 Named after the State of Chihuahua in Mexico, the Chihuahua is the smallest dog breed in the world and is very much in the Toy Group of dogs. Despite their small stature, Chihuahuas make excellent watch dogs. They are agile, protective, courageous and quite fearless. Despite this fact, they also make wonderfully affectionate companion dogs although they are not ideally suited to families with small children.
Considering its diminutive size, the Chihuahua appears to have a colourful and interesting past. It is believed by some that the Chihuahua was once used for food. Some believe that ancient Mexicans considered the Chihuahua capable of transferring illness from one person to another, and that the dogs were kept in order to guide their owner's soul to heaven. Their remains have even been found in human graves where they were cremated alongside their human masters in order to curry favour with the Gods and to guide the deceased owners to the afterlife. Dating back to the 5th century, Mayan pyramids in Chichen Itza, Yucatan, have carvings of small Chihuahua-like dogs. There seems little doubt that the Chihuahua was almost certainly used in ancient religious ceremonies and that their use was purely ceremonial as opposed to fulfilling any companionship role. It is once again almost certain that the original Chihuahua was considerably larger than the breed as we know it today.
Between Mexico City and Pubela, at the Monastery of Huejotzingo, there are Chihuahua images in the Toltec stones used to construct the monastery dating back to the 9th century. It is believed that a small dog called a Techichi played an important role in Toltec and Aztec cultures. Techichi were the pets of the wealthy. They were considered essential to the religious practices of these ancient cultures.
It is believed by many that the Chihuahua is in fact the result of breeding the Techichi with a small, hairless dog from Asia. Others believe that the breed was developed from the the Techichi, but that it was crossed with small dogs of Mexico, Arizona and Texas in order to obtain the Chihuahua we know and love today. Yet others believe that Chihuahuas may have existed in Egypt more than 3,000 years ago.
There are two varieties of Chihuahua - the Smooth Coated Chihuahua and the Long Coated Chihuahua. The original Smooth Coated Chihuahua was crossed with the Yorkshire Terrier and the Papillon to produce the Long Coated variety. |
