Size, Proportions, Substance

Size

The average height of adult specimens is 17 to 20 inches at the withers but in every case consideration of overall proportions and type should take precedence over size.

Proportions

Square in profile and close coupled. Distance from forechest to point of buttocks equals height at the highest points of the withers.

Serious Fault Profile other than square.

Distance from tip of elbow to ground is half the height at the withers.

Floor of chest level with tips of elbows.

Width viewed from the front and rear is the same and must be broad.

It is these proportions that are essential to true Chow type.

In judging puppies, no allowance should be made for their failure to conform to these proportions.

Substance

Medium in size with strong muscular development and heavy bone.

Equally objectionable are snipey, fine boned specimens and overdone, ponderous, cloddy specimens.

In comparing specimens of different sex, due allowance must be made in favor of the bitches who may not have as much head or substance as do the males.

There is an impression of femininity in bitches as compared to an impression of masculinity in dogs.