A lot of Chinese words entered US vocabulary when Chinese workmen were hired in large numbers to work on transcontinental railroad. Many more were acquired by Navy men at Naval installation in China, going back many years.
Faldage ought to know about that.
What is the "chow" in a chow dog???
When I was in Philippines in WWII, dogs were very scarce, having been eaten because of severe food shortages. The only dog I ever saw was pet Gen. MacArthur had for his son.
It had "distemper" which left it paralyzed in hind quarters.
Our veterinary officer, Maj. Dougherty got a baby carriage,took off axle and wheels, and made a harness for the dog's body attached to them. With them in place, the dog became once more happily mobile.

One time my wife was teasing me, "Oh, Honey! Doggie meat! You never know how tasty!"

To which I immediately responded, "Damned straight."

k

How does this work?

chow (chow) noun

Food.

verb intr.

To eat (usually in the form "to chow down").

[Perhaps from Cantonese zab (food, miscellany).]

How does this work?

Perhapsedly

The only time I've had dog meat, it was so covered in sambal, I have no idea what it actually tasted like.

Incidentally, I am familiar with chow as a noun, meaning food, but I don't think I've seen it as a verb before.

Bingley

verbally, I would think chow - chew.

and no train jokes...

I cannot understand how zab can evolve into chow. And the Grimms' consonant shifts and vowel movements (not that the latter are any of our business, of course) don't help, since the bros researched only Indo-European languages.

~~~
Bingley, I wouldn't use "chow" alone as a verb, but would use it with "down."

how zab can evolve into chow

I think we've got to consider the vagaries of transliteration (if we can call it transliteration when it's from ideograms to alphabet). Remember Peking and Beijing theoretically represent the same sounds.

I'm shedding horsebun size tears that nobody has told me how the breed of dogs called "chow" got it's name. And please don't try to tell me they were raised for meat.

Possibly from Chinese (Cantonese) gou, dog.