chow retriever mix?

Question

I went to the shelter yesterday and saw a black fluffy chow/retriever mix puppy and not sure if i want that type of dog...my 9 yr old daughter wants him though. Is that type good with kids and how big will he get? my kids are 9 yr old girl and 22 month old boy

my older brother had a pure chow mix red in color and when we babysit the dog several years back while my brother went away, i remebered that dog being sooooo mean

Answer 1

I'm a dog lover & love all dogs. I'm not speaking for all Chows but I can tell you my personal experience. A long time ago I dated a guy for 4 1/2 years. He was very close to his parents and we visited them at least once a week & they had a Chow. That dog was the sweetest thing in the world for years and then turned on me one day. Luckily, his dad was there to stop him from attacking me & helped get him off of me immediately. They started keeping him in the back yard when guests came over after that incident and I never went back there again. He continued to growl at me through the fence though. He later turned on his owner and had to be put down. Like I said... he was the sweetest dog in the world for the first few years I knew him. And, this is just my experience with one dog, I'm in no way speaking for all Chows.

Answer 2

I have a black lab/chow mix, I've had him ever since he was 1 month old. He's a really great dog!!! Very loving and protective. He stands about 23' tall (from his shoulders). weighs close to 55 lbs. I buy a 50 lbs. dog food and it lasts a little over a month. Seeing how he/she is still a puppy, I'd say he'd make a wonderful pet for your daughter. My dog is getting old and the chow is REALLY coming out and he does not like any stangers, but can tolerate the kids I have JUST because he knows he has too. They do shed A LOT!!! They also can be stubborn when trying to train them (tricks, potty training does come faster then tricks). If the chow's attitude comes through more than the retriever, then I'd say try to find another pet.

Answer 3

LIke any breed of dog, especially most mixed breeds, your dog is smart. THe Chow temperment is protective, the Retriever temperment is a hunter....Train your puppy by rewarding only good behavior, and any bad behavior gets no reward, instead a stern one time utterance of a voice command. Stick to whatever you want your puppy to do. On the furniture (off is better, bed too...) Don't overly praise him, or you will be giving up your pack leader disposition, and have much more trouble when they grow up, in a year...you will reap your rewards of training him now, regularly feed, walk, and run him....Train to sit, laydown, and even give you his paw....Obedience schools can be expensive, if you have the money... sure, go for it. If you don't, there are many books and even television shows. On National Geographic, "The Dog Whisperer" is one, you can go online, and 'see' some of his shows, and the Internet has many sources...As long as your puppy was weined properly, it should be fine, other then that, important skills of learning when a bite hurts you, is something that might need more re-inforcement. One thing to have a little puppy knibble on your fingers, but when he grows, this will be quite another. Chows can be very dangerous, and very ferocious.... make sure you are the pack leader, you are in control, and your dog can depend on your providing it's security, and trust... and you will have a loyal friend forever! Good luck in your patience and endurance! The rewards will be ever lasting....take care.

Answer 4

Chows aren't a good breed with children. Then again, I'm a little biased against Chows as I was attacked by one.

Answer 5

Chows aren't the best around children. They are usually very loyal to only one individual in the family. For a dog such as the mix you are describing I'd wait till your children were much older.

Answer 6

i had a suspected rottie/chow mix once - he was only 45 lbs. adult size. a mixed puppy - no one knows for sure how big he will get. as for the kids, my chow mix was skittish around most kids because i didn't have any, but he was fine with my young nieces and nephews (he did seem to recognize them as family). any puppy will be a handful and don't expect a 9 year old to take care of him. good luck with whatever you do get!

Answer 7

I would avoid anything mixed with Chow. They are NOT the greatest for novice dog owners.

Answer 8

pporly bred dogs are usually not good with children as they have temperament issues.

HOWEVER, i find 99% of the time,, the shelter people ( minimum wage help) do not know the breeds of the dogs... they just make some sort of uneducated guess.

