HISTORY OF THE BREED

The Chihuahua is an ancient breed, which is believed to have its origins in the late

Paleozoic period, (cannis raptor rodentis) with a number of variations to the story.

Perhaps the most popular belief is that they were so named, having been found along the borders of Mexico & Arizona, particularly the City of Chihuahua, which was once the Capitol of Mexico (1864) surrounded on three sides by mountains, with mining & textiles industries.

These early Chihuahuas were possessed of huge ears, which allowed moisture from the air to collect, this they absorbed through the skin, allowing these small creatures to survive the arid desert plains, where other canine species such as the Cannis wimpor frenchus (desert poodle) struggled to survive & in fact became extinct. Those enormous ears were also used as ‘parasols’ for shade & heat transfer, particularly for their pups, during the searing daylight heat & colder nights.

These same ears also gave acute warning detecting prey & danger for up to 5 miles away.SomescientistsspeculatingtheywereequippedwithBatlikesonar. Thisisan ongoing debate in the bioacoustics fraternity as to whether this theory is feasible.

The earliest indication of human contact occurs on a piece of pottery (Toltecs) estimated to date from the 14th century. Since when many artifacts have been unearthed by archaeological expeditions along the Pacific Coast of Mexico.

Another theory is that he was a dog of the Toltec people. The Toltecs inhabited the area about Mexico City at around the time the Mayan civilisation was declining They themselves were destroyed by the Aztecs. According to the story, the Toltecs & Aztecs had a dog called the Techichi, but this dog was not indigenous to Mexico, rather Central America. The Aztecs are thought to have crossed this with their other small dog (hairless) Biche, to breed the Chihuahua.

And a second theory has it that the Techichi was crossed with the wild Perro Chihuahueno, of the state of Chihuahua.

NOTE: Perro is the Spanish word for “Dog”

Yet another theory is that they are a Chinese dwarf dog, brought to the America’s by the Chinese traders. 

• GENERAL APPEARANCE

        Small, dainty, compact.

 This is not an adequate description because it could apply to other toy breeds. The Chihuahua’s most important features are its apple-domed head with large, flaring, slightly pointed ears, dominated by large round eyes, set well apart; its small compact body, with a good spread of rib; its flat furry tail widening in the centre and tapering to a point (found in no other breed); and its gay movement (Harmer, 1972:210).

•  TEMPERAMENT

Gay, spirited and intelligent, neither snappy nor withdrawn.

This is self-explanatory. Judges should not lift the dog from the table or attempt to approach and/or handle the dog while it is on the ground as sudden movement might cause the dog to panic. If any doubt exists in the judge’s mind, it only takes a few minutes to re-table the dog (NSW).

Saucy little dog with fire and spirit (Northern NSW).

The Chihuahua radiates personality, and is alert and devoted with a gay and loving temperament.

•  HEAD AND SKULL

Well rounded ‘Apple Dome’ skull, cheeks and jaws lean, muzzle moderately short, slightly pointed. Definite stop.

The pre 1987 Standard read “A well rounded ‘Apple Dome’ skull with or without Molera, cheeks and jaws lean, nose moderately short, slightly pointed. Definite stop”.

The Chihuahua often has what is known as a molera in the centre of its skull. ‘Molera’ appears to be a misspelling of the Spanish word, which means an unclosed fontanel, a membrane-covered opening in the skull. It is due to “the failure of the parieto- occipital suture to close, and in the human infant is known as the ‘fontanel’ or ‘fontanelle’, which usually disappears in the human at an early age. In the Chihuahua, however, it persists usually throughout the life of the dog” (Harmer, 1972:210); also there can be more than one molera present. The Chihuahua is the only breed of dog with this feature. 

The neck is slightly arched, forming beautiful lines at the back in the shape of an inverted ‘V’ from the top of the skull to the base of the ears” (Harmer, 1972:210- 211).

The muzzle should be about one third of the length of the whole head and slightly pointed. Broad, flat noses are not correct. A long pointed nose gives a terrier appearance and is not acceptable. Light coloured noses and self-coloured noses are permitted (WA).

