AKC & CKC Registered Chihuahua Puppies

AKC Chihuahua StandardS

General Appearance:
A graceful, alert, swift-moving little dog with saucy expression, compact, and with terrier-like qualities of temperament.

Size, Proportion, Substance:
Weight - A well balanced little dog not to exceed 6 pounds. Proportion - The body is off-square; hence, slightly longer when measured from point of shoulder to point of buttocks, than height at the withers. Somewhat shorter bodies are preferred in males. Disqualification - Any dog over 6 pounds in weight.

Head:
A well rounded "apple dome" skull, with or without molera. Expression - Saucy. Eyes - Full, but not protruding, balanced, set well apart-luminous dark or luminous ruby. (Light eyes in blond or white-colored dogs permissible.) Ears - Large, erect type ears, held more upright when alert, but flaring to the sides at a 45 degree angle when in repose, giving breadth between the ears. Muzzle - Moderately short, slightly pointed. Cheeks and jaws lean. Nose - Self-colored in blond types, or black. In moles, blues, and chocolates, they are self-colored. In blond types, pink nose permissible. Bite - Level or scissors. Overshot or undershot bite, or any distortion of the bite or jaw, should be penalized as a serious fault. Disqualifications - Broken down or cropped ears.

Neck, Topline, Body:
Neck - Slightly arched, gracefully sloping into lean shoulders. Topline - Level. Body - Ribs rounded and well sprung (but not too much "barrel-shaped"). Tail - Moderately long, carried sickle either up or out, or in a loop over the back, with tip just touching the back. (Never tucked between legs.) Disqualifications - Cropped tail, bobtail.

Forequarters:
Shoulders - Lean, sloping into a slightly broadening support above straight forelegs that set well under, giving a free play at the elbows. Shoulders should be well up, giving balance and soundness, sloping into a level back. (Never down or low.) This gives a chestiness, and strength of forequarters, yet not of the "Bulldog" chest. Feet - A small, dainty foot with toes well split up but not spread, pads cushioned. (Neither the hare nor the cat foot.) Pasterns - Fine.

Hindquarters:
Muscular, with hocks well apart, neither out nor in, well let down, firm and sturdy. The feet are as in front.

Coat:
In the Smooth Coats, the coat should be of soft texture, close and glossy. (Heavier coats with undercoats permissible.) Coat placed well over body with ruff on neck preferred, and more scanty on head and ears. Hair on tail preferred furry. In Long Coats, the coat should be of a soft texture, either flat or slightly curly, with undercoat preferred. Ears - Fringed. (Heavily fringed ears may be tipped slightly if due to the fringes and not to weak ear leather, never down.) Tail - Full and long (as a plume). Feathering on feet and legs, pants on hind legs and large ruff on the neck desired and preferred. Disqualification - In Long Coats, too thin coat that resembles bareness.

Color:
Any color-Solid, marked or splashed.

Gait:
The Chihuahua should move swiftly with a firm, sturdy action, with good reach in front equal to the drive from the rear. From the rear, the hocks remain parallel to each other, and the foot fall of the rear legs follows directly behind that of the forelegs. The legs, both front and rear, will tend to converge slightly toward a central line of gravity as speed increases. The side view shows good, strong drive in the rear and plenty of reach in the front, with head carried high. The topline should remain firm and the backline level as the dog moves.

Temperament:
Alert, with terrier-like qualities.

Disqualifications:
Any dog over 6 pounds in weight.
Broken down or cropped ears.
Cropped tail, bobtail.
In Long Coats, too thin coat that resembles bareness.

