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All This and Charo, Too!
That will
be 15 minutes too long for many Chihuahua breeders. "My phone
hasn't stopped ringing since the first commercial," says Eileen
Woliver of Dayton, Ohio. "They all want a dog 'just like the
one in the Taco Bell ads.' Heaven help us! That dog looks
like Chihuahuas did 40 years ago, but I'm afraid we're saddled
with the TV image for a while because the same [kind of] dog
appeared in the Tommy Hilfiger commercials during the Super
Bowl. Everyone in the world probably saw that."
Chihuahua
fanciers might not be ecstatic at the golden-oldies look of
television Chis, but the determined, independent gait of the
taco warrior is an improvement over the lingering image of
the Chihuahua as a coddled, vile-tempered marsupial in somebody's
handbag. That image was popularized in the '40s and '50s by
band leader Xavier Cugat, who gave the world Charo and who
was in the habit of appearing on stage and screen with one
of his many Chihuahuas tucked into the pocket of his jacket.
One of Cugat's dogs was immortalized in the children's book
Pepito the Little Dancing Dog: The Story of Xavier Cugat's
Chihuahua.
Mute
Testimony
Fast food
and rhumba kings notwithstanding, the genealogy of the modern-day
Chihuahua can be traced to the Techichi, a small, heavy-boned,
long-coated dog kept by the Toltecs, a people who had conquered
much of central and southern Mexico by 1100. The Toltecs established
their capital at Tula in the Mesa Central region and also
built the city of Teotihuacan near present-day Mexico City.
The Techichi,
whose defining characteristic was the fact that it was mute,
is thought to have been indigenous to Central America; and
some historians believe that the ancestors of the Techichi,
which was somewhat larger than today's Chihuahua, may have
existed in Central America as early as the fifth century.
An interesting historical note places the Techichi in Cuba,
which Christopher Columbus appropriated in the name of the
king of Spain. Columbus' report of that annexation mentioned
small dogs "which were mute and did not bark, as usual, but
were domesticated." What's more, the remains of pyramids and
other historical clues found on the Yucatan peninsula suggest
that the Techichi may have also lived in Chichen Itza in southeastern
Mexico.
Ready
or Not
The Techichi
was popular as both a pet and a religious fundamental among
the Toltecs and, later, among the Aztecs who had supplanted
them by the time the Spaniards arrived in Mexico in 1519.
Both tribes believed the Techichi safely guided the human
soul through the underworld, warding off evil spirits until
the recently deceased arrived at the Great Taco Bell in the
Sky. In addition Toltecs and Aztecs sometimes burned a dog
with a human corpse in the belief that the latter's sins would
thus be transferred to the dog. Red being the primary color
of temptation, red dogs were the preferred media for this
transaction.
The remains
of dogs in human graves have been discovered by archaeologists
in Mexico, but Exhibit A linking the Techichi to the Toltecs
can be found in pictures carved on some of the stones of which
the monastery at Huejotzingo is constructed. Built circa 1530
by Franciscan monks, the monastery is an early example of
recycling. Some of its stones formerly belonged to pyramids
assembled at the city of Cholula by the Toltecs. A number
of those stones contain carvings of dogs that closely resemble
the Chihuahua of modern times.
The Techichi,
for all its seeming ubiquity, was not the sole ancestor of
the Chihuahua. According to K. de Blinde, a Chihuahua breeder
and authority who spent years traveling parts of Mexico on
horseback, Techichi were bred with tiny, hairless dogs brought
from Asia to Alaska and points south over the land bridge
that now lies at the bottom of the Bering Strait. This hairless
dog, similar to the one found in China, increased the Techichi's
bark while decreasing its size.
Another
Chihuahua authority, Thelma Gray, who has written two books
about the breed, believes Spanish invaders were accompanied
on their voyages to the new world by a small black-and-tan,
terrier-type dog that was popular in Spain at that time. Gray
asserts that fraternization between the little terriers and
the Techichis gave rise to the Chihuahua as we know it today.
This theory is supported by the popularity of black-and-tan
Chihuahuas in Mexico.
From
the Halls of Montezuma
After
Hurricane Cortez had stormed through Mexico during 1519-20,
little remained of the Aztecs or their wealth and civilization.
Practically all the worldly possessions of Montezuma II, the
last Aztec ruler of Mexico, were wrung from his dying grasp
by the Spanish invaders, his dogs included. Thus, we find
a three-century gap in Radio Chihuahua, which doesn't resume
transmission until the middle of the 19th century, when the
earliest specimens of today's breed were found in the Mexican
state of the same name in old ruins close to Casas Grandes,
ruins that are said to be the remains of a palace built by
Montezuma I.
From that
humble reemergence the Chihuahua proliferated and eventually
caught the attention of American tourists. Chihuahua, the
state, is bordered by Arizona and Texas to the north; and
the dogs found in that state were, for obvious reasons, called
Chihuahuas. Chihuahua, for the record, derives from
the Náhuatl word xicuagua, which means "dry
and sandy place."
