Dog Articles
Past and Present: Chihuahua
Probably
no animal known to man has had so much nonsense and ignorant
misconception written about it as this rather insignificant little
Mexican product. Some writers have claimed for him part ancestry
with squirrels, because he can scramble up the rough and straggly
chaparral of his native State, or with the Prairie Dog, from which
he learns to dig his alleged burrow.
In cold
fact he is just dog, and rather an ordinary dog at that, without any
faintest trace of anything rodent like in his entire physical make
up. It would be as natural to expect a hybrid between a bear and a
beaver or a wolf and a rabbit. All this kind of talk, in which
animals of different orders are supposed to hybridize, is, of
course, pure nonsense and utterly impossible, such as the widespread
and generally credited raccoon and cat parentage of the so-called
‘Maine Coon-Cat’.
The
Chihuahua dog is simply a diminutive, spindly, prominent-eyed and
apple-headed little terrier-like dog - all dog and simply dog. He is
an affectionate and benign little creature, as most large-headed
dogs are, and his physical characteristics are shown in the plate.
No more mystery surrounds him than does any other dog. He is a good
illustration of Mr. P. T. Barnum's well-known estimate of the
public, which likes to be humbugged.
Full-grown
specimens of this breed sometimes weigh less than a pound and a
half and can stand comfortably on an outstretched hand; according to
the standard, four pounds is the limit.
Source:
National Geographic 1919
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Dog Training
Mastery - An Owners' Manual
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