Q: What dog breed is better - a Chow Chow or a Samoyed dog?
I'm thinking of getting a dog soon and I researched the best two dogs that I like - Samoyed and Chow Chow. But I don't know the pros and cons of both dogs.
I have 3 more people in my family, a large house, a yard too, a big space.
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Answers and Views:
Answer by Goldengal
Go with the Samoyed! The Chow Chow is a very aggressive dog and not very family-friendly. They are very protective and don't usually warm up to strangers.
Samoyed is a bit more family-friendly and they do like people.
Answer by drezdogge
They are two very different breeds.
Samoyed sounds like it would fit better in your home. Chows are really loners and like a quiet environment while Samoyeds love a big family and lots of excitement.
But they are melodramatic and noisy and shed a lot.
Answer by Alex
To any first-time dog owners, get a Samoyed, they are an easier and generally friendlier breed. Chow Chows are great, and I grew up with one, however they are an extremely difficult dog to raise and must be VERY carefully socialized or they will bite. Chows are best for small families of experienced dog raisers, preferably one or two people.
Answer by Kathleen Gerwin
I have raised chows for years off and on. I have also raised Samoyeds. They are both loyal dogs. I have one of each now and they get along great. My chow gets along with my grandchildren. You cannot hit a chow you have to reprimand them verbally. It is not good to hit any dog or any animal they will defend themselves. Chows really don't need a lot of room, mostly just like to sleep and be near their owners. They are extremely loyal.
Samoyeds are great also but are barkers and diggers and they also are extremely loyal to their owners and are very friendly to everyone.
These two breeds are my favorite but buy them from private breeders, not mills or pet stores, you are getting the breeders leftovers and you don't get to see the parents. Introduce them at a very early age and they will be fine.
I also have cats my Samoyed is fine with them but not my chow. He is older and thinks it's a game they run and he chases but he plays rough and they can't handle it and the outcome is fatal. I would not ever consider another dog then one of these two. They shed in clumps which is much easier than individual hairs. You can just pull the clumps out of them when you see them. My male is very laid back and will only play for a few minutes and then he's done, it's like he's saying enough is enough and playing is overrated. My Samoyed will play all day, running and jumping, she needs lots of room to explore. No better dogs than these two breeds.
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Answer by laldybug
I have been around both the samoyed and Chow Chows.
Our best friends have two boys and at one time had a Chow Chow that bit one of their children. They need up putting the chow down.
As for the samoyed – they are a loving dog and good with children. Both breeds are high maintenance and need lots of space.
Hope this helps.
Answer by Minn Oo
The negative things people said about Chows are not entirely true. I grew up around Chows and currently own one. It depends on how the owner raises one. If they spend time trying to socialize their Chows with other pups when they were younger, they would be okay as they get older even though if they may not try to play together and such.
Some Chows show sudden aggression due to the way some people approach them. They don't like to be touched on top of their head by people they're not close to and they don't like to be teased a lot. They would respect you for the respect you show them.
They're very high maintenance, stubborn and very loyal to one or two favorite people and will listen to their favorite people. They are okay with family if you raise them right and not treat them like some toy you can horse around any way you please. If you dedicate your affection, time and energy with this type of breed, you will earn back a hundredfold.
Answer by Guest
Samoyed and Chow Chow are similar. And it is no true that Chow Chow is aggressive and bite by their nature. It is true they are very protective and loyal and it is very difficult to train them. Any dog could be like that, depends on love and care from the owner.
Answer by André
I do have a Chow Chow and I’ll just say this. Once you get a Chow Chow, you will never like any other dog. These dogs are capable of such loyalty and dedication different than any other breed. It's not true that they won't learn, it just requires dedication… this kind of dog is not designed to run after a ball. Please just see the movie of Hatchiko with is an Akito breed very similar to the Chow Chow in terms of temperament and loyalty.
These dogs are not those kinds of dogs that jump and run all over the place, its a quiet dog that walks just beside you and won't ever leave you behind.
funny fact, they are not sociable dogs, you cant introduce him to a person and expect him to let the person touch him. But they won't bite for sure, they just like to be touch by the owners or from people they are used to lead with.
Know better? Give your own answer to this question!
LYNND says
I wanted to share my general experience with a dog that, by all accounts, should have been a “double dose” of aggression — yet ended up being anything but. I adopted what was described by a shelter in 2005 as a chow-shepherd mix. By all accounts she should have been an aggressive dog but whomever had her as a puppy must have socialized her well. She also rode in the car like a dream. We never had to train her. She simply would lie down until we reached our destination whether that was 20 minutes or two hours.