Those
first modern Chihuahuas varied considerably in looks, size,
color and coat length. The only feature that was consistent
from one little creature to the next was a soft spot at the
top of the dogs' skulls. American Kennel Club (AKC) records
indicate that Chihuahuas were first exhibited in the United
States in 1890. The breed was slow to catch on in this country,
and in 1915 only 30 Chihuahuas were registered with the AKC.
Eight years later the Chihuahua Club of America (CCA) was
established. The smallest breed registered by the AKC, the
Chihuahua ranks 12th among the AKC's 143 recognized breeds.
A well-written
breed standard has given Chihuahuas a consistency of type
they lacked in the early days, and even though there are two
coat varieties, smooth and long, the requirements for both,
aside from the amount of coat, is exactly the same. The long
coat is soft to the touch and either flat or slightly curled.
An undercoat is preferred so there are no thin or bare spots
visible. Chihuahuas should not exceed six pounds, and should
be compact and sturdy for their size. All colors are permissible,
and Chihuahuas can be solid, bi-colored or splashed.
Living
With a Chihuahua
Anyone
interested in owning a Chihuahua must understand the breed
and be able to provide the kind of safe environment in which
the dog can thrive. Chihuahuas routinely live well into their
teen years, and some have been known to reach the age of 20.
Consequently, they should be acquired from a breeder known
for producing mentally and physically sound animals. Temperament
varies significantly among different Chihuahua bloodlines,
ranging from quiet and collected to catastrophic. Some Chis
are known to be stubborn, clannish and preposterously brave
– one late Chi confronted a boa constrictor on a patio
in California not that long ago. Thus, prospective owners
should spend some time with the parents and relatives of the
puppy in which they are interested.
Young
children have great difficulty understanding how delicate
a Chihuahua puppy can be. For this reason Chihuahuas cannot
be recommended for homes in which toddlers preside. Rough
handling, being dropped or, worse yet, fallen on can permanently
injure or even kill a Chihuahua, particularly when it is still
a puppy.
Otherwise,
the Chihuahua is an easy breed to keep. The long-coated variety
wants a bit more grooming than the smooth-coated dog, yet
a thorough brushing twice a week will keep the long hair in
tip-top shape. And if the average Chihuahua never achieves
the status of the Taco Bell or Tommy Hilfiger dogs outside
the home, it is sure to be the fun-loving center of attention,
particularly where space is a consideration or an owner is
incapable of handling a larger dog. As most any Chihuahua
owner will tell you, the only small thing about a Chihuahua
is its size.
Molera
and Other Misgivings
The Chihuahua
is surprisingly hardy for its size, but it is, nevertheless,
susceptible to a number of health problems. These include
cleft palates, hemophilia A, collapsing trachea, heart valve
complications, hypoglycemia and luxating patellas.
Hemophilia
A, a sex-linked recessive trait carried by females and
manifested in males, is a blood-clotting disorder brought
about by a deficiency in certain substances responsible
for normal blood coagulation.
Collapsing
trachea is an inherited condition characterized by softer-than-normal
cartilage rings and connective tissue in the windpipe. In
times of stress or excitement the rings can fold inward,
causing the dog to gasp for air or even to suffer a temporary
blackout. Collapsing trachea, if it isn't severe, can be
managed with a bronchodilator such as the drug aminophylline.
Heart
valve complications occur when the mitral valve, located
between the left atrium (upper chamber) and left ventricle
(lower chamber) of the heart, has an enlarged flap (or flaps)
and excessively long supporting muscles. Therefore, instead
of closing evenly, one or both flaps collapse or bulge into
the atrium, sometimes allowing small amounts of blood to
flow backward into the atrium. This disease can lead to
a compromised quality of life or, in some cases, death.
Hypoglycemia,
low blood sugar, can occur with such startling acuteness
that one Chihuahua breeder cautions, "Every owner should
have a tube of Nutrical or Nutristat in their cupboard.
These high-sugar supplements cost only a few dollars from
your pet supply store and they can save your Chihuahua's
life."
Luxating
patella is a dislocation of the small, flat, moveable
bone at the front of the knee. An inherited tendency, luxating
patella can be aggravated by excess weight. The condition
can be corrected by surgery.
All Chihuahuas
are born with an opening, most directly apprehensible as a
soft spot, at the top of the skull. Known as the "Chihuahua
molera," this phenomenon is similar to the open fontanel with
which human children are born. It makes the skull more flexible,
thereby facilitating the emergence of the Chihuahua's rather
outsize head into the world. The molera often closes by the
time a dog reaches maturity, but this is not always so, and
extra care must be given any dog that retains this feature.
Some veterinarians
not familiar with the molera may diagnose it incorrectly as
hydrocephalus (water on the brain). Hydrocephalus is usually
apparent by four months of age. For this reason alone responsible
breeders should keep Chihuahua puppies until they are at least
that old before letting them go to new homes.
In addition
to determining -- as much as one can determine -- the occurrence
of inherited problems in a particular line of dogs, anyone
who is considering a Chihuahua or any dog should ask the seller
or provider of that dog who will be responsible for the vet
bills if a radiant-looking puppy should be victimized by an
obviously inherited condition later in its life.
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