In judging a head, it should always be looked at as a whole and it should include the ears, the eyes, and most essentially, the expression. A Chihuahua has a very expressive face, which is a large part of its charm.

•  EYES

Large, round, but not protruding; set well apart; centre of eye is on a plane with lowest point of ear and base of stop; dark or ruby. Light eyes in light colours permissible.

The eyes are beautiful and expressive, large and round, and must be set well apart. The beautiful ruby eye, which goes with the pale nose, is most attractive, especially at night. The eye should be nearly as large as the nose (Harmer, 1972:211).

What a lot of people imagine constitutes a ruby eye is not what is meant. A true ruby eye is a dark, oxblood brown eye, which shines in certain lights with a red gleam in much the same way as a jewelled greenish and/or yellowish sheen is occasionally seen in an eye in the half light. Black eyes are not indigenous to either human or animal. There is no truly black eye; the iris is always a varying degree of dark to very dark brown and this is loosely referred to as black (NSW). 

• MOUTH

Jaws strong, with a perfect, regular and complete scissor bite, i.e. the upper teeth closely overlapping the lower teeth and set square to the jaws.

Full detention is preferable; otherwise the nose can tend to be too pointed. Older dogs should not be penalised for missing teeth although it needs to be evident that the bite was correct (WA).

It is not uncommon to observe incomplete numbers of incisors. This might have occurred naturally or have been caused by accident, and in both cases, the dog should not be overly penalised or condemned. A straight scissor bite and level jaw are, however, highly preferable. Any fault regarding teeth should be regarded in the exact proportion to its degree (NSW).

• NECK

Slightly arched, medium length.

The neck should be graceful and should slope at a wide angle into a smooth, well- angulated shoulder to give correct front movement. A graceful, arched neck, with the head held high, gives a dog elegance and style. There should be, even on a Smoothcoat, a slight ruff running down the back and a slight frilling down the side of the neck (NSW).

•  FOREQUARTERS

Shoulders well laid; lean, sloping into slightly broadening support above straight forelegs, set well under chest giving freedom of movement without looseness.

Forelegs “should be fine-boned and straight”. Sometimes the pasterns are weak which cause the legs to bend slightly and give the dog an over-built appearance. This means that the hindquarters are higher than the forehand, which is ugly. The over- built appearance can also be caused by the shoulders dipping or by loose elbows”. (Harmer, 1972:217). 

The shoulder blades should be set well and laid back, lean and sloping into slightly broadening support above straight forelegs which are set well under, allowing free play at the elbows. This free play is in a forward and backward direction and not outwards from the body (NSW). 

• BODY

Level back. Body, from point of should to rear point of croup, slightly longer than height at withers. Well sprung ribs, deep brisket.

The body should be round at the ribs and the back level and parallel to the ground. The length of the back measured from the base of the neck to the root of the tail should be only very slightly longer than the height at the withers, and should be level and supple. It should never be straight and rigid like a board, since this is ugly. Another ugly feature is a roach back, which is more common (The Breed Standards).

“The breed must look elegant and dainty and this is impossible if the legs are short and the back is long. There should be no resemblance to the dachshund at all. The dog should stand almost four-square with the front legs under the rib cage and the hind legs correctly curved from the hip bone to the stifle joint and then perfectly straight from the hock to the ground. The back legs should stand away from the body when the dog is standing but move out behind him when he walks correctly. The two front legs should be parallel to each other, and the front action should carry straight, that is, it should not be bowed in any way or out at elbow, or weave or cross in front, or paddle, as in the case of being wide at the elbows, or be stiff like a ‘goose step’. The action must be swift moving and brisk. All movement should be smooth and well coordinated.

The very ugly movement where the hindquarters move from side to side on their own is caused by there being too long a space from the first rib to the hip bone. A Chihuahua shaped thus will often roach its back which is another extremely ugly fault” (Huxham, 1969:91). 

• HINDQUARTERS

Muscular; hocks well let down, with good turn of stifle, well apart, turning neither in nor out.