True to what other people report about Chow-Chows, she was never much for playing games. She would go along with a game of fetch for a few minutes but was just as content to sleep all day (very cat like in her sleep habits). Our dog spent her life with two cat companions, all of which were primarily outdoor pets (requirement of our then-landlord but also could get away with that in our climate). Our cats were never harmed by our dog; in fact, they would sometimes curl up in the dog bed together. Our dog only became a principally indoor dog late in life (age 15). We were able to restore her very old (not us) housebreaking, although it took some time. (She was stubborn but also very intelligent.)
We think she had some “sled dog” in her too because for many years she would pull us along on our walks, despite her medium-size (~45lbs), like a determined sled dog. For the first eight years she was fairy good on the leash — she knew all the commands like “sit”, “stay” and “heel” — but as she grew older and became accustomed to life as an “only dog” she attempted to lunge at smaller dogs (and cats) during our walks. (There was never any barking or whining so we never were able to gauge whether her motivation was aggression vs. desperation to make new friends. We always erred on the overly-cautious side by not taking her to dog parks — which might have been a mistake as she was initially described by the shelter as being good around other animals.)
Giving pursuit to small animals while being a useless guard dog is apparently common to Siberian huskies and she never outgrew those traits. With people, however, it was a different story. No matter who came along she enjoyed visiting. She would wag her tail even if utility workers came into the yard to work on the power lines without an escort. She didn’t care who the stranger was: If placed behind a fence or a door she refused to bark or exhibit guarding behavior. She did, however, tend to bark at small critters such as squirrels and tree rats. One morning we found a dead possum in our yard but that was the only sign of aggression we ever saw from her.
We had her around kids with no issue — even when our nephews/nieces were toddlers there was no issue. She would let the kids pet her and would not push anybody over. She was not a jumper in the least although she did sneak some of her bones away to bury them in the backyard. In all of her 17 years there were only two near misses with an escape. One was on Christmas Eve day. She found a hole under the fence and wandered away. One of our neighbors on another block, having recognized her from our frequent walks, called her over and brought her back. She was friendly enough to respond to anyone who showed her any kindness (no trace of aloofness). The second time she got out of the yard was when she was elderly. I was watering and had her leash loosely looped over a wheelbarrow handle. She saw a stray cat and took off up the hill. Even at that age — despite the fact that she spent most of her days sleeping — I couldn’t keep up with her. Realizing that she had lost quite a bit of hearing, I feared she may not come back. Fortunately, she thought better of it and returned home. I was amazed to see how nimble she remained as she aged. I credit that to the fact that we walked her frequently. In addition, she was never a “jumper” and didn’t care much for high-impact games. As a result, she didn’t end up with the orthopedic issues more frenetic dogs sometimes do. Unfortunately, her run of near-flawless health ended when we lost her to bloat at age 17.
All things considered, I have to disagree with the idea that dogs are aggressive, at least in a mixed breed context, simply because they have aggressive-bread lineage. While I can’t take credit for our dog’s early-life socialization, perhaps one reason for her trusting behavior is because we never engaged in the type of playtime that could be perceived as “teasing”. (Years later, a family member, recalling his great experiences with the family German Shepherds growing up, bought a purebred for his wife and kids and then proceeded to “roughhouse” with the puppy. That puppy grew into a untrustworthy adult German Shepherd who thought fingers in/around his face were chew toys — and they were forced to give it up.) Our dog, by contrast, never gave a stranger a problem. Even when she was in the extreme pain of bloat it was possible for veterinary staff to pick her up without her snapping right up to her last day of life. I can honestly say that in ALL the years my spouse and I had her, I never heard her growl one solitary time. (As someone else noted, she didn’t care much for being petted on the head, especially as she got older, but that was the entire extent of her dislikes and you had to really know her well to even see that she disliked her head being petted because she was so tolerant.)
I would love to find a dog like the one my spouse and i just lost in February this year — but she was one-in-a-million dog. She had all the best traits of a chow-chow (didn’t make much use of the yard for activity and didn’t have any separation anxiety issues) and all the best traits of a husky (outgoing and agile). She had a purple Chow tongue, a long-haired double coat of fur that was fur-coat soft (Pomeranian feel/texture). Everywhere we went people drooled over her because our “mutt” had a designer dog appearance. She had the smile and a physical size/stance of a Samoyed but resembled a German Shepherd in color. She had prick ears and carried her tail in her younger years like a Chow but as she got older she carried her tail more like a German Shepherd. She had black coloration on the back and upper tail and caramel color most everywhere else, a white belly, slightly white muzzle and a faint trace of white above the eyes. I’ve never seen another dog like her and I probably never will. Her temperament was as beautiful as her appearance.
RussianDog says
Sorry for your loss and thank you for the touching story of your dog.
Garry whitfield says
I have a chow samoy mix for 9 years, best dog I ever had, loyal and great watchdog, not aggressive at all and very protective of family.