours, though as he grows older, he can go out fewer times. In puppyhood, take him out at the following times of the day:

1 Upon waking in the morning
2 After naps
3 After each meal
4 After playing or a training session
5 After being left alone for a while
6 Just before bedtime

1. “Hurry up” or “Potty”—the power of your command: To hasten the dog’s potty time, teach him to eliminate when you give the command for it. So, say “hurry up" or "potty" in an encouraging tone just when he gets the urge to “go”. He will soon learn that when you say the command, he will begin to sniff, circle and then get down to business. Once he’s done, praise him lavishly.
2. Crate training: To give your pet a safe confinement during housetraining, he needs to be crate trained. If you introduce the crate to him in a fun way, your pup will take to crate confinement quickly and without fuss. And there’s more you can do too, such as:
 To make this experience pleasurable, play with him there or spend time watching TV there or reading as he gets busy with chewing a toy. If he is there all by himself, he begins to associate the area with isolation and may resist being there at all.
 Begin crate training at dinnertime. Give him his feed, one piece at a time, by throwing bits of kibble in to the crate and making him search for it. This is one way of making a game of his training.
 If you pick up his toys, replace them in the crate, so that when he returns he can play with them. To surprise him, hide a biscuit in the crate—even that’s fun!
 Don’t crate him for longer than he can hold the urge to eliminate or defecate. If you are gone for long periods each day, why not consider a larger confinement area such as an exercise pen or small room?
 If you give him a large area to eliminate in your absence, he can do it away from his crate space, say about 15-30 square feet. If he finds a particular spot eliminate, cover it with paper for easier cleaning.

 Excuse him his mistakes: If you leave him to himself, he’s bound to make mistakes. He needs to be supervised, so be with him at this time. Until he goes through four weeks of not eliminating in the house, don’t consider him housetrained. If he’s older, this should be a longer period. Until then:

 Keep a constant vigil over him
 Set up baby gates to control his movements in the house
 When unsupervised, confine him to his crate

 Does he wet himself? If he squats and urinates when he greets you in puppyhood, he may probably suffer from submissive urination. Such dogs are hypersensitive and should not be scolded for this behavior, since punishment only worsens the problem. However, as he grows older, he will no longer do this if you are calm and quiet. Or you could ask him to sit down for a tasty treat till someone greets him.

 Once he has made a mess:
o Remove all urine and fecal odor so that your Chow Chow does not return to the same spot in your house where he made a mess.
o Use a good deodorizer for doggy odors.
o If he’s urinated on a carpet, saturate it with a cleaning agent.
o Shut off all those rooms in your house where your Chow Chow has made frequent mistakes. Let him enter here only when accompanied by a family member.

 Correcting his “mistakes”: It’s quite natural for a dog to make a mess during the housetraining period. This is why you need t be ready to handle these problems. Here’s how:

 Don’t punish him sternly when he makes a mistake as this only delays training.
 In order to correct his behavior, make a startling sound, a sharp noise or say “No” loudly. Do this when you catch him red-handed, but be sure not to be too loud or he will eliminate in front of you or perhaps even outdoors.
 Be patient.
 Don’t scold him after he has stopped soiling the area. Once he finishes, take him into the yard where he can finish in the area he has marked and when he finishes, praise him.
 Don’t rub his nose into his mess. This will not teach him not to repeat it and will only end up making him frightened of you.

 Training your pup: Your pup’s socialization process begins when he is still in the litter. When he is seven to eight weeks old, he gains in independence and is adventurous about his environment. Now’s the best time to bring home your pup.
In the next fortnight, he will begin to be easily frightened and will cling to you for support and reassurance. Don’t make loud noises or surprises at this time and have new experiences that don’t shock him or threaten his peace of mind.

At 10 weeks, he is well over this phase and will now enter the juvenile phase. Watch him nose around and be more exploratory—a phase that will go on till he’s an adult. Now, introduce him to more new things He will be more inquisitive and wider ranging in his explorations. But watch him closely now as he may enter a second phase of fear in the fourth or fifth month.

While you socialize your pup, take his health needs into consideration. Vaccinate him completely or he will catch the deadly disease Parvovirus. Don’t take him out in public if his shots are still incomplete.

1 Obedience training for your pup: Even at age seven weeks, when you begin socializing your pup, you can make the whole process fun for him by injecting some gentle play. Use motivational methods and reward-based behaviors by offering treats, toys and food, apart from praise so that he wants to obey you.
Try to set up situations where he cannot go wrong. And don’t use physical punishment while he’s still a pup as this may harm him both mentally and physically.
As with all the very young of all species, pups too have very short attention spans. This means that you repeat exercises several times a day. All you need to do is to spend a few minutes a day and watch the difference in his attitude. For best results, start the process a few days after he comes home to you.


Trick training: Here are some commonly taught tricks for all dogs:
Sit:
1 Take a piece of food or a toy and from in front of him, move it to over his head and simultaneously say "Sit".
2 He will raise his head and follow the direction of the food or toy, and without knowing it, lower his rear end to the process, lower his rear end to the floor in a sitting position.
3 Help him into this position by tucking his bottom under with your free hand.
4 Now, praise him lavishly and give him the toy or treat as a reward.
Down:
1 Try to tease him by showing him a piece of food or toy.
2 Now, say "Down" and lower the toy to the floor.
3 If he needs help, lower his rear body with a slight pressure on his shoulders.
4 When he lies down, as per your commands, give him the toy, even if only for a second and reward him profusely.
5 Now, increase the time period for him to stay on the floor before you give him the toy.
Stand:

1. While your pup is still in the Down position, say "Stand" and raise a treat or toy high above his head. Help him get into position if he needs it.
2. Let him remain in this position for a couple of seconds, then release, reward and praise him generously.

Wait:
1. Get your pup into sitting position.
2. Say "Wait" and move back from him, by a couple of steps. Praise him for staying.
3. Now, reward him, praise him and then release. Remember to reward him while he’s still waiting so that he makes the association between his action and your reward.

If he gets up too soon, repeat the exercise and slowly increase the time he waits.

Strut (Heel):
1 Dangle a tasty treat at his head level on your left-hand side.
2 Say "Strut" or "Heel" and walk forward briskly.
3 Allow him to much a bit as you walk.
4 First, just take a few steps, then increase the range. Now, release the pup and praise him. As he gets better at this, raise the level of the treat higher, but don’t reward him for jumping.

By training your pup, you will develop a close bond of love and loyalty with him, besides also being a whole lot of fun. As you know, an untrained dog can be a nuisance, and a danger to the family and the neighborhood. But a well-trained dog is a friend for life and an asset to your family.