TOV is an acronym for Touch of Velvet, which refers to an animal that carries the velvet gene. If a chin is TOV it will display a mask and a stripe down its back, and it will be able to pass on the TOV gene to 50% of its offspring. It is not always easy to determine if a chin is TOV, especially in ebonies and younger chins.

Paw stripes are sometimes used to determine if a chin is TOV, but this method is hardly foolproof and many chins without TOV influence demonstrate paw stripes.