The Chow Chow - A Complete Anthology of the Dog -

By Read Books Ltd.

The Chow Chow - A Complete Anthology of the Dog gathers together all the best early writing on the breed from our library of scarce, out-of-print antiquarian books and documents and reprints it in a quality, modern edition. This anthology includes chapters taken from a comprehensive range of books, many of them now rare and much sought-after works, all of them written by renowned breed experts of their day. These books are treasure troves of information about the breed - The physical points, temperaments, and special abilities are given; celebrated dogs are discussed and pictured; and the history of the breed and pedigrees of famous champions are also provided. The contents were well illustrated with numerous photographs of leading and famous dogs of that era and these are all reproduced to the highest quality. Books used include: The Twentieth Century Dog by Herbert Compton (1904), Dogs Of The World by Arthur Craven (1931), Hutchinson's Dog Encyclopaedia by Walter Hutchinson (1935) and many others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Nov 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781447491545

Book preview

1935

THE CHOW-CHOW.

PERHAPS I may be taken to task for introducing a Chinese dog into a book purporting to deal with British modern varieties. However, the Chow-chow is now common amongst us; he has classes specially provided for him at our leading exhibitions, is acknowledged by the Kennel Club, who, since 1894, have given him a special classification in their Stud Book, and a club to look after his interests was established the following year. The latter described him and gave him a scale of points, and, in addition, Arthur Wardle shows by his pencil what the dog is like in the flesh as we have him here, but not as he is when made into meat and hung up for sale in his native country.

Our Chow-chow—a native of the Celestial empire—is so called because he is used edibly, chow-chow being a pigeon English expression for food. At home he is common for that purpose, is butchered in the usual fashion, and may be seen any day in the meat shops in Canton and elsewhere; and the flesh looks very nice and dainty too. As a fact, the Chinese do not give their dogs animal food as we give ours, feeding them entirely on rice, grain, and milk. They believe that the flesh of the dog possesses unusual medicinal properties, but what these properties are we barbarians here have yet to learn, and one of our friends who partook of dog’s flesh during the siege of Paris said it had a very unpleasant flavour as of castor oil. We must not, however, forget that the Parisian dog had not been treated in the way the Chinese treat their edible canines. Alongside these carcases of dogs may be seen the four paws of poor pussy, which, suitably cooked, are considered a great delicacy, and evidently as much esteemed by the Chinese as pigs’ feet are by the English and the natives of other countries. It is strange somewhat that whilst only the paws of the cat are eaten, the whole of our friend the dog is converted into food. The flesh of the cat, when suitably cooked and spiced, is said to be far better eating than that of the dog.

The restaurants in Canton and in other large centres mostly provide dog soup, which is extremely rich and nutritious; other savoury stews and ragouts are concocted from his flesh, and I am told that such are by no means unpleasant, and form in a great measure the usual food of the middle classes.

Mr. W. K. Taunton, who is one of the great authorities in this country on foreign dogs, kindly forwards me the following notes:

"In China are found several different breeds of dogs, many of which bear a very close resemblance and are probably identical with some of the breeds of other countries. As an instance, there can be little doubt the hairless dog of China is the same as the Mexican hairless dog, and the crested dogs bear a striking likeness to the dogs which have lately been exhibited and described as African sand dogs. There are also small spaniels which, though differing in type from our present toy spaniels, are in all probability distantly related to them.

"The variety of Chinese dog which is best known in Great Britain is the one most commonly to be met in its native country. This is the edible dog, sometimes described as the wolf dog, but better known here as the Chow-chow. He is undoubtedly a very old breed, in many respects resembling the Esquimaux and the dogs of the Arctic regions, especially in the carriage of tail, ears, and general expression. Scientists would find it an interesting inquiry to determine whether the Chinese dogs are bred from the canine race of the Arctic regions and Northern Europe or vice versâ.

"Many of these dogs have a very keen scent, and in the north of China, where they are of a somewhat larger size than elsewhere, they are used in packs for hunting purposes.

"The orthodox colours of the Chow-chow are jet black and dark red. I have, however, seen many good specimens of a lighter colour, and at one time I owned a black and tan dog which was an exceptionally typical specimen. Whether this colour was the result of crossing the black and red I do not know, but as I have been frequently asked my experience of breeding the colours together, I may say here that I have found the puppies come either a distinct black or red.

"A writer in the Field some time ago said that white specimens were not uncommon, and he described these Chow-chows as useless excepting as guard or watch dogs, and said they were great cowards. It may be interesting to mention that some years since a well-known breeder and judge of Scottish terriers, residing in Scotland, was good enough to tell me of a pair of puppies which had just arrived by vessel, and were supposed to be Esquimaux. I decided to buy them, continues Mr. Taunton, "but I saw they were crossed with something, and on examining their mouths was satisfied there was Chinese blood in them. These puppies were a very light fawn. When old enough I mated the bitch with a black dog of my own. In due course she presented me with five puppies, all jet black; but my disappointment was great on finding that not one of them possessed the special feature of the breed—a black, or rather blue-black, tongue. My first impulse was to destroy the litter, but fortunately I did not adopt this course, as in a short time I observed small black spots, which gradually increased till the tongue became the correct colour. This, however, is not always the case, and in many instances an otherwise good dog is useless for show purposes through the tongue remaining red, as at the time of birth, or only turning partially black. It will be evident from this that anyone attempting to produce these dogs should endeavour to retain the dark tongue so peculiar to their breed, a peculiarity which I believe would quickly be lost without care in breeding. Other qualities which should be aimed at are a broad forehead, nose rather broader than the Esquimaux, small erect ears, carried well forward, small black eyes, a thick coat, coarser than the Pomeranian, small round feet, the tail curled over the back, and straight hocks.

"The Chow-chow is a very companionable dog, and