Answer 9

I lost mine today after 15 wonderful years of being my best friend, even off leash he would never be more than 5 feet from me and would follow me happily to the end of the earth. I have never had a dog love me and depend on me so much ever before. insecure when he was young, would have bad separation anxiety. Then when we moved out of the alone house and into a house shared with my parents he became very growley and snipped at 2 people over a year, nothing mean just a quick snip which freaked me out but know he now had this propensity I just made sure I was careful with him and it never happened again. He was 6 or 7 years old when something clicked, he just wanted to love everybody and no matter who you were, for those 5 minutes you were with him he was your best friend. I lost him today at 15 years old and I am very upset, I have never been this close with a dog, he was so incredibly smart it approached the more than a dog boundary. I have never had a dog so smart, here is an example, one day I came home with a 36 roll bag of toilet paper and I needed about 5 rolls for the closet upstairs. Well this dog wanted to be your private butler, if you ever had a shopping bag in hand he wanted you to give it to him by the handle so he can follow you along helping. So back to the toilet paper, it was still plastic wrapped with the rest of the rolls inside, I told him to take it downstairs for me, he now looks so happy and heads for the bag. He realizes when he gets to the stairs that this is as big as him and will never work. He proceeds to take one out at a time and make 30 trips leaving them all in a pile where I store them in the pantry, and was so soft jawed that he would never put a hole in anything carrying it, including toilet paper. He was so affectionate, as he was getting on in years I had to lift this large dog into my bed at night because that is where he belonged and wanted to be, his sleeping position was his back tight up against mine under the covers leaning his head against the back of mine, so wonderful on cold nights! He was the biggest shedder I have ever had, but it seemed to come in waves 2 to 4 times a year, as soon as I saw a clump around out came the brush, off came what looked like another dog, then he was shiny and not shedding for another 4 to 6 months. He was so regal too, beautiful, everyone was amazed and had to find out what breed. He was black with brownish striping is the best way I can describe it, like subtle zebra stripes but he was black from a few feet away in most lights, along with everyone's favorite the purple spotted tongue. So where I am going with this is from my experience he could be a little snippy, and that only happened for a few years and was partially my fault because I would become anxious if someone was getting to close and putting their face in his or something. His alertness and awareness was almost at extra sensory perception, just last week I got new tires on the truck, I opened the door to the house and he rushed outside which is unusual as he usually is just so happy I came home again that he just wants to lay by me. He runs to the truck and spent a minute going from tire to tire intensely sniffing them and seemed to be saying oh I see you got new tires, little things like this all of the time. My parents could know when I was (yes this is crazy) about 3 miles away, in my vehicle or anothers as he would always wake up out of a deep sleep and hoof it to the door all excited like clockwork, it was kind of freaky actually. I have owned many dogs throughout my life, usually multiple at a time, this dog was all the dog I wanted or needed for fifteen years of my life. I am going and already do miss him so much, the house is quiet and empty now and it sucks, but I think I am going to try to track down another black chow golden mix for my next pet even with only a 5% chance I will find someone similar. With the aggressiveness it all comes down to training to fit this dog, with mine it was just a tap on the nose and not let him come lick and love the person that he just barked at like a lunatic when they were at the door seemed to cure him of this. I Know I am going on way too long about him but he was born in my back yard as an accident and was with me through a nasty abusive marriage (I am the large 6'6 man who was verbally abused believe it or not) another fiance for 6 years then the best, last 5 years of swearing off women was not so hard with him by my side, he did not judge, he just loved. So if rather than looking for a pet, but looking for a companion, I would recommend playing with and getting to know one of these if you find one at a shelter to see if it makes the same connection and has similar qualities. If you are getting up in age and have no interest in a SO human relationship anymore and you happen to find one like mine you will never be alone. Boy I miss the old guy so much already.

Answer 10

mixed breeds are very hard to determine, whether it is size, hight temprement you can never "predict" it. as long as you train the dog properly he will be fine.