But, you might be saying, if THAT is how Chihuahuas are supposed to look, then how come the 'Taco Bell' dog is kind of different looking? What about Paris Hilton's dog? And...wait a minute...in "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" aren't BOTH of the main characters supposed to be Chis? Why do they look so damn different? What gives? Is this some sort of trick?
Well, it is kind of a trick, really (aside from the cosmic joke that is the Chihuahua in the first place, of course ;-P). The trick is : ethical vs unethical breeding practices. So, how about we start to outline what IS and ISN'T correct for this breed in particular and find out just how we can have such a kaleidoscope of differences!
For starters, going back to my last post, the Chihuahua Club of ( Insert your country here!) maintains a written and illustrated standard of the intangible ideal Chi. Since I live in the USA, I'll be drawing from my country's club page for info but really, there should only be the slightest of differences from nation to nation if any. There is a thorough outline of what is acceptable and what is to be avoided through breeding from coat length/texture/colors to size to alignment of teeth.
Full Standard HERE ---> http://www.chihuahuaclubofamerica.com/breed-info/chihuahuau-breed-standard/breed-standard ( I don't feel like re-reading OR listing the whole spiel at the moment, hehe )
And right about now, you might be summoning images of tons of dogs you/your family/friends have owned which were PUREBRED Chis that looked very little like this image. You might be concerned that you actually had a mutt or a MinPin or if the urban legend is true and it really WAS a rat from the streets of Mexico, but worry not. You may actually have had a 'real' Chi. It just...well....might not have been a very good one. And don't think I'm judging you for it because, heaven knows, I own the most wrong Chihuahua ever whelped......
No, the reason your neighbors' Chihuahua weighed fifteen pounds when the standard calls for no less than two and no more than six pounds for the ideal specimen was simply a matter of its breeding. And a dog so far out of standard usually comes from one of two sources; a puppy mill/pet store OR a 'back yard breeder'.
Lets start with the more offensive of the two. A puppy mill is essentially a dog factory. Multiple breeds of dogs are housed in almost universally filthy, cramped conditions, denied veterinary care/basic grooming + hygiene and quality food and kept alive for the sole purpose of churning out as many litters of puppies back to back as they are capable. They are used and used and eventually used up in one of the more horrifying examples of 'supply and demand' aside from dirty livestock trade.
Mill dogs of various small breeds in a classic example of 'kennel housing':
Dogs, mostly Chihuahuas rescued from one SINGLE mill in their shelter pens:
Females are bred from their first heat cycle until an age when their litter size would naturally decrease (usually before age 5) when they cease to be profitable and are disposed of. And no, that doesn't mean they find a new home or even have the dignity of a vets' office and sedation before the shot. It USUALLY means either being dumped, a bullet to the head if they are lucky or finally being allowed to starve to death. Between birth and demise though, their days are filled with swimming in their own waste in a too-small cage either being impregnated or nursing puppies. Sometimes, they are re-bred before their current litter is even weaned. But at least then, they're getting fed. Indeed, most dams only receive regular feedings when they are nursing a litter, in order to keep the puppies thriving. Because the puppy is the 'final product', you see, they have to be roly-poly cute little genetic nightmares in order to pay the bills.
Pet stores (yes EVEN THE NICE BRIGHT CLEAN ONES THAT CLAIM TO BE DIFFERENT AND BETTER) pretty much exclusively get their stock from mills. Its the cheapest option to get a full range of breeds from one source in one delivery. How very convenient and economical, right? The industry makes hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars each year. And you are NOT rescuing the puppy if you buy from a store. You Are Not. What you ARE doing is contributing funds to keep the place in business another day and while yes, your puppy might end up well cared for and live an unblemished life, you just condemned its mother to another day in squalor and fear. So for decency's sake PLEASE don't even go IN a pet store that sells dogs or cats. Don't give them your business, don't give them a moment's attention and spread the word to your loved ones. For every mill that is raided, another one or two pop up. MORE INFO HERE ---> http://www.prisonersofgreed.org/
As a side note, just because a pet shop puppy is ' kennel club registered/registrable ' doesn't mean jack shit. People often reference that as a point of pride or status for their dog. All that means is, somewhere in the annals of history, both of your dog's parents were the same breed. It doesn't mean they were good looking, possessed all of their limbs or weren't hideously deformed. Just that, for example, they were both Chihuahuas that came from Chihuahuas. The parents do not have to be champions or from champions to be registered, ergo, if you feel the need to point out your puppy is "An AKC REGISTERED Labrador" then its probably from crap stock. Because anyone who would actually do the research involved to find a quality puppy would already know that AKC etc is a pointless thing to say unless you have shown your particular dog to a finished championship. Just sayin'....I could technically have Lucy registered.....juuuuusssttt sayin'.....
