The picture above comes from Mason’s Dogs of All Nations (1915).
The entry on the Chinese Crested dog goes as follows:
Height: 12 in.
Weight: 20 lbs.
This is a hairless breed, except that he has a silky top-knot or crest, and some feathering or tuft at the root of the tail, which feature is considered very typical of the breed. It is difficult to assign its origin, but they are found freely in the South and Central American States, Mexico, South Africa and China. The ears should be carried erect and are never cut. The conformation of the body is like that of the black and tan [Manchester] terrier, but the head is shorter and the skull more rounded. The skin always feels cold [Not true, hairless dogs were used as “electric blankets” because so much heat escapes their naked bodies] and is of the color of the hide of an elephant. Some are mottled with flesh colored patches, and sometimes the skin is of a pink color with grizzle patches.
This dog has strong xoloitzcuintli affinities.
I am waiting for my Chinese crested expert to provide some more detailed analysis.
I have never seen an ‘elephant colored’ Crested. Maybe they mean a color other than the one I picture when I read that term. …and if a Crested’s skin ever felt ‘cold’ I’d put a sweater on it ASAP! =P
Is it just me, or does it look like someone ‘touched up’ that dog’s crest?
The early breed standard specified ‘cobby’ and ‘deer’ types of Crested… with cobbies being a more squat, heavy-boned type. Like this dog: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/Pietoro/webjunk/ChineseCrested_1963.jpg
That’s the main reason I embrace the whole ‘pila ancestry’ angle. The few photos of pila dogs I’ve seen look very much like early cobby Cresteds. The founding dogs of the modern breed were so genetically varied, though, who knows what all went into them.
Here’s a video I just found, of a Crested (or perhaps a Xolo) in 1939 (jumping rope, of all things): http://www.efootage.com/play-stock-footage-clip/63365/
It’s the oldest footage of a hairless dog I’ve ever seen.
The Chinses Crested breed Standard is actually the Powder Puff- a coated breed looking much like a Malti-Poo or a miniature Afghan to the untrained eye. The hairless variety is a mutation even though it has become so popular that now it s the Puff that you rarely see. I have 4, ranging from True hairless to Puff- three have the deer body (though without losing a little weight you would never know it- and one is cobby. 20 pounds is a pretty big Crestie, I have to say. My boy is 11 inches and definitely able to afford missing ameal and he weighs 13.5 pounds (just under 7 kilos). My cobby girl weighs 14 pounds and my smallest girl is 9 inches and weighs 9.5 pounds. I would say a pound per inch is probab;y a good guide but in the South most of our dogs are “rubenesque”.
Powder Puffs were routinely culled and were not even included in the standard of the modern breed until 1978. They were only accepted when it was found to be impossible to breed them out of the hairless lines.