Chinese Crested History

Amy Fernandez ---- Artwork ---- Books ---- Chinese Cresteds

The Egyptian Sand Terrier

Mexico's Xolo became the basis of many obscure breeds in the nineteenth century

An abundance of myth and misinformation has obscured the facts of Chinese Crested origin. This makes it diffcult to recognize and understand type.

The California Chihuahua

The ubiquitous Mexican Hairless Chihuahua is the most famous example of a hairless hybrid

Contrary to popular belief, the Chinese Crested is not the product of an ancient oriental heritage. Unlike Mexico’s Xolo, the Crested is a very modern breed. it owes its hairlessness to its Xolo ancestry, but many other breeds made a genetic contribution to the modern Chinese Crested. Because of this recent and diverse ancestry selection becomes more complicated.

the Crested’s toy type is the product of many breeds but none of these should predominate in its make up. In other words, a Chinese Crested should never resemble a Papillon, a Yorkie, a Chihuahua, a Maltese, a Lowchen, etc.

The breed as we know it was developed during the 1950s and 60s based on two foundation bloodlines, Crest Haven and Lee. Every Crested pedigreed in the world races back to these two lines.

Crest Haven, founded by Debora Wood of Homestead, FL, was based on eight dogs of unknown origin purchased from a defunct German circus act in the 1950s.The Lee line, founded by the famed entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee, was based on a more varied gene pool, also undocumented. By combining these lines, a viable gene pool was established to found the breed. However, establishing consistency of size, type and quality required many generations.

Nineteenth Century Print of Hairless Dogs

This illustration depicts four variations of hairless hybrids

A basic premise of animal breeding is that undesirable traits are more often the product of recessive genes, based on the logical assumption that unwanted dominant traits will be selected out of the gene pool as soon as they appear.

Most of the traits responsible for producing breed type are known as luxuriant traits- they are not responsible for the survival of the species. (Color, markings, coat texture are a few examples). Also known as additive traits, they are responsible for the uniformity of appearance found in every breed. These traits are highly heritable and quite responsive to straightforward selection. Unfortunately, most of them are also polygenic. They can be dominant or recessive, capable of producing a wide range of expression. this is known as continuous variation.

Although these traits readily respond to selection, your success in controlling them is based on your ability to recognize them and understand them.

Chinese Crested 1920

Pongo, owned by the famed canine authority Freeman Lloyd was depicted in numerous dog books

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Amy Fernandez 2008