The other option, which still isn't good, but is at least a step up, is the so-called "back yard" breeder. This usually accounts for say, someone who never got their two dogs fixed and had an 'oops' litter or some jerk off who wanted his kids to learn the 'miracle of birth' or someone who wants to breed dogs but doesn't want to devote the time to showing or health testing their stock. On the surface, most BYBs seem darn near reputable. Their dogs might come from ten pedigree pages worth of champions and be beautiful animals. Their dogs live indoors, either in nice kennels or in the family home. Puppies come with their first shots, dewormings and started on potty training. You might think you've lucked the hell out, finding a quality dog from someone who isn't one of those 'show snobs'. And you would be wrong.
While I am not saying that your Uncle Bob who bred dachshunds for forty years and never set foot in a show ring didn't love his dogs and care for them to the nth degree, and I'm not saying Aunt Dotties mini poodles weren't actually healthy dogs who made great pets, whether they were or weren't is not the point. The point is that by and large, BYBs are allowing two unproven dogs (working or show) to procreate. They are not generally spending thousands of dollars in health testing their breeding stock. They are not traveling thousands of miles to see how their dogs stack up against other of their kind in shows or field trials. They see no reason to meticulously trace their dog's individual lineage back to Adam, as any show breeder worth their salt should be able to rattle off from memory. Generally, they see no reason to strike a certain line if genetic issues do crop up in a sold puppy a few years down. Why should they, everyone has flukes now and again, right?
All a BYB contributes to the world, ultimately, is a pet. And you might be thinking, so what? Not everyone is going to want a show or field dog, not everyone cares about pedigrees and genetic quality, and WAIT A MINUTE, aren't Chihuahuas specifically supposed to be companion dogs anyhow? What is the big deal? The big deal IS, if you want a pet, if you want just an awesome average dog, even if it has to be a purebred, odds are your local shelter or rescue group has or will shortly have the exact dog you want. Yeah, even purebreds. There are so many Chihuahuas in pounds across the country right now its absurd. Golden Retrievers, Siberian Huskies, German Shepherds, Labradors- all the top breeds in the world make up a healthy percentage of our shelter dog population. So, if the BYB isn't making active strides to improve their breed, with health screenings, and proving their stock in one way or the other then......why do they exist other than the obvious conclusion of people DON'T do their homework and keep buying puppies from these places.
So yes......those are your major sources for a sub-standard animal. And now you're saying "Wait....how does any of this explain why Chihuahuas can look so wildly different from each other?" and here is the answer: If you have people who don't know what they're doing as far as judging what dogs should breed beyond " she's in heat, let 'im loose!" whether through ignorance or cruelty, you get dogs with faults combining to make really.....unusual offspring. Like, the dam has an under-bite and dropped ears and the sire is over-sized and mismarked. You have the potential to create a hulking, oddly colored puppy with a Pug chin and one ear up/one down. Sure, it might be cute. And it might be a purebred Chihuahua....but it ain't winning any prizes and you might have a hard time convincing me of what it is on the streets. Let's go through some of the terms bandied about amongst the less than scrupulous Chi people in the world, that have unfortunately made their way into Joe Layman's vernacular when describing his dog.
