Working with chows
Are chows not traineable dogs? This seems to be only a myth
Chows are
definitely special dogs. They appear like a teddy bear but their
aspect is deceiving. They are caracterized by a strong and
independent caracter and choose his owner, or better, his "alpha dog" among
his "pack". All the other component of the family
(pack) are treated as equal ranked. It is not a surprise
therefore if a chow does not obey to anyone else except his
"alpha". If he does not recognize in the pack any
alpha, he becomes the dominant. At this point it is very hard to
master it and it is very easy to make some mistake that worse the
situation.
Notwithstanding his fame, the chow can be trained as any other
dog and, more important, the chow-owner can and must be trained
too (see photos). My youngest puppy was a bit agressive to other
dogs and this can't be accepted, specially in a show dog, so my
wife decided to attend a training field. The results we got were
excellent: the dog learned to respect my wife, the agressivity is
under control and the general behaviour has improved widely. We
made then an attempt with the mother, a 4 years old bitch, and
also in this case the results were excellent