The Chow chow.

CHOW CHOW

Chow chows are not usually social, outgoing dogs. They tend to be aloof with strangers and can be aggressive with other dogs, but are devoted and protective of their family.

Chow chows were raised in China primarily on grains and have an overweight tendency with too much rich food.

The chow chow is a medium-sized dog ranging in height from 40-50cm and in weight from 24-34kg.

The chow chow is a square dog with post-like straight legs. The straight legs contribute to a somewhat stilted gait.

The chow chow has erect ears, a broad skull and a tail curled up over the back. The trademark characteristic is, of course, the blue/black tongue. The facial wrinkles (often obscured by hair) give the chow chow a scowling expression. For his size, the chow chow is a strong, sturdy dog.

It has two coat types. We are most familiar with the rough or longer coat. This is a straight, off-standing coat, which gives chow chow puppies a fuzzy, teddy bear appearance. The smooth coat is a shorter variation. Both coat types have a dense undercoat. Chow chows are most commonly seen in red or black coloration, but any solid color is acceptable.

Personality:
Chow chows are not usually social, outgoing dogs. They tend to be aloof with strangers and can be aggressive with other dogs. This is fitting with their history as guard dogs for homes and livestock. Early socialization to other dogs, pets and people is important. Chow chows may become nuisance barkers if their alarm barking is not controlled.

Chow chows are fairly intelligent but they have both an independent and a stubborn streak, so training them can be a challenge. To do well in competitions, they require a firm, patient trainer who has plenty of creativity. Chow chows are fiercely protective and need training to control this guarding tendency.

Living With:
Chow chows are devoted to and protective of their families. To make them good family pets, they need plenty of early socialization including exposure to children. Chow chows do best with training to clarify their position in the family or they can become dominant. Despite the challenges of training, some chow chows compete and do well in obedience and agility.

Grooming varies with the coat type. A rough-coated chow chow does best with a daily grooming to keep him free of tangles. Smooth-coated dogs can be groomed briefly once or twice a week. Special attention should be paid to keeping the eyes and the facial folds clean because the profuse coat can retain dirt and debris.

History:
The chow chow is perhaps the most ancient of the Chinese breeds of dogs. The breed can be traced back for thousands of years, and it is often questioned whether the chow chow developed from spitz-type dogs or whether spitz-type dogs developed from the chow chow.

The chow chow was a dog of many hats right from the start. These dogs have been known as sled pullers, hunters, livestock guarders and, unfortunately for them, dinner. The very name chow chow may come from the Chinese "chou" for edible, although most historians feel that the name is from the slang for curios, with the chow chow most certainly being an Oriental curio.

The chow chow reached the Western world in the late 1800s and began a rise to popularity, which has landed it in the top-10 American Kennel Club breeds. The breed has not fared so well in its native land where many chow chows were eliminated during the cultural revolution.

A cat called Nelson

A CAT CALLED NELSIN
She was born in the garage of our company some time over the Christmas break, I only saw he when I got back from leave and she must have been about 5 weeks old, she had 3 siblings a black a black and white and a lovely Tabby. I started to feed them, and then I decided to take these totally wild kittens home. It took a few days to plan their capture and then one at a time I managed to get three of the kittens. I took them home and placed then in a holding cage, I had the black we now call Nelsin, the black and white and the tabby, after 2 weeks I let them out hoping they would settle down, but not to be the black and white made a run for it, the Tabby vanished but Nelsin settled down slowly. A week later I found the Tabby behind the fish tank and she was jus learning that humans would not hurt he when she got out of my bedroom window and was sadly killed by my Dobermans. But this story is about Nelsin, whom was at first called Nelson because she is so black with yellow eyes and we thought she was a male. But after being with us for 11 weeks we knew she was a female. The first six weeks with us were pure hell for her as well as us. She screamed for her food, peed on the bed, and then one day she was gone, I could not find her anywhere. This was the day that the tabby died. Well I thought I only had them for 6 weeks, I should never have taken them away from their original home. One of my Chows had recently passed away suddenly after been bitten by a snake, and I went to her grave and spoke to her. "Nickie" I said, "Please help me to find Nelsin, send your sprit back and find the kitten for me" I stood at her grave for a while and then left. It was while I was getting supper that evening when I heard the meow of a kitten; it was dark so I took the torch to look for her. I eventually saw her walking up the drive with mo other cat speckles, a Maine coon, my prayer to Nickie ha been answered. Nelsin was very hungry and was only too happy to be home. Nelsin is now home bound and has grown into a lovely pitch-black cat and has been a mother herself a couple of times. She still screams at me when she thinks its supper time, she loves to watch the fish in the fish tank, and often sits and watches T.V. she is a gentle cat with a lovely nature. And She loved speckles and would sleep curled up with him between his paws. I trust that Nelsin will have a long and happy life with us, and her other cat friends.