"Applehead" - this is actually taken from the written standard which calls for the dog to have an ' apple domed skull' meaning rounded with a deep 'stop' ( the indentation between forehead and muzzle). However, bad breeders A. take it to extremes where the dog has practically no muzzle at all and looks like Felix the Cat and B. a reputable breeder might reference it when disussing points of conformation but would never see the need to present their dog as an APPLEHEAD Chihuahua because.....well.....the dog is supposed to fucking look like that. It'd be like saying "my LONG HAIRED Shih Tzu". No shit.
An 'Applehead' dog. (Not saying this is an extreme example at all, just as a reference tool)
"Deerhead" - This would actually be a fault in the show ring and is essentially the opposite of "applehead". These are the dogs with long, slender muzzles, a more moderate stop and finer skulls in general. Obviously, it refers to the general shape of a deer skull.
This is a shape more likely to occur in a mill dogs nowadays simply because most BYBs seem to have jump on the "OMG BOBBLE HEADED FUR BABY" bandwagon.
This dog would technically be 'deer' headed although again, not as extreme as I've seen them.
Of course, to be honest, I kind of prefer this look :-)
"Standard Chihuahua"- Chihuahuas are not Poodles or Schnauzers. There is no Toy, Mini and Standard size range. ALL Chihuahuas are supposed to be toy dogs. As I said earlier, while there is no set height range, Chis should weigh no less than 2lbs and no more than 6lbs to be considered correct. But, when you throw careless breeders in to the mix, who might have a 7 lbs dam and a 10 lb sire, you are most likely going to get over sized puppies. I'm no genetic expert so I can't give you the straight odds but it doesn't take a genius to know if you only breed your biggest dogs, you'll eventually wind up with bigger puppies altogether. And since the trend now is to make them as wee as possible, you would have to say SOMETHING to explain your heavier-than-a-soda can puppies, right?!
So a lot of people now have it in their minds that a Standard Chihuahua is one over 5 lbs and anything less than that is somehow miniature. Which explains why whenever I walk Lucy at least one person asks me if she's still a puppy because godDAMN I have seen some grossly over-sized Chis out in the world. And why people think my 10lb corgi/terrier mix Guthrie is a Chihuahua.
This fella ( who actually is very reminiscent of Guthrie at a glance but don't tell him I said that!) is oversized, oddly built and has a 'deer' head but is purportedly a Chihuahua. Even if he's not, scores of identical dogs on the streets and on teevee prove my point.
And on the flip side of that coin, my least favorite word in the universe since owning a toy dog:
"TEACUP"- According to scores of completely clueless jackasses, this means an extra-special rare SUPER small Chihuahua. According to people who know a thing or two, its a sensationalist buzzword for either extremely runty dogs that probably shouldn't have survived whelping let alone gone on to breed OR absolutely normal sized Chihuahuas in the 2-6lb range that just seem extra small to the people whose only reference are their family's "STANDARD" sized dogs ^^^^. Either way, it's a phrase constructed to make people pay exorbitant amounts of money for the deformed little garden gnomes like they're something to covet because celebrities have made palm-sized living accessories tres` chic` in the last decade. The CCOA says it so much better than I could though, since I'm verging on sputtering rage-fueled rhetoric at this point: http://www.chihuahuaclubofamerica.com/breed-info/chihuahuau-breed-standard/teacup-statement .
Anyway. This is what one of the little buggers will usually look like.
There are other things fadding right now in the BYB/mill world, like merle coated Chis or solid/pied blues. Even albinism. Needless to say, forced color mutations can cause a landslide of health problems and as of right now I believe merles are the only coat pattern currently NOT allowed in the AKC ring. So, if you find a great looking breeder who has merles or uses ANY of the terms above in defining his/her dogs: Run Away.
To re-iterate, no, I don't think you're a bad person for loving your sub-par Chi. No, I don't blame you for not knowing better or even refusing to know better when the opportunity presents itself. That's your choice. I will only want to hit you with my car if you willingly and knowingly seek to support poor breeding practices 'just because' the puppies are cute. I take that stance in defense of all the really OMGZZZ super CUTE puppies who are currently being euthanized in shelters all over the country.
Support rescue, spay and neuter your pets and ban pet stores that sell dogs/cats. Or I will send Lucy to your house to staaaarrreeee at you.
Anatomy Review:
And! *Scene*
