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Chow Chow

origin: People's Republic of China · 9 figures in the corpus · Q29013

Every figure below carries this breed's name or id in its source study -- grouped by what it measures, not ranked. A breed appearing under a study here does not mean every other breed was tested and came back negative; it means this is what has a named source so far. See each figure's own page for its caveats.

Longevity

12.1 years (median survival) verified

Chow Chow: median survival age, UK veterinary clinic population

  • UK primary-care veterinary clinic population (VetCompass), not a census of all dogs of the breed.
  • Hazard ratio vs. the crossbred reference group: 1.05 (95% CI 0.95-1.16, p=0.36).

Size & head shape

3 size class (1=Small, 2=Medium, 3=Large) verified

Chow Chow: body size class -- Large

  • Body size and cephalic index classification per Supplementary Table S5; for breeds absent from the study's primary source lists, assigned by majority agreement among Dogs Trust canine-behaviour experts rather than measured directly on dogs.
2 cephalic type (1=Brachycephalic, 2=Mesocephalic, 3=Dolichocephalic) verified

Chow Chow: head-shape (cephalic index) classification -- Mesocephalic

  • Body size and cephalic index classification per Supplementary Table S5; for breeds absent from the study's primary source lists, assigned by majority agreement among Dogs Trust canine-behaviour experts rather than measured directly on dogs.

Group

1 group membership (see subject) verified

Chow Chow: UK Kennel Club group: Utility; FCI group: Spitz and primitive types

  • KC/FCI group columns record nomenclature presence only, per the table's own caption -- the study did not use group as an analysis variable.

OFA (hip & elbow)

21.6 percent evaluated dysplastic preliminary

Chow Chow: hip evaluations rated dysplastic (mild/moderate/severe combined), OFA cumulative statistics

  • OFA is a voluntary-submission registry: owners/breeders choose whether to have a dog evaluated and whether to submit the result, so this is not a random sample of the breed and most likely understates true population prevalence.
51.5 percent evaluated abnormal preliminary

Chow Chow: elbow evaluations rated abnormal (grade 1-3 combined), OFA cumulative statistics

  • OFA is a voluntary-submission registry: owners/breeders choose whether to have a dog evaluated and whether to submit the result, so this is not a random sample of the breed and most likely understates true population prevalence.

Other

1 purpose class: sled/draught verified

Chow Chow: purpose class 'sled/draught', from FCI group: Spitz and primitive types

  • Registry group membership at time of the source table, not an independent behavioural assessment.
831 puppies registered verified

Chow Chow (Utility group): UK Kennel Club new registrations, 2025; +38.7% vs 2016

  • UK-only; a breed with 0 or blank registrations in a year may be newly recognised, temporarily unregistered, or genuinely absent that year -- the source table does not distinguish these.
4.0 average litter size (puppies) verified

Chow chow: average litter size, Danish Kennel Club registrations Aug 2022-Jul 2023