THE OFFICIAL FCI STANDARD FOR THE CHOW CHOW

General Appearance:  Active, compact, short coupled and essentially well balanced, leonine in appearance, proud, dignified bearing, well knit frame, tail carried well over back.

Characteristics:          Quiet dog, good guard, bluish black tongue, unique in its stilted gait.

Temperament:                        Independent, loyal yet aloof.

Head and Skull:           Skull flat, broad, stop not pronounced, well filled out under eye. Muzzle moderate in length, broad from eyes to end (not pointed at end like a fox). Nose large and wide in all cases, black (with exception of cream and near white in which case a light-coloured nose permissible and in blues and fawns a self-coloured nose).

Eyes:                           Dark, almond shaped, fairly small and clean. A matching coloured eye permissible in blues and fawns. Clean eye, free from entropia, never being penalized for sake of mere size.

Ears:                           Small, thick, slightly rounded at tip, carried stiffly and wide apart but tilting well forward over eyes and slightly towards each other, giving peculiar characteristic scowling expression of the breed. Scowl never to be achieved by loose wrinkled skin on head.

Mouth:                         Teeth strong and level, jaws strong with a perfect, regular and complete scissor bite, i.e. the upper teeth closely overlapping the lower teeth and set square to jaws. Tongue bluish black. Roof of mouth and flews black (blue black), gum preferably black.

Neck:                           Strong, full, not short, set well on shoulders and slightly arched.

Forequarters:              Shoulders muscular and sloping. Forelegs perfectly straight, of moderate length, with good bone.

Body:                           Chest broad and deep. Ribs well sprung but not barrelled. Back short, level and strong. Loins powerful.

Hindquarters:              Hindlegs muscular, hocks well let down, with minimal angulation, essential to produce characteristic stilted gait. From hocks downwards to appear straight, hocks never flexing forward.

Feet:                            Small, round, cat-like, standing well on toes.

Tail:                             Set high, carried well over back.

Gait/Movement:           Short and stilted. Forelegs and hindlegs moving parallel to each other and straight forward.

Coat:                           Rough: Profuse, abundant, dense, straight and stand-off. Outer coat rather coarse in texture, with soft woolly undercoat. Especially thick round neck forming mane or ruff and with good culottes or breechings on back thighs.

Smooth: Coat short, abundant, dense, straight, upstanding, not flat, plush-like in texture.

Colour:                        Whole coloured black, red, blue, fawn or cream, frequently shaded but not in patches or parti-coloured.

Size:                            Dogs: 48 – 56 cm at shoulder

                                    Bitches: 46 – 51 cm at shoulder

Faults:                         Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.

Note:                            Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.