“The hindlegs from the hocks down should be straight and parallel to each other when viewed from behind, and not turned in or out. The rear pasterns should be at right angles to the ground and in a vertical plane with the root of the tail. They should also be well apart giving a good stance. Many Chihuahuas have their hindlegs too close together with the hocks nearly touching. A prevalent fault in Chihuahuas is luxation of the patella, the equivalent of the knee cap in humans. This may vary from a straight stifle to complete overriding of the knee cap, which can be extremely painful, or to double-jointed hocks. This is a hereditary fault, unless caused by an accident, which is extremely rare. The worst type of patella luxation is when the grooves are excessively shallow and the patella slips over the sides” (Harmer, 1972:218). It is important that there is a definite bend in the stifle.

A good turn of stifle with rear pasterns at approximately right angles to the ground is conductive to good driving rear action. A shallow croup gives hind movement, which is stilted, in Spitz breed style, while a steep croup shows up as slack hind movement and a ‘goose rump’. Angulation of the hindquarters (a good turn of stifle) is required for extra speed. Increasing the turn of stifle proportionately increases the length of both the thigh and second thigh, thereby also lengthening the rear end muscles. These muscles, particularly of the second thigh, provide the drive. Weak hind muscles lead to poor hind action, hence ‘muscular’ in the standard. The natural result of lengthening the second thigh, by developing a good turn of stifle, is that the hind pastern shortens, giving hocks which are ‘well let down’, that is, close to the ground. A shorter hind pastern gives greater endurance. Ideally, the hind pastern should incline slightly forward – foot slightly in front of the hock but a vertical hock is the norm in the show ring. This slight inclination should not be over- pronounced as this produces a sickle hock (NSW).

Good turn of stifle. Straight, strong and muscular when viewed from behind (Northern NSW). 

• TAIL

Medium length, set high, carried up and over back (sickle tail). When moving never tucked under or curled below the topline. Furry, flattish in appearance, broadening slightly in centre and tapering to point.

The flat furry tail is also unique to the Chihuahua and it is important not to lose this feature. It should be “at least an inch [2.5cm] at its widest part. It should then gradually taper to a point and should always be carried gaily” (Harmer, 1972:221). The tail should not twist or touch the back. Rat-like tails, which are thin and round, are uncharacteristic and should not be tolerated.

Even with the Longcoat, this flat tail should be obvious to the touch. ‘Set high’ implies that the tail set is a natural extension of the spinal column and should show an immediate upward curve forming a sickle tail. It should not curve tightly to one side or the other, neither should it be so short that it cannot form an arc. The tip of the tail should preferably do no more than just touch the back. A low set tail is likely to accompany a ‘goose rump’ with a steep croup and movement problems. While in repose, the tail may be held below the level of the back (NSW). 

•  COAT

Smooth Coat: of soft texture, close and glossy, with undercoat and ruff permissible.

There are many textures of Chihuahua coat. Some are fine and short, others longer and coarser, and some thick and some very thin. There is frequently more coat on the body than on the head and ears. Undercoat is allowed. The Smoothcoat may have a slight ruff (WA).

The coat should be clean and well-groomed, and have the bloom and lustre of good health (NSW).

•  COLOUR

Any colour or mixture of colours - but never merle (dapple)

 Colour may be almost any colour or combination of colours, solid, tri-coloured, marked or splashed. There are fawns, golden fawns, red fawns, silver fawns, blue fawns, reds and creams, sables, chocolates, blues, blacks, whites, creams, etc. The only “colour” which is not permitted is merle (dapple).

EXTENDED BREED STANDARD OF THE CHIHUAHUA (LONGCOAT) 

• COAT

Long Coat: soft texture (never coarse or harsh to touch), either flat or slightly wavy. Never tight and curly. Feathering on ears, feet and legs, pants on hindquarters, large ruff on neck desirable. Tail long and full as a plume. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR JUDGES

Please do:

 Approach the exhibit with an upturned open hand. Speak to the exhibit.