Tidbits

TIDBITS
These are two little stories told to me by my Vet.
THE GREAT DANE AND THE SOCKS.
Sadie the Great Dane loved playing with the washing and in particular socks. One morning her mistress phoned the Vet, "Charles" she said, "Sadie has just vomited up 3 socks", bring her in to the surgery and I look her over " he said. At the surgery she promptly vomited up another sock, "Well " Said Charles "everything in pairs' He sent her home on antibiotics to ward off any infection the socks might have caused. But alas all was not well, the following morning, Sadie was even worse, not eating and not passing any stools, back to the Vet. Charles decided to X-ray the Great Dane, and got trapped, the only cure was to open her up and remove the offending object there it was another sock stuck in her mall intestine, it had passed through the stomach. This was done, and Sadie was once again a happy Great Dane no worse for wear. All the socks in the house are now kept well out of the way. Let this little story be a lesson to all, don't let the dog play with your smalls, it might just turn out to be more costly then buying a pair of socks.
PIP AND THE CHAMELEON
Pip was a Toy Pom puppy, therefore she was still very small, as you can imagine. Her owner also had a pet chameleon, but the day the Pom and the Chameleon met is to be remembered by many especially the Vet for a long time.
The vet "Charles" received a frantic call one morning " My toy Pom puppy has swallowed my pet chameleon, what can I do. I can see the Chameleon wriggling in his tummy". Well holding back his laughter Charles said to wait and see, as the chameleon would surly die and the puppy would pass in a stool in a day or two. Well an hour later another frantic phone call. The Toy Pom puppy had vomited up the Chameleon, What could she do for it, as it was still alive. Charles of course suggested bringing both the puppy and the Chameleon to the surgery. Pip the Pom passed a clean bill of health and the Chameleon was given a wash and survived to continue his creepy crawly life, well out of the way of the Toy Pom puppy.

