I cant seem to find anything about how long a chis legs should be in the standard on the KC website. Does it matter how long or short they are?
I know that at dog shows they seem to be quite short.

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Yes, it matters how long the legs are. It's addressed in the Standard but in a round about way. Chihuahuas are supposed to be slightly off square, which means they will be a tad longer in body than they are tall at the withers. See the Body section of the Standard. The length of the leg should be in proportion to the length of the body as indicated above. In general, the heighth of the body is going to be equal to the length of the leg.

An example (just to illustrate, not actual measurements) - For a dog that is 8 inches tall at the withers, the break down should be about 4 inches from withers to bottom of chest and another 4 inches from elbow to foot giving the total of 8 inches at the withers. Then measuring from point of shoulder to rear point of croup, the dog should be about 9 inches long, giving that slightly longer than tall proportion.

HTH

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thanks

thats really helped

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I agree with what you are saying there, there are far too many who have overcoated dogs which coupled with shorter legs make them look like they haven't any legs at all. Lisa has it right, a chihuahua should be slightly longer than they are taller at the shoulders

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