30 Chowchows = Fluff Party! (SG Chow Lions Club’s 1st Gathering) 

Talk about a furtastic day. If you were at Punggol’s cafe hub Tebing Lane last Sunday evening (21 Feb 16), you might have caught sight of a whole lotta fluff. And many proud pawrents and excited photographers. After all, it’s not every day that one gets to see 30 Chowchows in action, including my very own handsome Optimus! 

Organized by SG Chow Lions Club, it was the biggest and most successful Chowchow gathering so far, attracting 30 Chows and almost 80 humans. The plan: A short walk, group photo, and dinner at Frienzie Bar & Bistro.

Here’s Optimus in his new Mickey Mouse scarf. He met a babe named Eda and we’re hoping sparks will fly between them. Her pawrents are equally lovely and will make very nice in-laws to Optimus. ??

There were cream Chows, ranging from almost-white like Eda to a tawny lion-esque hue like Optimus. Many red Chows (red means brown in dog talk) and several jet black chows. Nope, we didn’t spot the elusive blue chow. 

There were cute puppies and dignified 5-year-olds. Many of the pawrents had to flex some muscle to carry our hefty furkids for photos. And I tell ya, carrying a giant furball — Optimus, who is among the bigger ones there, is at least 28kg — will give you a real workout. 

    
    
That’s my son Ayden with Feizai (‘Fatty’ in Cantonese), who was sitting with his pawrents at our table. He is a good-natured fatty bom bom — so cute! 

Everywhere you turned, there was a giant ball of fur. Hahahaha! Folks hanging out at Tebing Lane had a field day taking photo after photo! 
   

Many may not know that Chowchows have different types of faces, ranging from flat-faced ones (commonly imported from Taiwan) to sharper snouts.

   
   
And then there’s this wide-faced darling. Doesn’t he look like a giant hamster? #cutenessoverload 

 
Like any good party, it’s all about what they wore. Two turned up wearing (gasp!) the same outfits. Oooh…. Furshionista face-off. So, #whoworeitbetter? 

   
 
1 pooch was in his best Chinese New Year outfit. 

  
Another looked sooo kawaii in a kimono.

Trying to get a group photo was a hilarious mission. This is the first attempt:    

We arrived a tad late so we were not in the photo above. 

But we made it into this epic shot.   

Can you spot Optimus and my hubby Alan? (They’re in 2nd row, 2nd cream Chow on the left. See below.)

I’m not in the photo because due to the extreme fluffiness that took up so much space, each Chow was allowed only 1 human ?) 

Check out this video by SG Doglovers on how the photoshoot went down.

https://www.facebook.com/sgdoglovers/videos/1737789393122803/

While the humans ate at Frienzie’s (generous portions though food is so-so, says this food critic), our doggies enjoyed some super treats. Each doggie got a goodie bag with some fruity hair accessories, modelled here by XiongXiong.

  
They also got a chew treat sponsored by Chew Time. Here’s Optimus relishing his.  Thanks, Chew Time. 

 Optimus, being the dog of a food critic, says it’s good but he needs to try more to check out your variety. He also advises all potential pet treat sponsors to discuss contract terms with his manager aka his long-suffering mum — me. Here’s a video of him in action.  

Annnnnd… We’ve even got bak kwa specially made for dogs!  And jello made from goat’s milk! And a meat-stuffed 3kg cake! Talk about living the good life. Totally worth the $5 we shelled out. 

Here’s Optimus doing the leopard crawl to earn his treat. My son is ready to serve his National Service now. 

  
   
The humans went home with a car decal designed by one of the Chowchow owners. Yes, we are a multi-talented group ??

 
Others helped make name tags for the humans — that’s the human’s name on top and the doggy’s at bottom. There were 2 dogs named Leo. 

Speaking of names, we’ve got a real interesting list. Check this out: 

• XiongXiong
• Gwen 
• Czeam (nope, not a typo)
• Fei Zai
• Tobby 
• Teddy
• Sasha
• Woola & Nala
• Guinness (No prize for guessing his colour!) 
• Charlotte 
• Candy
• Jetta & Eos 
• Mooshu
• Kai Kai
• Shadow & Shoo (Hahaha! I like this combo)
• Genghis
• Truffles
• Kingkong & Ronron 
• Juju
• Shishi 
• King
• Mochi
• BeamBeam
• Chubbs
• Leo #1
• Leo #2
• Niu Niu
• ? Optimus (My majestic little lion!)
• Eda 

Eda is Optimus’ potential girlfriend, seen here with her daddy, who is a very nice man and probably won’t give my Optimus a hard time. ??. Here’re the dads bonding over their dogs.  ?❤️?)
  

Hope I didn’t miss out anyone. There was a pair named Garlic & Ginger who couldn’t make it. How cute are their names??

One more shot of the gang.

It was a furtastic first Chowchow pawty and Optimus can’t wait for our next gathering.

We’ve already set a date and venue: 

Chow Chow 2nd gathering at Singapore Pet Expo

Date: 26 March 2016 (Sat)

Venue: Singapore Expo Hall 7
If you want to spot Singapore’s largest contingent of Chowchows, come say hi to us on 26 March 16 at Singapore Pet Expo. 

But please, do remember that Chowchows, though they look super cute and fluffy, are not naturally friendly dogs.  Do NOT touch them, pet them or pull them towards you for photos, unless you have permission from their owners and they are there to watch over you. 

Though my Optimus is very calm and amiable with kids, adults and dogs alike, not every Chowchow is like that. Many of those I met at our epic gathering were well trained but there were a few who were more aggressive (their poor pawrents kept apologizing for their fur kid’s bad behaviour haha). You’ll definitely want to avoid those, especially if you are not experienced with dogs. 

Bottom line: ALWAYS ask the owner if the dog is okay to be touched. Then, let the dog smell you, and GENTLY pet it. Do not ruffle the fur or smack it or make sudden big movements that may alarm the dog. You risk getting your fingers nipped if Doggy doesn’t like it. 

Btw, Optimus will be supporting his doggy friends at the ‘Save Our Street Dogs’ flag day this Sunday. We will be joining our friend Lady Mae and her human, Charissa. 

  
If you run into Optimus and Lady Mae, please do donate generously to help our Singapore Special street dogs! Most of them are not as lucky as Optimus and Lady Mae, who have loving families and homes to call their own. To thank you, Optimus and Lady Mae will be happy to take a photo with you! 

  
 
Okay, enough with the preaching. I’ll end with this awesome video of Optimus demonstrating his leopard crawl. Cracks me up every time. 

If you donate VERY generously and offer Optimus a treat, he may do a live demo this Sunday! See you at Scape Youth Park at Orchard Road. Optimus will only arrive about 230pm but there’ll be plenty of altruistic pooches around from 9am.

  
Photos: SG Chow Lions & Stella Thng

Click this link if you can’t see the video. https://instagram.com/p/BCIUfVYN-FXR2kb7A5QNTG3_ZMvOlriydc16CQ0/