Chow Chow: One of Only Two Breeds With This Tongue

Worth knowing precisely: of every recognized dog breed, only two — the Chow Chow and the Shar-Pei — have a solid blue-black tongue as an official breed standard requirement, and both originate from the same region of China. Every other dog breed has a pink tongue. The coloration comes from a genuinely high concentration of pigment-producing melanocytes in the tongue tissue, and puppies are actually born with pink tongues that darken gradually, typically reaching full pigmentation by 8-10 weeks old.

Worth knowing as a genuinely unusual etymology: the name "Chow Chow" likely derives from pidgin English, where "chow" meant "miscellaneous" — used by 18th-century British traders to describe the varied cargo aboard ships arriving from China, which included these dogs alongside other goods. The breed was essentially named after being categorized as miscellaneous shipping cargo, a specific and somewhat undignified naming origin for what was, in China, a genuinely ancient and respected working dog.

Dogs of Chow Chow type appear in Chinese pottery and sculpture dating to the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), and the breed carried several distinct historical Chinese names reflecting its various roles — "black-tongue dog" (hei shi-tou), "wolf dog" (lang gou), "bear dog" (xiang gou), and "Canton dog" (Guangdong gou). Worth knowing honestly: beyond guarding, hunting, and cart-pulling, the breed was historically also used as a source of food and fur in parts of ancient China, a practice long since ended.

Worth knowing as a specific, research-backed fact rather than just "old breed" framing: population genetics studies consistently place the Chow Chow among a small group of basal breeds most closely related to the ancestral wolf — genuinely one of the most primitive domestic dog lineages that still exists today, not simply a breed with a long documented history.

Chow Chows are consistently described with a specific comparison — cat-like independence, a strong territorial instinct, and deep loyalty concentrated on a small inner circle rather than broad friendliness toward strangers. This reserved, measured temperament traces directly to the breed's ancient, primitive lineage rather than being a trained-in trait.

The Eurasier was deliberately created by crossing the Chow Chow with the Wolfspitz and later Samoyed — a breed once personally owned by Nobel Laureate Konrad Lorenz.

Never shave a Chow Chow's double coat unless medically necessary — like several other double-coated breeds we've covered, the coat regulates temperature and protects skin from environmental exposure, and shaving disrupts both functions.