THE VERDICT

Judge Gardner

The scene -- Peking, China.

The time -- 1935.

I was walking along on a typical narrow Peking sidewalk when I came upon

a large dog, a chow, or to be more accurate, a chow chow. He was

stretched across the sidewalk. I noticed that all the Chinese people got

off the sidewalk and carefully walked around the dog.

Finally, a Chinese soldier came along. He wasn’t much of a soldier. At

that time in the history of China, Chiang Kai-shek and his army of

Nationalists had conquered all of South China but had stopped at the

Yangtze River. The so-called “Incident at the Marco Polo Bridge” a few

miles north of Peking that would trigger Japan’s efforts to conquer all

of China, had not yet occurred. North China was the land of the warlords.

Two of them -- the Tiger of Manchuria and the so-called “Christian

General,” who had baptized all of his troops by use of a fire hose --

were fighting for the right to ransack Peking. This soldier belonged to

one of those two warlords. He was so dirty, I assumed he had not been

exposed to water via the fire hose and did not belong to the “Christian

General.” Thus, by a process of elimination, he was a soldier of the

Tiger of Manchuria. As I say, he wasn’t much of a soldier. He was

slovenly, sloppy, sullen, and, to carry the process of alliteration one

step further, probably stupid. He was carrying a rifle, with which he was

pushing Chinese pedestrians out of the way as he bullied his way down the

sidewalk.

He came upon the dog. He prodded the dog with his rifle. The dog didn’t

move. He prodded the dog again. This time the dog raised his head. He

looked at the soldier, and that look said, “You touch me one more time,

and I’ll tear your throat out.”

The soldier shouldered his rifle, got off the sidewalk and walked around

the dog.

That was my introduction to chows.

The incident came to my recollection because of a story in the Los

Angeles Times recently about dog bites. It listed German shepherds,

Rottweilers, pit bulls and chows as the dogs most likely to bite a human

being. Then I remembered a dog bite case I tried in which the canine

psychologist -- yes, there is such a profession -- testified that chows

are the most aggressive and thus the most dangerous dogs in the world

today.

I must take issue with the canine psychologist and with the Times story

that put chows in the same category as German shepherds, Rottweilers and

pit bulls. Those dogs are aggressive. They have been trained for

generations to be aggressive. Not so with chows. chows are not

aggressive. They are proud.

For centuries chows were temple dogs in China. As such, their only

companions were Chinese monks who are not a very jolly group. Monks sit

around and think and pray and ring gongs and treat the temple dogs as

equals. Thus today, after centuries as temple dogs, chows are proud,

sensitive and consider themselves as equals with human beings. You

wouldn’t want a stranger to come along and ruffle your hair. Neither does

a chow. Ruffle a chow’s hair, and he can’t swear at you. Instead he bites

you.

My sister once had a chow puppy. He was a strange little fellow. He never

played. Throw a ball, and he would just look at you as if to say, “You

threw it, you go get it.” He was the only dignified puppy I have ever

seen.

Chows don’t belong in the aggressive category. They’re proud, sensitive,

dignified -- but not aggressive, unless you try to treat them as dogs.

Then watch out.

I suppose the way to get on the good side of a chow is to ring a temple

bell. He’ll think you are a Chinese monk and be your friend for life.

JUDGE GARDNER is a Corona del Mar resident and former judge. His column

runs Tuesdays.