Ramblings on Chow Chows

So I had one of those weird moments when I wake up from a dream and a thought is planted in my head. "Ever notice how Chow Chow dogs look like Chinese Dragons?" and I thought about how yes, they look similar and dragons were associated with the emperor, where chows were used as guardians. Hmm... so I had to look it up.

As a little girl, we grew up with chow dogs. They loved our family, but were also fiercely protective. In our old neighborhood, there was a rash of break ins, but not our house, with 2 chows guarding it. Before that when we lived in NC, our male chow got out in search of females, and someone thought it was a lion. They weren't the only ones that thought chows resembled lions. "The Chow Chow (sometimes simply Chow[2]) is a dog breed originally from northern China,[3] where it is referred to as Songshi Quan (Pinyin: sōngshī quǎn 鬆獅犬), which means "puffy-lion dog"."

"The breed has also been called the Tang Quan, "Dog of the Tang Empire". It is believed that the Chow Chow is one of the native dogs used as the model for the Foo dog, the traditional stone guardians found in front of Buddhist temples and palaces."

"The Chow is a unique breed of dog thought to be one of the oldest recognizable breeds. Research indicates it is one of the first primitive breeds to evolve from the wolf. DNA analysis confirms that this is one of the oldest breeds of dog that probably originated in the high steppe regions of Siberia or Mongolia, and much later used as temple guards in China, Mongolia and Tibet."

"Chinese legends mention large war dogs from central Asia that resembled black-tongued lions. One Chinese ruler was said to own 5,000 Chows. The Chinese also used Chows to pull dog sleds, and this was remarked upon by Marco Polo."

"A legend says that the original teddy bears were modeled after Queen Victoria's Chow Chow puppy. It is said that she carried the dog everywhere she went. Her friends disapproved, claiming that it did not befit a queen to be seen everywhere with a dog, so they paid a dressmaker to make a stuffed version of the animal for her."

My brother and I with the Chow puppies around 1978. 

Their purple or sometimes referred to as "black" tongue is fairly uncommon. "We do know that the Chow is not the only breed with a blue-black tongue. The Chinese Shar-Pei shares this trait as well. A few other animals have black tongues, too: the giraffe, polar bear, and several breeds of cattle including the Jersey."

It breaks my heart to think this companion to emperors and queens went from Foo Dog to food. My father had a Chow in Korea, during the Korean War, and his house boy ate the dog when he found out my father was leaving, but first they tied it to a post and beat it to death to make sure the meat was tender.

Chows get a bad wrap, but like so many dogs, it's a lot to do with how you raise them. There are bad dogs, any vet will tell you that, just like there are bad people. I've had Chows all my life, and we only had one that was not right. We had a breeding pair, and my parents would sell the puppies. I think that stopped though after the female, Tasha, adopted a bag of potatoes. They were small and brown, and vaguely resembled newborn chow puppies. My mom found this out when she went to get a potato and Tasha protected the potatoes. Tasha ended up dragging around that bag of potatoes until all of them rotted and fell apart.

Now we don't have a purebred Chow, but a mixed breed rescue with a black tongue and some certainly Chow tendencies. She was feral when she was found as a puppy, and I can certainly see some wolfish behavior lending back to Chow's ancient heritage. I'm not so sure what my subconscious was trying to tell me about Chows and Dragons, but they are an intriguing breed. My favorites have always been Chows and German Shepherds. Evey was a mix of both and one of the best dogs we could ever ask for. I'm very happy for my Foo dogs, and now feel the need to read more Dresden Files.

Referenced: https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Chow_Chow

Loving Yourself

We have a society of people who are so worried about loving themselves so they feel good but don't know how to love. If you can't understand love, how can you perform this action in any way for yourself or others. Self love is not the same as narcissism, which is what many have turned it into and here's the difference.

LOVE requires HONESTY
If your love is based on a lie, even if that lie is to yourself, then it's not love. Sometimes you have to tough love yourself as well. Anything built on a lie won't last. Don't accept the things that just feel good. Understand your weaknesses, only then can you overcome them. Most lies start within ourself before we start passing them off to others. Don't lie to yourself or others that you are more or less important than you are. It won't make it so.

LOVE is not about the OUTSIDE
If your love is based on your physical appearance, don't be surprised when that's all others want from you. Your physical beauty does not entitle you to certain things, nor does it omit you from love. Don't be shallow with yourself, and you won't be shallow with others. Your physique will fade, don't build your self worth on something that won't last.

LOVE is a DISCIPLINE
The Bible says if you love your child, you discipline them. There is truth to that. If you never discipline a child, you are dooming them to never be able to cope with a world that will inevitably say no and get tired of their self serving crap. Discipline is how you achieve greater and greater things, and that starts with yourself. If you love yourself, you will discipline yourself to not give into every whim and urge that might hurt yourself or those around you. Learning self discipline tames the chaos and will make you a better person.

LOVE is about TRUST
Learn to listen to yourself and trust your intuition. If you are honest with yourself enough to know how and why you feel the things you feel and disciplined enough to not be subject to whim, intuitions become clearer. Listen if a part of you tells you that something is wrong, because it probably is. Don't stay where you are being taken for granted and hurt. Love yourself enough to remove yourself from situations that are destructive and toxic. Your intuition will tell you.

LOVE won't change with your POSITION
If you have to be over others and in charge to feel good about yourself, then that's a tenuous situation, because what you really love is power. A need for power and control are fast tracks to destruction. The only thing you can control is you. That needs to go inward instead of outward. Learning to be okay with yourself in any position is powerful. Self worth should come from inside instead of outside, because outside can change at any moment.

LOVE is about being wise with your TIME
Just as people who waste your time, don't care about you, don't waste your time either. Take the time to do the things you need to do for you. Take care of yourself, and don't allow other people to squander your time. Value your time, and others will value it as well. Time is much like emotional currency. Don't spend it on those who are a bad investment of your time, but invest in those who give you a return, including yourself. Spend that time wisely making yourself better.

Love is not something we innately know.  It's something we learn from experience and observation. We come into the world selfish babies, because it's about us and our needs and getting as much love from others as we can. This doesn't make us bad, just immature. Eventually we are to grow out of that phase, but more and more people are growing up less and less. If we don't have good models to learn from, we do what we can to get by. This is how people learn to manipulate others to get what they think they want or need. In children it's tantrums, but adults are more practiced and manipulations take many forms. When you don't have the love you need from others, it's hard to know how to love yourself. Supposedly people who need love the most, like the color purple. I'm not sure if that's true, but I've seen a lot of purple lovers who have developed unhealthy behaviors to supplement love and get their way. All I can do is hope that if you are reading this now that you will at least think about this. After all, you can't change someone who sees nothing wrong with their behavior, and that includes ourselves.