Approved September 11, 1990
Effective October 30, 1990

New Puppy Tips

TAKING YOUR PUPPY HOME and try your very best to keep it there until it has adjusted to it's new surrounding and it's new home. Don't do anything that stresses the puppy out. Usually placing a toy in the bed with your baby at home makes it feel secure enough to sleep without crying. You can also put a plastic bottle of very warm water securely sealed so as not to leak into a soft blanket or towel and allow the new baby to cuddle up to it at night. This simulates the body temperature of another puppy in the bed with your baby so it doesn't feel abandoned.
If you are required to have the puppy checked out by a Vet within a certain length of time, use some common sense. Keep your puppy in a crate or in your lap when visiting the Vet's office. Do not let it romp on the floor or furniture and most certainly do not allow it to socialize with other animals that also may be in the office at the same time. Usually the animals at the vet are there because they are sick. Chihuahua puppies should never be given shots and wormings at the same time. More than one shot should never be given within a 3 week period. Nor should there be multiple shots given on any one visit. You little chi's immune system just can not stand it. Remember, you can always make another trip later. Find out what shots your puppy has been given before you picked it up and what shots will be due to come later. There are many other Vets out there that puts the welfare of your animal before the lining of their pockets with your money. If in doubt, ask around until you find someone that you feel comfortable with your new baby.

DIET AND FEEDING: . The breeder at time of purchase should tell you what the puppy has been fed and you should continue with this for at least the first week so as not to stress the puppy any more than necessary. Depending on the age and size of the puppy, it is wise to keep food and clean water for it 24 hours a day until it shows signs of being capable of going longer lengths of time without being fed. It may be necessary to wet the food and/or add baby food for added flavor to encourage the puppy to eat better. Some breeders may be feeding the puppy canned foods along with dry kibble or alone. The main subject here is: DON'T change the puppy's diet or eating routine too quickly. The smaller the puppy, the more times a day it has to be fed. NEVER confine a small puppy for any length of time with no food or water. Puppies also have to eat and drink during the night time hours just to sustain themselves. If you feel it necessary to confine a small puppy, leave it on the floor beside your bed in some sort of pen with sufficient room to sleep, eat,drink and potty. Do not keep puppies in the bed with you. Puppies have no concept of heights. They will walk right off the edge of any furniture if they are left unattended. So please warn children not to play with them on the sofa or the bed. Play with them in the floor for their own safety.

YOGURT---The miracle drug for puppies. Plain yogurt can literally save your puppy's life. We recommend to everyone that takes a new puppy home to make sure you have a supply of plain yogurt on hand for several days. This should be fed to your puppy a couple of times a day along with it's normal diet. Please check the label and make sure it has the acidophilus culture and not the aspartame. ASPARTAME should not be fed to small dogs.
Stress occurs when you take a new puppy out of it's natural environment. This means that when you purchase a puppy and take it home, you are creating a stressful situation for this puppy. Stress kills off the good bacteria in the G.I. tract. When anything occurs out of the ordinary, it is stressful. Wormings, shots, shipping, riding create stress for small animals. Plain yogurt culture puts the good bacteria back into the system so you will have a healthy puppy. Yogurt can be force fed with a syringe in situations where your puppy has stopped eating and shows signs of being hypoglycemic.

HYPOGLYCEMIA This is the scientific name for a condition where the sugar level suddenly drops in a small animals system. The first signs of this problem is usually staggering and falling over as though they are drunk. Or they can be observed lying on their side paddling with their front feet as though they are swimming. If these symptoms are observed, you must act very quickly in order to save your puppy's life. YOU HAVE TO GET THE SUGAR LEVEL UP TO BRING THE PUPPY OUT OF THIS SITUATION. AND IT MUST BE DONE VERY QUICKLY. Usually you do not have time to get them to a Vet before they suffer irreparable damage. Honey is the best remedy for this situation. But if honey is not available, use karo syrup or anything that is super sweet. If you don't have any of this on hand, then run about an inch of water in a dish and stir in 2 or 3 teaspoons of sugar and stir quickly until it dissolves. Then you must get some of this mixture into the puppy. At this point, you will find the puppy clinchs it mouth shut and will not lap it up on it's own. By inserting a finger in the corner of the puppy's mouth you can pry it open far enough to get a fingertip covered with honey into it's mouth. Or in the case of the sugar water, an eye dropper, straw, or even dropping it through the opening in the mouth one drop at a time from a spoon. Once the puppy gets a good taste of the sweet substance, it will usually start licking it's tongue out and will start to recover in a very short time. Please note that if it was necessary to use Karo syrup, this mixture is also a natural laxative. If your puppy is experience episodes of hypoglycemia, it is usually a sign that it is not taking in enough food or it has an underlying problem that may need medical attention. Sometimes, this problem can be corrected by just stirring in a teaspoon of sugar to the puppy's water supply daily until the episodes subside.

