How fluffy do you like your dog?

Whenever I have seen them Chow Chow dogs have always been dogs with a lot of fluffy and puffy fur.

That hasn’t really changed but it seems like that the last few dog shows I have been at there has been a shift. A mix of two different types of fur for the Chow Chow.

I can’t tell if this is a difference in breeding or in grooming, but it is a noticeable difference.

Some Chow Chow dogs have really big fluffy hair similar to the dog in the photos. Other dogs have not short hair but shorter hair. Hair more closely similar to the length of hair on a husky or malamute.

There also seems to be a difference in the look of a Chow Chows face. Some dogs have thicker shorter snouts and faces. Other Chow Chows have narrower longer snouts and more well defined heads.

And these two differences in traits seem to go together. The shorter hair seems to go with the narrower longer snout features. And the Shorter wider snout pairs with the more puffy and fluffy hair.

It will be interesting to see over the years if this is a shift in breeding and if the characteristics of the Chow Chow breed begin to shift over time.

Photo details: Nikon D500. Nikon 300mm f/4. Focal length 420mm. ISO 400. 1/1600 sec. f/5.6.