i have a lovely seven year old red male chow chow i bought him from a reputable breeder and have all his papers.
the problem is im thinking about starting a family and i dont know how my chow will behave towards a baby or toddler in the house, he is great with me and my partner but ive had him since he was a puppy and the thought of having to sell him makes me really sad, and if i did have to sell him he would have to go to a person who knew about chows as they arent like any other dog are they.

can anyone give me some advise?

thanks gill

I would try to bring smaller children around him and see how he reacts, does anyone you know have a toodler you could 'test' on him?

I wouldn't want to test out the dog with a toddler! This could be a receipe for disaster. A seven year old aduly dog who has yet to be around kids could have very unpredictable behavior which could be emotionally and physically damaging to both parties. This is something to go about cautiously. Does the dog come in contact with children ever?

I think alot depends on the temprement of the dog - chow chows are not aggressive in nature and are quite dosile and lazy but also stubborn

When I met my partner he had a 4 year old chow chow which had never been with childeren, when I first met her she barked at me and frightened me a bit but she soon got used to me however, I have 2 childeren 1 was 8 years old, the other 14 - she never barked at them once and settled in very well with them - we then had a baby which I was a little nervous of with the chow chow but we introduced the baby to her as soon as we brought him home - being inquisitive - she sniffed at him, grunted and walked off.
Baby is now a year old and as you can imagine, gets into everything - our chow walkes past him, he grabs her tail but she just ignores him and stays out of his way. When baby cries, the chow comes in to see if all is OK and does her rounds at night to make sure everyone is there - if one of the childeren sleep over at a mates house, she searches high and low for them.
We have never had any problems with the chow and childeren or the baby but I do feel it important to introduce them and let the dog sniff and get used to the baby - if you keep the baby away and don't let the chow near him/her, it may feel resentment as any dog would - dogs are your childeren too and may get jelous if pushed aside for a new arrival.
Donna