LIFE WITH JAPANESE CHIN
by SUE ANN PIETROS
I have been “in dogs” practical- ly my whole life starting with showing a Doberman in Juniors at ten, breeding Salukis for fifty years and have been involved with Por- tuguese Water Dogs for forty years and along the way owning and showing many other breeds. As with many who age in this sport, I started to think about leaving my big dog breeds behind and search for my perfect “old age breed” and about twelve years ago I seriously began to look. I preferred to live with the laid back Sighthound temperament. I also never did “hair” well (just ask any of my Water Dog handlers). I also didn’t want a dog that would bark at anything or everything that moved. For some reason Japanese Chin were in the back of my mind from when I was a little girl showing in Juniors. I often saw Sari Tietjen showing her own Japanese Chin even in breed. I remi- nisced about a black and white bundle of fur, not imaging what it meant to deal with a Toy dog, no less one with a flat face! So I studied history, pedigrees and the standard, so as not to make a mis- take with my first purchase. I went to six National specialties to see what was being bred. Fast forward, and of course present- ly, I have a whole house full of Chin of all ages and sizes. Many are champions and some I bred. Neither my husband nor I ever imagined what they would add to our lives! Chin are so unique and endearing that we somehow fell into a new chapter in our love of dogs.
Chin are so quiet, laid back, pack oriented, athletic and clean—so much like our Salukis. As Toy dogs, they are so bonded to you and respond to your every emotion. The amazing fact about them as a breed is that they read your facial expressions and have total eye contact with you. From the time they can see you from their whelping box, they follow your face and read it, not your body language like most dogs. For us, these little charmers came at exactly the time in life that we needed them. The recession hit and my hus- band, who always worked seventy hour weeks, had no work. Instead of going into a deep depression, he put his efforts into the dogs. While he always liked the dogs, they weren’t exactly his main concern. Now the Chin are this grandchildren. He piles them on the bed with him. He cooks for them, takes them out for runs and they give back to him in total devotion. Like our Salukis, they understand everything you say. They have a vocab- ulary. My husband tests these verbal skills all the time trying to fool them with different intonations of speech. They are never fooled, but look at him with great pity and love for his being such a silly human. So while this magazine is basically for the most sophisticated in the dog world, this little article is from the most dedicated Japanese Chin “pet” person ever! They started for me a whole new view and episode in my life devoted to purebred dogs.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dogs have been a life long passion for Sue Ann Pietros who began showing Dobermans in 1957 as a Junior Han- dler. In 1969, while working in New York and obtaining degrees in both English and History from CW Post College, she obtained her first Saluki. Over the last five decades, 100 plus champion Salukis have been owned or produced under the Monab ken- nel name. In addition to Salukis, she has owned and shown several other breeds that include about 40 more champions including Whippets, Bor- zoi, Italian Greyhounds, Portuguese Water Dogs and Japanese Chin. As one of the founders of the PWD in the US, she helped define the breed standard that is used by the AKC. Mrs. Pietros has served as the AKC Gazette colum- nist for three breeds: Salukis, Portu- guese Water Dogs and Japanese Chin. She published her own breed maga- zines for a number of years including The Classic Saluki and The Navigator . Her articles on breed history, pedigree analysis, coat color, form and func- tion and the standards have been published in the English Saluki Club magazine The Saluki , the online mag- azine Saluki Insights , Dogs in Review, and The Sighthound Review. When not writing or researching, Sue Ann spends her time enjoying her latest passion—her Japanese Chin!
“THE AMAZING FACT ABOUT THEM AS A BREED IS THAT THEY READ YOUR FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND HAVE TOTAL EYE CONTACT WITH YOU.”
T op N otch T oys , A pril 2017 • 65
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