Chow Chow Twin Finder: 180 in the Pool

To find your Chow Chow's twin, upload one clear photo to PetMatch and the model compares your dog's face against the 180 Chow Chows already in the pool, returning the real dog whose face sits closest to yours. The lion ruff is what people notice first, but the match leans on the broad flat skull, the short square muzzle, and the almond eyes set in a scowl.

A broad skull the coat cannot fake

The AKC standard describes the Chow Chow as a squarely built dog of Arctic type, of northern Chinese origin, averaging 17 to 20 inches at the withers. A face photo shows none of that height.

The head is large in proportion to the dog. The top skull is broad and flat from side to side and front to back, and coat and loose skin cannot substitute for that bone. In profile the muzzle and the skull are approximately parallel, joined by a moderate stop that brow padding can make look steeper.

The muzzle is short compared with the top skull, never less than one-third of the head length, and broad under the eyes, with width and depth equal from base to tip. Bone, padding, and cushioned lips make that square. Too much padding spoils it. With the mouth closed, the upper lips cover the lower and should not be pendulous. The nose is large, broad, and black, though a blue Chow may have a solid blue or slate nose and a cream Chow a range of nose color.

The eyes are dark brown, deep set, wide apart, oblique, and almond shaped. The scowl is a padded button of skin just above the inner corner of each eye, plus a furrow up the forehead. Excessive loose skin is not desirable, and muzzle wrinkles are not required. The ears are small, triangular, carried stiffly erect with a slight forward tilt, and set wide apart with the inner corner on top of the skull. A drop ear is a disqualification.

The coat that redraws the face

Rough and smooth are both double coated. A rough outer coat is abundant, dense, straight, and offstanding, rather coarse, over a soft, thick, wooly undercoat. It forms a profuse ruff around the head and neck, framing the head, generally longer on dogs than on bitches. Length varies; thickness and texture count for more than length. A smooth coat is hard and dense, with a definite undercoat and no obvious ruff.

The same broad skull under a ruff and under a smooth coat is two outlines. Five colors are judged equally: red, from light golden to deep mahogany; black; blue; cinnamon, from light fawn to deep cinnamon; and cream. The coat may be solid or solid with lighter shading in the ruff. The tongue should be a solid blue-black on the top and edges. Red or pink there, or one spot of either, is a disqualification, and a closed mouth never shows it.

What the matcher keys on

PetMatch matches on facial geometry and pattern rather than a breed label; how the AI matching works covers the details. For a Chow Chow the strongest signals are the broad flat skull, the short square muzzle, the deep-set almond eyes, the small erect ears, and the ruff that frames them. A blown-out ruff erases the edge of the head the standard says the bone should define.

Chow Chow, Shar-Pei, or Samoyed?

A scowl and a dark tongue mix a Chow up with a Shar-Pei in a tight crop. The AKC describes the Chinese Shar-Pei as compact, 18 to 20 inches and 45 to 60 pounds, with a flat broad skull, small sunken almond eyes, a hippopotamus muzzle, and a preferred bluish-black tongue. A solid pink tongue is a disqualification. Shar-Pei ears lie flat and point toward the eyes. A pricked ear disqualifies; a Chow's drop ear does. The coat is a horse coat or a brush coat not over 1 inch at the withers, with no ruff, and nose to stop is about as long as stop to occiput. The Shar-Pei page is separate from these 180.

A Samoyed lands nearby when the ruff fills the frame. The AKC calls it double coated, with a harsh outer coat that stands straight out and forms a ruff around the neck and shoulders, framing the head. The skull is wedge shaped and slightly crowned, not flat, and the muzzle is medium in length and tapering. The lips curve up at the corners, the Samoyed smile, not a scowl. That pool holds 349 dogs. The Samoyed twin finder covers that face.

When the twin is a mix

A mixed-breed dog with a broad flat skull, a short square muzzle, small erect ears, and a dense ruff can out-rank purebred Chow Chows. The model is matching the face in the photo, not guessing at a pedigree.

Getting a good photo

Shoot head-on at eye level in open shade, mouth closed, with both eyes, the nose, and both ears in the frame. Leave enough ruff to show the real outline, and not so much backlight that the coat swallows the stop. Direct sun blows a cream or red ruff into a blob.

A free account takes one photo and searches all 180 Chow Chows in the pool for the one wearing your dog's face.