GENERAL APPEARANCE
Shoulder height: Minimum 45.7cm (l8"). 
Colour: Black, red, blue, fawn, cream or white.
Coat: Rough variety — Outercoat to be profuse, dense, abundant, straight and stand away from the body. Undercoat soft and woolly.
Smooth variety — Short, dense and abundant.
Gait: Stilted in hind movement and short stepping.
Leonine in appearance, these dignified dogs have a proud bearing. The sober and scowling expression is due to the dog’s small thick erect ears carried well forward over the eyebrows. Both muzzle and skull are broad and the eye and nose colour conforms to the coat colour. The eyes are fairly small and clean with no eyelids and lashes turning in or out from the eyeball. The strong broad body and the well boned legs with little hind angulation create the characteristic stilted movement of the breed. The small feet are catlike in shape. The tail is carried well over the back.
CHARACTERISTICS AND CARE
These proud Orientals have a possessive attitude to their homes, family and property — a characteristic which makes them excellent guard dogs.
Extreme in their aloofness, these dogs do not expect to be patted or cuddled, however this aloofness in no way affects their loyalty to their owners.
Due to the thickness of the coats in the Rough variety, they must be groomed weekly with a brush that reaches right through to the undercoat.
HISTORY
This member of the spitz family is believed to have evolved from crosses with the Tibetan Mastiff and the Samoyed. Their history has been traced back to the Chinese Han dynasty of about 150 BC and one of the largest
ever recorded kennels in the world, was maintained by a Chinese Emperor who reportedly had 2500 couples of hunting dogs of a Chow Chow type.
Not only were these dogs bred for food (hence the English title of Chow), they were also bred for the fur markets. In 1880, the Chow first made its appearance in England and by 1895, a specialist club had been formed.