Why the breed exists
The Chihuahua takes its name from the Mexican state where nineteenth-century travellers found and bought the small dogs that became the modern breed, and its deeper ancestry is usually traced to dogs kept in Mesoamerica long before that. Its job was companionship, which is a real job and not a lesser one. The breed is built accordingly: small enough to be carried, alert enough to notice everything, and bold out of all proportion to its size, which is temperament rather than attitude. Both coat varieties, smooth and long, are the same breed.
The Chihuahua is probably the most caricatured dog in the world — the accessory in a handbag — and the caricature does it harm, because it attracts people who want an object rather than a dog. A Chihuahua needs training, socialisation and exercise like any other breed, and one that is never asked to behave like a dog becomes a frightened and snappy one. One warning worth taking seriously: "teacup" is a marketing word, not a size or a variety, and deliberately breeding for extreme smallness trades a dog's health for a selling point. Good breeders don't use the term, health-test to the parent club's published recommendations, and place on contract.
The official written standard belongs to the breed's parent club.Read the official Chihuahua standard →
Choosing a Chihuahua on purpose
Every breed has its own list of required health screenings, kept by its parent club and published through OFA. A preservation breeder working in this breed tests to that list and shows you the results — including the ones that didn't go their way.
Carry the messageEvery Bred By Co. piece funds this education work.
Shop Bred By Co.