Eclampsia

ECLAMPSIA
Candy, my little Maltese, was 60 days into her pregnancy, it had been a good pregnancy, and I could feel her puppies moving quite vigorously. On the Saturday 2nd November, she seemed to suddenly quieten down, she would not eat, or drink and her temperature was 38.5. Rather strange behaviour, but I thought it best to leave her to se what progressed. By the time I went to bed she was still lying next to me, breathing gently, and although she appeared to be in a deep sleep, she was not agitated.
At 2.20am I was woken up by a terrible scream, she was swaying her head from side to side, the fit only lasted a few seconds, and she then settled down to sleep again, an hour later she had the second fit. Oh my god I thought this is Eclampsia, I knew that it was imperative that I get calcium into her blood stream, and not having calcium injections, I missed a spoon of Cal sup into half a cup of water and syringed this into her mouth, she swallowed it all and again fell asleep, at 4 am she had another fit, but not as bad as the first two. I again gave her the cal sup mixture and again she settled down to sleep. But she was still not right, as she slept her head was in a thrown back position and her back legs were stiff, there were no contractions at this time. At 6am she started to have slight pushing contractions and these carried on for almost 2 hours. She still appeared to be in a comatose state. At 8.15am she gave birth to her first puppy, I revived the puppy and offered it to her but she was not interested in it at all.
As our Vet only opened at 9am, we took her over and waited for him. When he arrived I explained to him her condition, and he agreed with as to the trouble. While examining her before and X-ray was taken, she screamed again and then gave birth to her 2nd puppy. Once the Vet had taken the X-rays in which we could see another 5 puppies still to come, He put her on a drip, of glucose, into which he injected Calcium gluconate, and Oxytocin. During the day she recovered enough to take interest in her puppies and delivered another 4 healthy puppies, but by 4pm she still had not give birth to the 7th one, it was then decided to do a caesarean Section, and to spay her at the same time, due to a malfunction which showed up on her heart in the X-ray.
The 7th puppy was very weak but alive, and was put into the incubator with the others. Candy was then allowed home with her puppies.
These were fed by tube every 2 hours while their mother slept. This morning they all appeared well and candy was much better, although still very weak, she had started to take note of her babies, and was cleaning them. They were put to her teats and allowed to suck. I gave them a tube feed before I left for work. Knowing that my son would watch over them during the day and if anything went wrong, he would take them to the vet.
Eclampsia is a lack of Calcium in the Blood, which can lead to fits, coma and death, this usually occurs in small and medium bitches, but can affect any bitch, either before or even after whelping. It is not very common but is very dangerous, when it does occur. Emergency treatment must be sort after as soon as possible.
Post script: 4.7.2004
A week ago my little maltese bitch Roxy gave birth to 5 lovely puppies, but tonight things started to go horribly wrong, she became very restless and would not attend to her puppies refusing to go near them or feed them, she would not eat of drink and her gums and tongue went a bright color red, immediately this started to happen instead of panicking I started to give her Cal Phos tablets 2 every 10minutes I gave her a rescue tablet as well, When she started to pant and breathe rather to quickly for my liking, I made strong black coffee and put a lot of sugar into it, this I feed her with a syringe into her mouth and she was able to swollow it with no problems, I wraped her in a cold damp towel to bring her temperature down which helped dramatically, there was almost an immediate response for the better in her condition. Her Eclampsia started at about 10pm and with out a car I was unable to get her to an emergency hospital, I kept up the treatment until 4am in the morning, when she started to breathe easier and settled down with her puppies, as her heart beat slowed to a normal rate, and she looked more comfortable, she eventually went to sleep, exhausted but breathing normally and temperature normal. During the day I continued to give her 2 Cal Phos tablets every 2 hours, and that evening she ate all her food as well as a bowl of milk and then a plate of scrambled egg. To day I gave her a Niacin tablet which contains 234 mg of Calcium phosphate,100 mg Niacin,8mg Vegetable Steanic Acid, 4mg Vegetable Cellulose, she has recovered and is eating well and feeding her puppies. Yes I took her life into my hands, and with the help of her protector she is much better and is her loving self again.

The horrors of the infared lamp

Melushka looking for the cats

THE HORRORS OF THE INFRARED LAMP
In May a few years ago, my Bitch Meltari Chrystal Gazer was expecting a litter from Meltari blue Denim. The weather was turning cooler and my heating pad I had used for years had finally packed up. All the books I have on puppy rearing suggest the use of the infrared lamp, saying this was the best way of keeping young puppies warm, so instead of buying another heating pad, I bought an infrared lamp from the chemist.

