Fu Quan

The Fu Quan is a rare Chinese spitz sometimes called the Chinese temple dog, kept for centuries around temples and imperial hunts.

History

Dogs of this type are described in Chinese ritual texts including the Rites of Zhou, which places them in the country three thousand years ago, and they served as hunting and ceremonial dogs under the Tang. The population today is critically small — counts in the low double figures — and it is listed among China's protected animals. Anything written about it is written about very few dogs.

Temperament

Accounts describe an alert, self-contained spitz, attached to its keeper and reserved with outsiders.

Care and training

It needs regular exercise and secure boundaries, and the thick coat needs regular brushing. In practice almost nobody outside a conservation programme will keep one.

Health

A population this small carries the inbreeding risk that goes with it; nothing else is documented. These are patterns for the breed rather than a forecast for one dog; the measured facts are in the panel.