No matter why, little hairless dogs have been perpetuated in a variety of shapes and sizes.  The Chinese Crested is actually one of the later versions of this recipe.  It is by far the most popular but it is important to remember that form follows function.  The breed was designed a toy-sized hairless companion.

California Chihuahua here

Hot Water Bottle dog

Size:  Contrary to popular belief, the Crested is the product of any ancient lineage.  The breed as we know it was not consistently developed until the 1950s and 60s, making it one of the youngest and least stabilized of today’s recognized breeds.  The Crested’s hairless trait is derived from an ancient hairless breed, the Xoloitzcuintli.  Although Xolos today are known in a variety of sizes, the original model was a moderately sized dog, about 20-30 pounds.

I have a letter written by Debora Wood, 9/2/59 where she describes the breed to a potential buyer.  According to her letter, Cresteds came in three sizes 4-8 lb., 8-12 lb., and 12-30 lb. She also claims to have seen some specimens over 30 lb.  It is interesting to note that she considered her best quality dogs to fall within the first size category.  Debora Wood was a purist and disapproved of the experimental cross-breeding that was so popular at that time.  Gypsy Rose Lee, who contributed the breed’s other major foundation line, was a strong advocate of experimental cross-breeding, and many of the Chihuahua and Xolo traits that surface in breeding programs today, come up through the Lee line.  Every Crested pedigree in the world traces back to these two lines.  Cresthaven was founded on 8 dogs, of unkown origin, which were purchased from a German circus act in the late 1950s.  The Lee dogs came from a more varied background, but also of undocumented origin

So we have today a gene pool ranging from large Indian dogs, to the extremely small Crest Haven dogs which formed the breed’s foundation. 

Proportion:  For many years the major complaint about Crested proportion focused on their excessive length of back.  Today this seems to be going in the other direction.  A judge recently sent me an ad clipped from Dog News.  The dog in this picture was actually taller than it was long.  The present wording of the standard is partly to blame for this problem.  By calculating body proportion according to this description, a 13” dog should be 13” back length + forechest + forequarters.  = approx. 17”

Substance:  Very early versions of the Crested standard (1950-60) did include an allowance for both deer and cobby types.  The cobby was described as heavier in body, shorter in leg, and having bone comparable to a Terrier. Deer type was described as light in body, longer legged, and fine boned, a specific reference in the 1962 standard compares bone density to that of an Italian Greyhound.   The Kennel Club standard continues this allowance for two distinct types.

We must also acknowledge the contribution of the Xolo in this department, by far a more substantial and heavy boned breed.  Crested breeders have been battling to select against excessive substance for 50 years.  Form follows function, and Crested’s function as a portable companion will be greatly diminished by excess bone and substance.  It has been argued that selecting for fine bone will condemn the breed to fragile bones and broken legs.  Bladed (oval/flat) bone is actually quite strong, flexible and resilient.

Head type: Although the Chinese Crested was actually  not made in China.  This choice of name does emphasize the exotic, oriental look that early breeders wanted to achieve, this is most apparent in the head type   This patrician, inscrutable, eastern expression is unique, light, refined delicate, nothing like the cute, puppyish look of a Chihuahua head or the imposing strength of a Xolo type head.  

Eyes: The Crested owes much of its appealing type to this characteristic.  More than anything else, beautiful, dark, almond-shaped eyes contribute to the breed’s mysterious, eastern expression.

The eyes should be pretty well set into the skull, protruding eyes are usually associated with a toy type domed head, and inadequate length of muzzle.

Eye Color

The ongoing debate about Crested eye color can viewed as  a choice of either attempting to selectively breed for an ideal type, or settling for the genetic roll of the dice.

Blue eyes, either complete or partially blue, are genetically  linked to Waardenberg’s Syndrome a hereditary form of deafness already a known problem in other breeds that permit blue eye color.

English breeders are apt to take a less lenient approach to eye color.  In the late 1970s and early 80s, walleye became an almost epidemic problem in the breed. Due to the breed’s small population and highly restricted gene pool, virtually every line was affected with the problem, and at that point, breeding it out was nearly impossible.  The problem has been reintroduced into the American Crested gene pool through recent imports

Other eye colors green, yellow, hazel do not pose the health concerns associated with blue eyes but their cosmetic drawbacks are obvious.

Another breed which has exerted a very dominant influence on Crested type is the Papillion.  This toy spaniel was not AKC recognized until 1935, and was actually developed to a great extent during the same era as the Crested.  Many references of the period acknowledge the high degree of interbreeding which occurred between the two breeds.  At one point, Will Judy actually referred to the Papillion as a type of Chinese Crested. The Crested skull type can be most closely compared to this breed.  Two other very important traits, the hare foot and the Crested’s dramatic ears trace back to the common point of development of both breeds.

Ears: Crested ears can be most closely compared to Papillion ears, and until 10 years ago, our standard also permitted both erect and dropped ears in the same breed.  Like many other traits, the wide variation in ear size and placement can be traced to the Crested’s eclectic background.  Small, high set ears are reminiscent of Yorkies and Chihuahuas.  Xolo ears, although they are certainly large, are set and carried much higher than what is desirable in this breed.  Some Xolos do have such high ear carriage that their ears can nearly touch when they are very excited.  A Crested should never be capable of such ear acrobatics. On the other hand, Cresteds often carry their ears folded back when cold or frightened.  They should always be able to raise them to a normal, alert position when prompted.

Ears should be rather wide set and as large as possible, and they cannot be too large

Ear fringe: another big point of confusion,  grooming and presentation should not be confused with ear carriage.  Both varieties can be shown with or without ear fringe, trimmed ear fringe, clipped ear fringe, or shaved ears.  All presentations are to be given equal consideration.

Heavy ear fringe may give the appearance of tipped ears, when in doubt, feel the ears beneath the hair to make sure they are not tipping.

Head Shape:  Skull should be slightly rounded, less than a Chihuahua but not the flat wedge shaped skull of a Xolo.  Muzzle should be equal to length of skull, and taper to give the head a nice finish.  Clean line from muzzle to ear, no bulgy cheeks.  Light, elegant, balanced head.

Jawline should be tight clean blend smoothly into long neck

Weak underjaw, throatiness

Snipey, pointed muzzle,

Squared off blocky muzzle

Teeth

The hairless mouth.  The dominant hairless gene is genetically linked to the trait for missing teeth.  The range of expression will vary but it is not possible to breed this out.  Has been observed and  documented in hairless dogs since 1500s

 Part of a syndrome-Modifications of form in addition to the one first associated with the genetic trait. Speculation of other associated traits –Changes in immune system

                                                                                    Structure of hair follicles

Example-Merle gene will affect color and structure of blood cells

This condition cannot be viewed as simply selecting against missing teeth. 

Powderpuffs will not offer any solution to the problem and may complicate it because they do carry the trait even though it is masked in the recessive expression of the hairless gene.