The Chinese Foo Dog is also known as the Chinese Choo Hunting Dog, the Chinese Temple Forest Dog, the Chinese T'ien Kou (Chinese Celestial Dog) and the Chinese Lung- Kou (Chinese Dragon Dog). It is an ancient Chinese dog that is documented in ancient arts some 200 years B.C. The naming of this dog is extremely significant to the Buddhist religion. The Chinese Foo looks like a lion, which is a sacred animal to Buddhists. The Chinese word for Buddha is Fo, which led to the original name – the Dog of Fo. It is believed that this breed came into existence by crossing between the Northern European hunting dogs and the Chow Chow breed. This very capable dog evolved into a versatile utility dog that could hunt, herd, carry packs, pull and guard.
The breed comes in three sizes; toy, miniature and standard. Toy dogs are less than 10 inches and up to 20lbs. Minis stand up to 10-15 inches with weight from 21-50 lbs while standard dogs stand over 15 inches with over 50 lbs in weight. The body is compact and square with a moderately broad head and high set pricked ears. Chest is deep and moderately broad. Almond shaped eyes are usually dark brown while nose is straight and usually black. Neck is strong and muscled. The dogs come in double coats with outer coat being hard, thick, coarse and weather-resistant while inner coat is soft and dense. The coat can be longer or shorter and comes in different colours and combinations.
The dog is NOT recognized by AKC.