My bitch's litter of nine puppies were born but two died soon after birth. The rest survived and were kept warm under the infrared lamp. No, unknown to me, I sued a medicated infrared lamp, not knowing at the time you could buy a special lamp for keeping puppies or chickens warm. I left the lamp on all night and turned it on periodically during the day when the weather turned chilly - never knowing the damage I was causing my lovely puppies and their mother.
My puppies thrived and grew and soon their eyes were open. All of them had bright blue eyes and as they grew the blue did not fade away very much. Only two puppies' eyes eventually turned brown at six weeks of age. I took my bitch puppy Meltari Melushka to the vet and on careful examination he pronounced her blind in both eyes. The corneas were badly damaged and he suggested I put her down and it was possibly a genetic disability.
Well I went through my puppy's pedigrees to try to trace this blindness but all dogs on both sides were of sound bloodlines and there was no blindness. I did not destroy my puppy and today although she cannot see, she can find her way around like any Chow with sight. I telephoned S.A. Phillips to get a replacement globe for my infrared lamp. The gentleman I spoke to was horrified when I told him what I wanted " You cannot use a medicated lamp on small puppies, you need an incubator lam" was what he said. Suddenly it struck me; Melushka's blindness was not a genetic fault by my fault for using an incorrect infrared lamp. I phoned my Vet and spoke to him about my discovery and he agreed immediately with me. It was the rays of the infrared lamp that had burned the corneas of the whole litter of puppies abut somehow my puppy received more than the others. There were three puppies that developed white spots on their corneas, my blind puppy, only one had clear eyes and two were blind in one eye. This was terrible and all puppies were given away to people who wanted them. Their mother Chrystal, because of receiving such a large dose of infrared has lost all the hair on her chest and tummy. I am horrified at the dangers of a medicated infrared lamp. Don't trust your chemist for providing the correct lamp. They may also not know the difference. Rather get professional advise on where to buy the correct item from S.A. Phillips or use a heating pad which is far safer for you precious litter.

You all read about the devastating effect of the infrared lamp on my puppies. Now I am going to tell you about my blind chow, "Melushka".
She was the pick of the litter, a lovely sturdy puppy with good bone and a lovely head; only we did not know that she would never be able to see.
As a tiny puppy she won every one's heart. When we realised there was something very wrong with her sight, I took her to my vet who confirmed my fears and suggested that we put her down. She was then 8 Weeks old. Instead I asked him to inoculate her as I would be keeping her, blind or not she was a Chow and one of mine.
As the months went past, we watched her grow from a tiny puppy, which at first would stumble around the garden finding her feet, but soon learnt where every obstacle was that she might bump into. In her rush around the yard, she soon learned that her best friends were my three cats. She would gleefully sniff them out and the chase was on. She flew around the garden after them. Looking at her you would never think this lovely chow was totally blind. She has never seen the sun or the trees and really has no idea what the cats look like. Many a time, when the cats were well and truly cornered, they would jump over my garden fence. She was not perturbed by their actions and would stand with her two front paws balanced on the fence. She was not perturbed by their actions and would stand with her two front paws balance on the fence "looking" over to see if they were anywhere within reach. While she was still very young, I also got Charlie, a black Maltese Cross Toy Poodle to be her companion. She loved Charlie and when they are together, follows him around the garden. It's like having a guide dog for a blind dog. They have always got on very well together.
Two weeks ago Melushka had to have one of her eyes removed as she had developed glaucoma in it. It was unsightly to look at. I thought it would be better if it were not there at all. She sailed through the operation and although my Vet said it was a difficult operation as the eyeball itself was a big as a golf ball and full of fluid, he thought that infection might set in and that he would have to put her down. But again she proved him wrong and she healed very quickly and was soon getting around even better than before. Without the pain and the weight of a very bad eye, the cats are now even more aware of her. You would never think that she was blind unless you look at her eyes. She is a truly lovely young 18-month-old chow and so far she has coped extremely well with her disability. And I am sure she will cope very well with anything put in her way. On a sad ending note of Melushkas life I had to put her down at the age of 8 years because she developed cancer in her throat.

