My husband and I raised chows for many years. We have found them to be wonderful companions and naturally housetrained. Be careful, however, as we learned the hard way they can become very aggressive as they get older over their food dishes. As such, I would advise not feeding Smokey around the other pets and vice versa. Further, I would make sure to socialize Smokey around other humans from a young age. Otherwise, they become very protective. Our last two babies (who passed away about a year ago at the age of 15) were so protective we could not have people in our home even when we were there.