HOUSE TRAINING It is possible to train your puppy and feed it properly at the same time. Never withhold food from a very tiny puppy in an effort to teach it not to potty in the house. Feeding is and always should be your first priority in trying to raise a healthy puppy. Some people tell you to put your puppy on a schedule in order to house train it. All dogs have regular bowel movements. If they eat, they will have to go within an hour afterward. But this should only apply to a puppy that is old enough and large enough to eat enough at one sitting to sustain it for several hours. This does not apply to the tinies or the teacups that have to eat several times a day just to sustain themselves. It is best to paper train these little ones at an early age and teach them to go out later when they are much older.

HAIR LOSS OR THINNING In chihuahuas, when they are between 8 and 12 weeks of age, you may notice a sudden thinning splotchy pattern in the coat. This has very often been misdiagnosed as mange of one kind or another. Many Vets opt to do skin scrapings to determine if mites are present. Please note that this is a very normal condition that usually only lasts a couple of weeks to a month and will completely clear itself up with time. It is caused by the changing of the coat. Smooth coats looked like they have bare places and some long coats will shed off their coats until they are nearly as slick as an onion skin. It will grow back and is perfectly normal. It will sometimes occur again when they are about a year and a half old. Females blow coat when they experience heat cycles and when they are recovering from nursing puppies. You should only be alarmed if the shedding is also accompanied with some sort of rash or what appears to be pimples on the skin. This is usually a sign of demodectic mange mites or some sort of alergy.

TEETHING AND IT'S EFFECTS ON PUPPIES Chihuahuas usually have a full set of baby teeth by the time they are 6 weeks old. But some of them lack jaw muscles strong enough to crush dry kibble in order to get enough nutrition. You should watch your puppy for signs of hunger and make sure it is getting enough to eat even if you have to feed it "soft" food for a couple of weeks. When chihuahuas get about 12 weeks old, they usually start to cut their permanent teeth. This is a process that sometimes goes on for 3 to 6 months. It can effect different puppies in different ways. You may notice some that had very errect ears are now looking floppy eared. Or you will see them with one ear up and one ear down. This is all perfectly normal and if given enough time the ears will stand erect again all by themselves. There are cases of puppies coming from lines with "weak" ear leather where you may have to tape the ears in order to help them keep them erect until they can again hold them up on their own.

Health Information

REVERSE COUGH
Occasional bouts of coughing, snorting, honking and wheezing are not unusual in chihuahuas, and is sometimes called a "reverse coughing". This is usually caused by a elongated soft palate that is thought to become temporarily misaligned. It is a common trait in toy breeds. Pulling hard on a leash, drinking too fast or getting overly excited can lead to an episode of reverse coughing. Reverse coughing should not be confused with a different condition called "collapsed trachea".

Although reverse coughing may appear to be scary, it only lasts a short time and can be ended by massaging the dog's neck and throat and encouraging the dog to swallow or lick. Another way to slow the reverse cough is to clap your hands to distract the dog, or pinch closed the dog's nostrils with your fingers, forcing it to breathe through its mouths and to swallow.

LUXATION OF THE PATELLA

Luxation of the patella, or dislocation of the kneecap, is a common hereditary problem with chihuahuas and other small breeds. Patellar luxation can occur in varying degrees from minimal to debilitating. Very young dogs may be able to compensate for this deformity, but the condition tends to worsen over time. Most of the time the chihuahua is older before symptoms of patellar luxation are obvious.

The dislocation is most commonly found on the inner side of the patella. The attached ligaments become stretched over time until the patella is rarely where it is supposed to be, and may "pop" in and out of place very easily.

Recent studies have shown that immediate treatment is recommended, rather then waiting until the dislocation has crippled the dog. The reasoning is that, while the knee is dislocated, the entire body of the dog is compensating for it, causing deformations of many other skeletal areas.

