Quote:
Originally Posted by MChis
I'm not posting my opinion one way or another on breeding but I just want to point out how interesting it is that the Chihuahua started out bigger & with many of the characteristics we now view as major "flaws" (floppy ears, long legs, deer head, etc). Who are the Chi expert(s) or breeder(s) who decided to change the Chi so much & make them so different from what they originally were?
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I'm not sure where you get this information. Can you forward it to me? I'm really interested in seeing documentation that shows early Chis looked like this. Nothing I've seen in any literature to date indicates that the beginning of our breed had these characteristics. Actually, it's all contrary to these statements so if there's evidence differently, our breed historians at CCA need this information.
I think the most illustrated research paper was done by Nancy Shobeck for CCA and published in the 1992 Handbook. "The History of the Chihuahua as Traced Through PreColumbian Artifacts" has many pictures of the early dipictions of our breed, and they all have short legs, round heads, and erect ears. The muzzles differ in length from short to longer, but the heads are round, not triangular deer heads. Some historians are pointing to the Chihuahua like dogs of Malta and suggest that they arrived via the travelling ships to influence the breed, including adding the long coat gene. Others, authorities on Latin America and the Ancient Aztecs of Mexico, contend that the original Chihuahua was a long coat. Historically, the first three AKC registered Chihuahuas were Long Coats. The Breeder who had the most Champions in the early 1920s had only Long Coats. So there is some conflict as to the origin of the Long Coat in our breed, but again, they were not long legged, long muzzled, nor did they have deer heads and down ears. In pictures of Chihuahuas in 1951, the dogs closely resemble dogs of today, with the exception of a little longer muzzle with more taper. It's long been agreed that the origins of the breed have been lost in the ages but until now, there has never been any argument over the basic look of the Chihuahua. In my 20 years with the breed, I've never heard this claim so I'm extremely anxious to see your documentation. As I've said before, one should continue to strive to learn something new everyday. If the information I have is incorrect, I'm happy to get the correct information.
Until I see the documentation, I'll have to stand on my belief that breeders did not change the breed as a whole. It has been refined to it's current look, but they are still Chihuahuas. The should be slightly off square, with a body that's a little longer than their legs. They should have a round head with a moderate muzzle with a distinct stop. Most depictions of the earliest Chi like dogs have this marked head type. There are a few that have a more deerlike head with a triangular shape and sloping muzzle, but they are not the majority. In everything, the
ears are erect. An open molera is documented back to our earliest breed history. This is something that very rarely happens with a "deer head" so if that was the "true" head type, the open moleras wouldn't be specifically indicated in pictures and clay representations of the breed.
I look forward to reading this new information and sharing it with the CCA and other Chi history buffs. It certainly represents a new avenue of research never done before.
The free ad sites are full of dogs like this...
I just find the history of the Chi interesting & it just makes it so clear as to why there are so many different looks on these beautiful dogs. It also makes the subject of breeding very tricky because you could have somebody who wants to breed for show quality or you could also have somebody who wants to breed for the way the Chi was originally was. Both are, to me, very respectful yet different reasons.
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