We got a lab chow mix when she was 10 weeks old to give to my Mom who was dying near Christmas and all my Mom wanted was a dog for Christmas. When introduced to my Mom she stayed by her side until her death 4 days later, Dec. 27, 2017. She would not allow anybody to take her away from my Mom until she passed, not to eat or go out. That characteristic in its self told me she was a loyal and loving dog. Since it was my idea to get the dog for her, we took her after my Mom passed. My Mom named her BowBow and we kept that name. She is now 5 and a white bundle of fluff. She has the body of a chow, although the vet insists she is not chow. She does have a partially blue tongue. The vet continues to tell me she is overweight but looking at pictures of some mixed dogs, I don’t believe she is. She came to us with worms and fleas, which of course were taken care of. She was very destructive when she came to live with us and still can be if left by herself for a long period of time. She is very stubborn when she wants to be. Only listens when it suits her. She is very protective of us and her territory, but loves kids. She barks her head off at adults but greets children with her tail wagging and lots of kisses. She doesn’t like being hugged, but does enjoy the occasional scratch on her butt. She has never enjoyed toys no matter how much we have tried playing with her. She is fearful of many things that I can only assume came from her puppy home before us. She is scared of vehicles that are running and will not get in one running or not, loud noises, and isn’t particularly fond of water. I am mostly her person. She follows me no matter where I go in the house. I have a lot of medical problems and she always senses when I am not well. She has never tried biting anyone, so that is a good thing. Most people are quite fearful of her bark and it takes a lot to convince them that she won’t hurt them. One thing I find puzzling is that she has always had a black nose but in the last few months or so it has turned mostly pink. All in all she is a sweet dog. Even with her fallbacks, I would not trade her for anything in the world.

My husband and I have a chabrador whom we adopted from the shelter when he was only a few months old; he’s five years now. He came with the name Ivan, but I renamed him Titan. I felt kinda bad taking him from his brothers and sister, especially after he saw his own reflection in the dishwasher door and pawed at it, but after a couple of days hiding behind a chair, he quickly warmed up to us and assimilated.
He’s the least affectionate dog I’ve met – he’s mostly independent and keeps to himself, but he insists on a walk every morning, playing fetch, and now and then begs me to pet and scratch his head. But that’s okay since we decided to adopt a loyal, protective dog after our house was robbed; he’s not at all friendly to strangers, though he doesn’t attack, just incessantly barks if someone comes too close to us.
He looks mostly like a Labrador but has five different colors of fur – he’s mostly black and white, but has noticeable tan on his legs and tail, and chocolate and cinnamon highlights that are very visible in bright light. His tongue is mostly pink, but has a bluish tinge, and his lips and gums are purple. He certainly does have the stubbornness and feigned deafness of a chow chow at times, though.
Interestingly, he does not like water at all; he hates baths and retreats from surf at the beach.
He’s a handful sometimes, but we love him, nonetheless.

Me and my son had German Shepard, Sire, Komondor and St Bernard girls , all rescues before we got Mishka chabrador boy, of cause a rescue, 2 years old. Heart worms, etc worms, after his previous parents just dropped him on the street supposedly 6 month before he was taken to shelter. He was just bones and gorgeous coat!!! 38 lbs… 2 years later , now, we have a 80 lbs happy protective cuddler, yes, he was bit difficult to train at first, compared to other dogs, bit son and me, early in our life together, because we did not realize he is different then other breeds we had… So proceed with caution. Sweetie boy now, best companion ! PS: Mishka in Russian means clumsy bear cub and it is what he really looks like!

We rescued a chow/lab (and 3 other breeds thrown in) from certain death. She is 25% chow and she is fiercely protective and we like that. Our other rescue baby is a much gentler mix of Australian shepherd/ lab / and 3 others thrown in and amazingly enough part chow.

But she is 5 years older and I can’t tell if she’s more chilled because she’s older, or that she’s only 12.5% chow, whereas the first one is only 3 and she is 25% chow. Plus we’ve traveled more with the 2nd than the first. Abby is the 25% chow. She doesn’t care for small children which isn’t great because we have 2 small grandchildren.

I grew alarmed at her behavior when I witnessed her closing the gap to the baby whom I snatched up immediately before she got too close. Some weeks before we had gotten her a ball that makes small animal sounds when it rolls.

It was amazing and concerning as we watched her “challenge” the ball emitting the animal sounds; she’d raise up on her hind legs and make a diving motion down upon it and push it violently with her nose and paws. We laughed at the time but after we saw her attempt the same with the grandchildren we put them both in the back bedroom while the kids were over.

We told an animal behaviorist about this and made some recommendations like bringing home one or more of the kids’ favorite stuffed animals with the kids’ unlaundered clothes on them. But since the kids live in a nearby state it’s hard to know if this has been effective. Just thought I’d share.

I had a male lab/chow mix was the best dog I have had.He would protect my ex-wife to his death!The only issue I ever had with him is if a dog was his size or larger he wanted to fight but never bothered smaller dogs or cats.And am in search for another male puppy!

In reply to Susie.

Haha 🙂 We love when our readers brag with their dogs. Thanks for sharing, Susie

I didn’t know there was this whole community about the lab/chow mix. I got my Petey when I was 8 years old and he was only about 13 weeks. He was a great guard dog, barked at any car in our driveway/yard that he didn’t recognize. But he was very sweet to everyone once he got to know them. He had to be put down when I was about 22 years old. he had hip dysplasia and his health had started to decline. He was the sweetest dog. I miss him very much.

I love my chow lab. I have cats and dogs.and he is good with them. He has scented out rabbits and killed a few. I am curious which side of his heritage gave him this instinct. I would like this to stop and want to scent train for fun so no bunny gets hurt.

In reply to Tara.

Here we have another heartwarming story :’) Thanks for sharing, Tara! And subscribe to our newsletter to get more dog posts right into your inbox

In reply to Jeanette.

Hi Jeanette,

Please look into our potty training guide here

If you won’t get any insights from it, please ask comment on that article and try to be as more specific as possible and we’ll try to provide you advice 🙂