Chinese Foo Dog

Breed Rating

Breed Details

General

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.

Color

Acceptable colors may be any shade or combination of black, black and tan, blue, brown and blue, cream and sable, fawn (yellow-cream to brown), orange, red (light gold to deep mahogany), sable, wolf gray (medium gray to silver); (with or without minor, limited white markings).

Coat

The Chinese Foo is double-coated and the thick, weather-resistant (and often standing up) coat is a coarse, straight-haired outer coat with a soft, dense, woolly undercoat. It is smooth, short, thick and rich on the head and on the front of the legs. The neck, buttocks, chest, hind part of legs and underside of the tail have the longest hair. The double-coat comes in a short Plush or the longer Rough.

Personality

Loyal, loving, courageous, alert, agile and dignified, the Chinese Foo Dog is obedient and devoted to its master and family but suspicious of strangers. It is playful and amusing to its family and great with children. The dog is a hardy and strong. It is alert but not noisy and will only bark to alert the family of an intruder or approaching stranger. This working breed is moderately active and loves to go for daily walks. The dog is independent in nature and does not require constant human companionship. It can live indoor without being destructive. Intelligent and even-tempered, the dog is easy going with its family but will confront any threatening situation with courage and bravery. It is an excellent protective and guardian of its family and possessions. This dog makes an excellent guard, watch and working dog as well as an excellent family pet.

Care

The Chinese Foo coat needs regular maintenance. Brushes don't work that well on coats this thick, so try gently combing the coat to prevent it from becoming tangled. General cleaning of the other parts of the body is recommended. Nails should be kept trimmed to prevent ingrowing of the nails and consequently pain to dog when walking. Ears should be checked for infection.

Training

The Chinese Foo dog needs firm control and MUST be properly trained. Their formal obedience training needs to include a proper socializing program. These dogs are quick to learn and highly intelligent, so make sure when you train to train the right way first, or they will pick up bad habits really quickly. The Foo is an independent thinker, meaning you may get compliance some of the time, but not always obedience. This improves with age and training.

Activity

The Chinese Foo's particularly the larger sizes - need a lot of high-energy exercise. The smaller ones are usually content to be pillows on your couch, but still need to be given a work out. Jogging, walking and running or playing in your yard with your Chinese Foo is something that would give them a good workout. A good game of Frisbee, hide and seek, fetch the tug rope or ball works too. If they happen to get bang out of chasing the lawnmower as you cut grass, you can turn that into play time as well.