HYPOGLYCEMIA

Hypoglycemia is a condition in which the chihuahua's blood sugar level drops to an extremely low level, causing "sugar shock." When levels of glucose in the blood drop rapidly, the dog's body and brain are deprived of essential nutrients. The results of hypoglycemia can be weakness, seizures, coma, and in severe cases, death.

Because chihuahuas are so small, they can be prone to hypoglycemia, especially when they are very young. Hypoglycemia is usually caused by stress, illness, lack of food, or by using up stored energy without it being replenished.

It is important to make sure that young puppies and very tiny chihuahuas eat regularly throughout the day.
If you suspect that your chihuahua is hypoglycemic, call your vet immediately as this condition can be quickly fatal.

THE MOLERA
Sponsored by The Chihuahua Club of America

Historically, the Chihuahua as developed in Mexico and the United States has displayed a "soft spot" on the top of the head. In the Chihuahua, this spot, or fontanel, is know as a MOLERA, and is the same as that found in human babies. In the past, this molera was accepted as a mark of purity in the breed, and it is still mentioned in most Chihuahua breed standards the world over.

It is important to note that while many Chihuahua puppies are born without the molera, there are probably just as many born with one, and its presence is nothing to become alarmed over. The molera in a Chihuahua will occur on the top of the head and may vary in shape and size when present.

Unfortunately, many lay people (and some Veterinarians not familiar with the Chihuahua) have tried to link the mere presence of a molera with the condition known as hydrocephalus. This has caused many new comers to the breed serious concern and undo worry. The truth is that a domed head with a molera present does not predispose the Chihuahua to this condition.

Along with the observations of devoted breeders over the years, there is adequate medical evidence to support this statement:

* In "Diseases of the Brain"(1989), Green & Braund stated that many clinically normal toy breeds may have open fontanelles without associated hydrocephalus.

* Drs. Walters and Rivers, Veterinarians at the University of Minnesota, concluded that there did not appear to be any relationship between the presence or size of a fontanelle and the condition of hydrocephalus.

* Dr. Alexander de Lahunta of Cornell University in New York, one of the top neurologist in this country, stated that it would be wrong to conclude that any opening is abnormal.

While it would be impossible to list all the medical documentation in this paper, these few included here are perfectly clear: the presence of a molera does not mean the dog has a medical problem.

HYDROCEPHALUS

The presence of a molera in a chihuahua DOES NOT make the dog any more or less susceptible to brain injury, seizures or hydrocephalus.

The molera should not usually be any larger than the size of your thumb print, and there should be no swelling, bulging or throbbing. Check carefully on the sides of the head for normal bone there as well; make sure there is no more then one molera, on the top of the head only, as more than a single molera is not normal.

Hydrocephalus is the accumulation of excess cerebrospinal fluid in the brain and is not normal for any breed, nor is it curable. Hydrocephalus is also known as "water on the brain" or "hydro". When fluid accumulates in the brain, it compresses the brain against the skull. A puppy can be born with this disorder, or it can be caused by a brain infection or head injury later in life. Chihuahuas born with "hydro" do not generally live more than a few months, and they do not grow normally, often staying extremely tiny.

Signs of hydro include wide-set or protruding eyeballs (often with a lot of "white" showing at the corners), blindness, abnormal behavior, walking in circles, slowness (mental and physical), seizures, abnormally slow growth and lack of coordination.

Concerns about chihuahua moleras and/or hydro should be addressed to a licensed veterinarian. Be aware, however, that many veterinarians not familiar with chihuahuas have WRONGLY told owners that thier puppy is unhealthy and/or hydrocephalic just because of the presence of a normal molera. Diagnosis is based on the signs in conjunction with techniques to image the brain. In dogs with a molera, ultrasound can be performed by scanning through the molera to detect the excessive accumulation of fluid within the brain.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for hydrocephalus. Mild cases can be treated with steroids and diuretics to reduce pressure, or with a surgically inserted shunt to divert fluid from the brain to the abdomen.