Yes. I know I’ve written about this before.
But I think I need to reiterate: Chinese crested dogs are not Chinese. They are not ancient. They never were found on Chinese junks.
The dog we call a Chinese crested is a derivative of the xoloitzcuintli. The Mexican hairless dog.
The mutation that causes hairlessness in Chinese cresteds, xoloitzcuintli, and the South American hairless dogs is the same one. It is a lethal semi-dominant. Most hairless dogs have some hair on them, but because they derived from smooth-haired dogs, they don’t have very long hair on their bodies. This hair is often on the head, feet, and tail, but because it is so short, no one really notices it.
In the 1880’s, a woman named Ida Garrett became experimenting with xolo-type dogs in New York State. She bred the xolo with several types of “fluffy toy dog,” which resulted on getting classical hairless dogs with body hair in the same spots. However, because these dogs also carried the genotype for fluffy toy dog coat, they had long, flowing hair on their heads, feet, and tails. In the 1920’s, a woman named Debora Wood joined forces with Ms. Garrett, and the two began to promote these dogs as Chinese.
I have no idea what the point of calling these dog Chinese was. Maybe they both actually believe that these dogs were Chinese and simply did not know any better– like Winifred Charlesworth’s deep conviction that golden retrievers were derived from Russian circus dogs. Or maybe they were using the name for “marketing purposes.”
Unlike so many neat things that one can buy today, Chinese crested dogs were actually made in America.
Chinese crested dogs: Product of the USA.
(With Mexican ancestors).
Long hair is a fault in the modern Xolo, so perhaps they just decided to pick one of the many misnomers that were commonly given to hairless dogs, and decided on the fanciest one. For a long time it was thought that hairless dogs came to South America via Asia, and I’m not sure when that belief was properly debunked.
It was only debunked in 2008:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/09/12/hairless-dogs-give-up-the-genetic-secret-of-their-bald-glory/
Genetically, yes, but I mean when archaeological findings showed that the dogs were there before Old World influence.
The show breeders of this breed are, in my opinion, the biggest fraud in dogs. It’s not even that they’re not Chinese, it’s that they’re increasingly not even crested.
And no one seems to mind.
People mind, they just either keep their head down and do the best they can, or else they went into another breed. The people who care are in the minority, so they can’t affect either the standard or the show ring fashion. And each generation of new show breeders gets indoctrinated by the hairy lobby 9 times out of 10, so that just entrenches the issue deeper and deeper. It’s a vicious cycle.
Suggesting to the folks who prefer the true hairless that they give the show ring the finger and just breed the dogs they like is anathema, of course. Then they’d just be dirty BYBs!
This sort of trend happened to many breeds. There used to be people very against trimming Bedlingtons, or who didn’t like the fashion for ‘frog faces’ in King Charles Spaniels. But in the end, they lost and the fashion took over the breed. It’s not just Chinese Cresteds that this has happened to.
[…] However, there is plenty of evidence that these dogs originated in the United States in the twentieth century. […]
I enjoyed your post. And it’s interesting because I also found information that says the Chinese Crested originated in China. You may be interested in reading my latest post, “Do You Want to Meet the World’s Ugliest Dog? -> http://tracycampbell.net/blog/?p=2580.
Best site on Chinese crested dogs and their origins (from a science-based perspective) is this one:
http://www27.brinkster.com/taisetsu/Chinese_Crested/