American Staffordshire Terrier vs Chow Chow — Side by Side

	American Staffordshire Terrier	Chow Chow
Lifespan	10-15 years	8-12 years
Size	Medium	Medium
Weight	40-70 lb	45-70 lb
Energy	High	Low
Grooming	Low	High
Shedding	Moderate	High
With kids	With supervision	Not ideal for young kids

What actually separates them

Less hair on the sofa with the American Staffordshire Terrier. More with the Chow Chow.
Less brushing with the American Staffordshire Terrier. More with the Chow Chow.
Calmer of the two is the Chow Chow. The one that needs more exercise is the American Staffordshire Terrier.
American Staffordshire Terrier tends to live longer — 10-15 years against 8-12 years.

The honest downside of each

American Staffordshire Terrier

This breed carries some of the most restrictive breed-specific legislation of any dog worldwide — outright bans or ownership conditions exist in multiple countries and in various US cities and counties — and many landlords and home-insurance policies exclude the breed by name regardless of an individual dog's temperament or training.

Chow Chow

Chow Chows appear on around 95% of home-insurance breed-restriction lists — in the same tier as pit bulls and Rottweilers — because the breed's genuinely aloof, defensive temperament and low tolerance for strangers or being startled produces real bite incidents; this is not the cuddly, sociable family pet its teddy-bear looks suggest.

Read the full pages

American Staffordshire Terrier · Chow Chow
Health problems, origin and what living with each is actually like.