Chongqing Dogs: Saving a Primitive Breed from Extinction

Brandi Miller and Chongqing Dogs

Chongqing Dog enthusiast Brandi Miller is working to save this ancient and primitive breed from extinction.

Dating back an estimated 2,000 years, and believed to be a progenitor of the Chow Chow and Shar Pei breeds, the Chongqing Dogs hail the from eponymous province in China, Miller noted.

Ancient history

“It’s up in the North middle of the country. It’s kind of an isolated area, although it does have one of the largest cities in China … they were used by the country people … they’re supposed to be over 2,000 years old. They’ve found pottery and stuff that resembles them … they’re starting to do a lot of research on the breed’s history. You look at DNA testing, they come back very ancient,” Miller added. “(Testing shows) they fall between the Asian wolves and Chow Chows and Shar Pei, as far as where they come in on the timeline of things.”

Athletic guard dogs

Existing in rural areas, the Chongqing Dogs were used “as guard dogs and for hunting,” Miller said. “They are very athletic dogs. People look at them and they get caught up on their face looks smashed up, they are brachycephalic, (but) they are very much an athletic dog. I can personally believe that they were used for hunting and little guard dogs. They’re not time barkers, they alert you when something strange is around. If you accept it, they settle right down. I’m sure that in times of need they used them for dinner.”

“They are a very, very confident dog. They are not a dog that backs down from a challenge (from another dog). They are not one to start stuff with other dogs, but they don’t put up with a lot of nonsense.

“They can be very aloof with people. I have one and she’s kind of like, ‘I really don’t care one way or another if I meet these people.’ My other two, they’ll come up and meet you but they aren’t like I need you to pet me and I want your attention. It’s kind of like they have their own agenda … they’re very cat-like, ‘I’ll come meet you but yeah whatever. Which is kind of disheartening for some people when they’re really curious about the breed and the dogs say ‘I don’t wanna see them and I really don’t care.’”

Low maintenance

“These dogs, being really athletic, I’ve taken mine for some serious, like 10 mile hikes. And they’re just go go go the whole time. They actually are fine to lay around in my house all day but it’s good to get him out for a run even, if it’s 10 minutes just to race around the yard or whatever to just burn off some energy. I think that they would do very well for people that have apartments … just to take him out for a couple walks each day. They are really low maintenance as far their coat is very, very sparse. You can see their skin through the fur. They’re supposed to have a strip of close to being hairless down there back and down the top of their tail and that’s part of their breed standard. So it does look like they’re balding … most dogs don’t have any hair on the insides of their legs, on the backs of their legs. It’s a coarser coat, usually about 3/4 of an inch long.

“I have had them sunburn before, so if you lived in a really sunny hot area, you’d probably have to put sunscreen on … they do love to sunbathe. Their skin’s really easy upkeep. It’s not like a lot of other dogs. They don’t get acne. I haven’t had any real weird problems. I usually just bathe them maybe once or twice a month if they really need it. I rub him down with coconut oil after I bathe them.”

Miller invited inquiries to learn more via her email: Mtviewcanecorso@gmail.com