CHI WA WA!

     The Chihuahua is the smallest breed in the world. Chihuahuas are small dogs with big personalities. Chihuahuas are extremely loyal and loving and tend to become very attached to one or two of their human family members. Chihuahua's crave love and attention all the time from their humans. Once your Chihuahua has warmed up to you they tend to be very sweet and gentle dogs, although they are great watch dogs because they have a hard time warming up to new people. Chihuahuas are always ecstatic to greet their owners, it doesn’t matter if you have been gone 10 minutes or 5 hours they are always happy you came back home! They also make excellent lap dogs, because they love being near or "on" them as much as possible.

     Many people have called the Chihuahua "yappers" or "ankle biters" and if you are a Chihuahua owner then you know why. Chihuahua's are excellent watch dogs; they will let you know as soon as someone pulls into your driveway. This is why socialization is very important with the Chihuahua. If your Chihuahua has been properly socialized at an early age then he will be more outgoing and confident towards certain situations.

     Some people tend to think potty training a Chihuahua is more difficult than potty training a lager breed. This is not true; as long as you’re consistent with you puppy then potty training should be easy. Never stray from the house breaking rules and make sure to keep an eye on your puppy as they run through the house. People tend to let small dogs get away with what they want because they are small and this is a big mistake, Chihuahuas need boundaries just like any other dog. If these boundaries are not set at a young age your puppy will develop bad habits.

A Brief History of the Chihuahua

The Chihuahua’s history is puzzling and there are many theories surrounding the origin of the breed. Both folklore and archeological finds show that the breed originated in Mexico. The most common theory and most likely is that Chihuahuas are descended from the Techichi, a companion dog favored by the Toltec civilization in Mexico; however, no records of the Techichi are available prior to the 9th century. It is probable that earlier ancestors were present prior to the Mayans as dogs approximating the Chihuahua are found in materials from the Pyramids of Cholula, predating 1530 and in the ruins of Chichen Itza on the Yucatán Peninsula.

Some historians believe that the Chihuahua came from the island of Malta in the Mediterranean. More evidence for this theory lies in European paintings of small dogs that resemble the Chihuahua. One of the most famous paintings is a fresco in the Sistine Chapel by Sandro Botticelli dated 1480–1482. The fresco, depicting the Trials of Moses, shows a boy holding a tiny dog with round head, large eyes, big ears, and other characteristics similar to those of the Chihuahua.The painting was finished ten years before Columbus returned from the New World. It would have been impossible for Botticelli to have seen a Mexican dog, yet he depicted an animal strikingly similar to a Chihuahua.

A progenitor of the breed was reputedly found in 1850 in old ruins near Casas Grandes in the Mexican state of Chihuahua from which the breed gets its name, although most artifacts relating to its existence are found around Mexico City. The state borders Texas, Arizona and New Mexico in the United States, where Chihuahuas first rose to prominence. Since that time, the Chihuahua has remained consistently popular as a breed, particularly in America when the breed was first recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1904. In terms of size, the present day Chihuahua is much smaller than its ancestors, a change thought to be due to the introduction of miniaturized Chinese dogs, such as the Chinese crested dog, into South America by the Spanish.

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