THE MATING OF LADY AND LEO
I wish to thank the following members who helped me in the very frustrating job of mating two very Novice Chow Chow's.
Many thanks to Andries and Lia Du Toit, Mr & Mrs Myburg and Mr and Mrs Zwang, for their offer to help as well. I think you are all very wonderful people and I don't know what I would have done without all of you.
I also wish to thank Mr Skidmore for allowing me to mate Lady Loretta with Leo, even though it took almost four hours, half a dozen beers and a few cigarettes. Oh what a night, I will never forget it.
Lady produced her first two gorgeous puppies, Midnight and Leo's son a lovely red and a lovely black.
MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS
Many of you "oldies" may remember the story of how Rick and I were so frustrated when we tried to mate our very first two sill Chow's, "Lady" and "Leo" and had to eventually call in the help of the Chow Club to get these two dogs together. It was only after the kind assistance of Coen Myburg and Andries du Toit that we made thing happen. Out of this union were born two male puppies "Leo's son" and "Midnight". We showed them at shows as puppies and Midnight was sold at the age of 5 months. "Sonny" as we called him was sold to a Mrs Annamarie Balmer. These puppies were born on the 17th April 1984. At the time of writing this story 10 years ago and to day "2nd May 1994" I received a very unexpected phone call. Annamarie Balmer phoned me at work, after getting my number from the Chow Club. What a wonderful surprise she had for me! "Sonny" now called "Leo" had just become a father for the first time to a young bitch they call "Kama". He sired a magnificent litter of 5 bitches and 3 dogs. All doing very well. This was his very first mating and I really feel that this could be a record. i.e. his age and the number of puppies born for his age!
I know that he is truly loved and cared for by the Balmers and I am so very proud to be a grandmother to his puppies! He was our very first.

Reaching out

REACHING OUT
For the last few days, my mind has been playing tricks with me, I found my self constantly thinking about my "Skye's" sister, "Bortei Sidgen", whom I sold to two young men when she was 8 weeks old. I have not seen her as she has grown up, but something nagged me so I tried to phone her owners. The phone was disconnected.
To day at lunchtime, 19 January 1995, tow of my friends from work and I decided to spend our lunch hour at the Kloof S. P.C.A. We often do this at lunchtime, as we all love the animals. Well today was no exception. We first went and said hello to the cats and the kittens then slowly made our way to the dogs available for adoption. There were all sorts, a lot of nice staffies etc. then Jo, who was looking at another cage called me,"Carol there is a Chow here" Well I ran to the cage and my heart almost stopped when I saw her. She looked so much like my "Sharin", she could be her daughter, and I ran to the office to Enquirer if she had a pedigree. "Yes" the lady, said a very good one. "May I see it I asked" To my surprise I found my name as the breeder. She was the bitch I had been worrying about for the last week "Her owner died suddenly " I was told." I am Mrs. Mc Intyre Dewrance" I explained to them, that I was the breeder and that I have copies of her papers. "I want her back, but not spayed, I told them" I was told that they would have to speak to Dr Pringle the Chairman of the S.P.C.A. and also whether I could prove that I am her breeder. I explained that I will show them my Kennel Union Registration number and I will bring it to them.
I then went to her kennel and went inside, at first she was a little nervous, but soon settled down with me when I spoke to her,"Sidgen" I said "I'm coming to get you tomorrow". I rubbed my face against her soft cheek and because her kennel was very hot, no shade at all, I put a choke chain onto her and took her out for a walk. I then put her back into her kennel.
I went back to work and immediately phoned Dr Pringle and explained to him what I had told the S.P.C.A. he said he would consider my request not to spay her and that I must phone back sometime later. When I phoned back later I was told the wonderful news, "She is yours, you can come and get her" I was so thrilled I burst into tears. I was getting my baby back even though she is now 20 months old. I know she will produce lovely puppies one day with Baxter and I will have her in the show ring as soon as possible.
"De JA Vu" or what ever it's called. "Sidgen " reached out to me in her time f trouble and I felt it. I know she will be happy and soon settle down in her birth home.
Sidgen has settled down very well. You would think she had never spent 20 months of her young life away from home. She is lovely, and has a marvelous nature and loves me as much as I love her. She will be my Chow forever.
PostScript 5th Dec 200l.
Sidgen will be 10years old next year and like her sister Skye she is still getting around not as much as she used to because of arthritis in her hind legs but she is still with us and still loved very much.