IN DEFENCE OF THE CHOW DOG.
[TO TEA EDITOR OF THE "SrscrApoz."3
SIR,—I hope you will allow me to add my protest against the detrimental opinion of the chow - chow dog expressed in the Spectator of December 3rd. I have lived on inti- mate terms with specimens of many of the different breeds described in your interesting article, but for the last twenty years I have from choice kept nothing but chows. Let me introduce you to one who, alas ! is dead, but who was my intimate companion for fourteen years. He was a red chow, called 'Fingo,' the winner of three first prizes at the Crystal Palace and Aquarium shows, said therefore a typical specimen of his breed. One of his chief characteristics was unique devotion to me as his master, for however long I left him with other friends, whenever I arrived he refused to look at anybody else and became my devoted slave. He was an excel- lent watch-dog, but so amiable that he never bit anybody in his life. He bad a very independent and rather haughty air, which I have known other dogs resent, though there was nothing mischievous about it. He did not care for the caresses of strangers, and would receive them with amusing indifference ; but if a friend pronounced his name, his tail never failed to give a sympathetic shake on the top of his back, and if I spoke to him, his nose was nuzzling my hand in a moment, and he was begging me to repeat his name. He was no good for sport, because he could not hunt without giving tongue, and he could not retrieve ; but he bad a good nose and very keen sight, and was peifectly obedient. After one or two lessons he used to walk through a flock of sheep without heeding them, and he would come to heel when called, even though he was in full cry after a cat. I did not care to teach him many tricks, but those / wanted him to learn he mastered with great ease and never forgot What made him specially good for the house was that his coat never had any offensive smell, and he contrived to make everybody devoted to him. Out of doors, I think, the most remarkable characteristic was his power of finding his way home wherever he happened to be. Of this I could give you many interesting examples, but your space is too valuable. 1 agree with your writer in special fondness for dogs who do something in the world, but the majority of us cannot be either shepherds or gamekeepers, or even sportsmen, but must remain ordinary human beings devoted to animals. For such, let me assure you, there is no "yellow peril" in the chow-chow breed, but a distinct addition to the pleasures of
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