We had a chow chow that was aggressive/dominant. Even as an eight-week old puppy, he terrorized our adult black lab.
Finally, after he snapped at our toddler son (and after we had visited three vets, tried special training and medication), I finally had him put down. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do.
But I could not have forgiven myself had he injured (or worse) my little boy.
Merlin (the chow chow) had bitten our neighbor, and one time, when our back door was open, a St. Bernard was being walked in the alley right next to our backyard. I didn’t know the front door was open.
Merlin raced through the house at lightning speed and jumped up and attacked a dog four times bigger (at least), grabbing the dog by the throat.
He was just ... it was like a switch went off. When we brought our son home from the hospital, my husband said that he looked at our baby and me like I was holding a roast chicken.
"The door was open...someone was walking a St. Bernard...My son back from the hospital..."
Zero learning going on with you.
The behavior you are describing is not uncommon for Chow chows . That dog was bred to keep other animals away from the farmers flock and bred to hunt down what ever came near it not just run them off.
Not really the kind of dog people should keep where they have close neighbors .
I personally don’t like the way they seem to wig out and find them to difficult to handle . Friend of mine had one and she could not even let it run her fenced yard . She had to hardwire in her porch and keep the dog in there if she did not have it leashed . Never had any trouble like that with any of the huge Mastiffs I have kept the largest being 230lbs .
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Being a surveyor, I’ve been in countless back yards.
Many have dogs, and the only ones I have ever had difficulty befriending have been chows.
They are aggressive, and bred for fighting. Not real smart, either.
You were a VERY SMART pet AND baby parent, people KNOW when their animals are VICIOUS they know!!! You my friend did the right thing as hard as it was for you, you deserve to be commended!!!
A friend of mine had a chow until it took her 3 year olds scalp off .
Friend of mine had a chow. Another friend went to pet it and it mutilated her hand to the point where she can’t use it anymore.
Irresponsible owners and vicious dogs are a bad combination I was on the receiving end of when I was very young. I have absolutely ZERO tolerance for the stupid beasts and feel no remorse for perforating their carcass if they get stupid in my AO.
My "vicious dog" is in my pocket. He "barks" here and "bites" over there.
Difference being, I have control over mine. d:^|
I fool with dogs a lot, do a lot of bitework with police/military type dogs. Most of these are pretty social, with a protective edge. I wouldn’t trust a chow, ever, unpredictable and not very intelligent, which is a bad combination.