Chihuahua Did You Know?

• The Chihuahua comes in two varieties: long and smooth coat.

• The Toltecs, who existed in what is now Mexico as early as the 9th century AD, possessed a breed of dog called the Techichi. The breed was small, but not tiny, and heavy-boned. This breed, regarded as indigenous to Central America, is the progenitor of the Chihuahua that exists today.

• The breed derives its name from the Mexican State of Chihuahua, where the earliest specimens of the breed were found.

• The Chihuahua is clannish, preferring companions of his own breed.

• Pictures of dogs resembling the modern Chihuahua appear in ancient paintings in Mexico.

It is assumed that the small size of the modern Chihuahua results from a cross of the Techichi with the small hairless dog brought from Asia to Alaska over the land bridge that is now the Bering Strait.