A Little Bit About The Breed....
Did you know?
The Chinese Crested is a large dog in a cute little body and should be treated as such. To their benefit they have the advantage of being hypoallergenic and they are not prone to fleas or ticks, and do not bark or shed their coat.
Breed Description
The Chinese Crested is a fine-boned and very elegant toy breed that can be described as a miniature prancing pony, or fawn. There exists two very distinct variety; the “hairless” and the “powder puff”, which are born from the same litter. The hairlessness is due to the fact that the hairless variety is affected by an incomplete dominant gene, which means that one of the dominant alleles for the trait is missing. The skin of the hairless body is soft and smooth. A true Hairless will not have very much furnishings except on the head (crest), tail (plume), and paws (socks). They can however vary in the amount of body hair, hence the “hairy hairless”. What differentiates the hairy hairless from the Powder Puff variety is that the Hairless has a single coat with hairless parts on the body, whereas the Powder Puff will have a thick double soft, straight coat. The interesting thing to note about this breed is that both varieties can be born from the same litter and any colour or colour combination is acceptable. Depending on how the Powder Puff is groomed it can strongly resemble a terrier if the face is not trimmed, however many will shave around the snout as a standard cut.
Origin: Canine breed, member of the toy group is often quoted as having originated in China; however their true origin is more likely to have been from Africa where they were known as the “African Hairless Terriers.” The confusion probably stems from the fact that Chinese trading ships brought these dogs onboard their ships to be used as ratters to hunt vermin from Africa. They renamed the dogs “Chinese Crested” and it stayed with them.
Height: The ideal height is between 11 to 13 inches (28-33 cm) at the withers for dogs and Bitches 9 to 12 inches (23-30 cm) at the withers.
Weight: The ideal weight should not to exceed 12lbs (5.5 kg)
Appearance: A small, active and graceful breed with medium to fine boned, smooth hairless body, with hair on feet, head and tail for the hairless variety or with a soft veil of hair for the powder puff variety. The hairless variety is not as fragile as they may appear although they cannot tolerate extreme cold weather, unlike coated breeds, they can tolerate very hot days.
Purpose: Ratters and companion.
Temperament: The Chinese crested is very friendly and affectionate dog that craves human companionship. They are also very playful, happy, alert, intelligent, agile, inquisitive, and easily motivated to please their owners making them highly trainable. Most Cresteds are highly food motivated and will bounce for any small morsel. Chinese Cresteds excel in Agility, Obedience, Rally and other performance canine sports. They are never vicious.
When I was just a little girl.....
