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| Chinese Cresteds | News | Email SaTa Mu | ||
HISTORY
There are a number of stories as to where the Chinese Crested originated -
Africa, The Americas or China. The story I like to believe is that Vasco Da
Gama was given four Mexican Hairless when he left Mexico. There was a
Jesuit Priest on his ship and when Vasco Da Gama docked in India he gave the
three bitches, one male and their puppies to the Jesuit Priest to take with him
to his mission. From this mission the Chinese Crested was developed over
hundreds of years as the Mexican Hairless was bred with a number of other
breeds. I hope that eventually we will be able to locate the breeding
records that were hidden during the Chinese Revolution in the early 1900's as
this will show proof of the true origins of the breed.
VARIETIES
They are a happy, friendly, energetic loving breed of dog. My cresteds
love nothing better than lying all over me when I sit on the lounge of an
evening and following me around the house and yard. They make a good watch
dog, but do not tend to be a 'yappy small dog'. There are two varieties of
Chinese Crested - the hairless and the powder puff. Also there are two
types - the Deer type (racier - longer of leg and finer boned) and the Cobby
type (heavier boned and not as leggy). Both types have a hare foot, this
is a long foot that they may use like a hand to hold objects or climb. None
of my cresteds at this stage have been known to climb, but I have seen others
people's cresteds climb.
The hairless predominately has hair on the head (crest), feet (socks) and tail
(plume), but because the hairless gene is unstable, often there is hair on other
parts of the body that may be expressed in many different hair patterns on the
dog. It may be a strip of hair down the spine, higher up the legs, over
most areas of the dog or very little. This excess hair may be sparse or
dense, but not as dense as that of a regular coated dog. I have one true
hairless, with only a few sparse hairs on his body, a light/medium who has
sparse hair along his spine and down his legs and a very hairy girl who has hair
over almost all of her body and rather dense. The skin of the hairless
should be fine grained and smooth, but as with humans, some have better skin
than others. They may have blackheads, pimples or hair follicles that do
not extend beyond the top layer of skin. As cresteds play they may get
small scratches on their skin, but as their skin is quite tough, they rarely
require special attention.
The hairless have unusual dentition, often missing premolars and also having
forward pointing canines or tusks. Their teeth may be shallow rooted and
there is a tendency to lose teeth.
The powder puff has a short undercoat with a longer veil of fine hair over it.
There are a variety of different textures available in the powder puff
coat, but the veil is correct to the Australian 'standard'. The correct
texture and look of the veil coat has been the topic of many discussions and
many have their own opinions as to what it should be like. A veil coat
should be easy care as it should not mat or tangle little.
GROOMING
To keep your cresteds' skin clear and smooth you may need to try a variety of
methods and products, just as you would on your own skin. I use a skin
wash for the body and a shampoo for the cresting (crest, socks and plume).
I believe that you should bath your crested weekly, but leaving it for a
fortnight occasionally doesn't seem to be a problem. Powder puffs require
a mild shampoo to keep their coat tangle free and easy care. My powder
puff has a lovely fine coat and I have found it best to be extremely light
handed with shampoos or there is a tendency for the coat to feel dry.
I have found that their toe nails seem to grow quickly and usually require
clipping weekly, maybe it is because mine do not have a lot of hard ground to
run and play on.
For showing, I shave the face of my hairless and clip my puff's and tidy under
her feet. When clipping the face of my puff, I clip from the base of the
ears to the outer corner of her eyes and from the base of the ears in a slight
curving line to the throat and all of the hair inside this area. I usually
also clip a small inverted 'V' between her eyes. Cresteds may be
left without this clipping for either variety, but I like the tidier look of my
dogs that I get with clipping or shaving.
NUTRITION
Chinese Cresteds eat the same types of food as any other breed of dog. I
prefer to feed mine a super premium kibble and add a variety of yummies such as
vegetables, rice, bran, olive oil, meat, cheese, fruit, etc. Cresteds also
love raw bones, especially chicken, the poor dentition of the hairless doesn't
affect their gnawing to my knowledge.
BOOKS
There are a number of books written about Chinese Cresteds. Some of these
books are no longer in print, but if you keep an eye out and regularly check out
various auction sites, such as eBay, you may be lucky enough to get hold of
them, some are factual and others interesting due to the historical value and
beliefs about the breed early on.
The books that I have collected are:
How to Raise and Train a CHINESE CRESTED
Edita Van der Lyn
1964
T F H Publications, Jersey City
A Chinese Crested Dog for Me
Mirrie Cardew
1986
Midland Counties Publications, England
Book of the Breed - THE COMPLETE CHINESE CRESTED
Brenda Jones
1990
Ringpress, UK
The CHINESE CRESTED - HAIRLESS AND POWDERPUFF
Dottie Thompson
1996
Dottie Thompson, Illinois US
A Celebration of the Chinese Crested - PAST & PRESENT
Deirdre Petrie
1997
_____, USA
A New Owner's Guide to CHINESE CRESTEDS
Joseph Rachunas
1998
T F H Publications, USA
HAIRLESS DOGS - THE NAKED TRUTH
Amy Fernandez & Kelly Rhae
1998/9
_____, USA
Chinese Crested Champions 1991 - 2000
Camino EE & Co./Jan Linzy
2002
Camino E.E. & Book Co. NV
LINKS
Try these links to other sites about Chinese Cresteds:
http://members.optushome.com.au/bascia1/crest.htm
http://www.geocities.com/splfyrcresties/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/xiomacresteds/
http://www.geocities.com/abfab_chinese_crested
http://www.geocities.com/crestedlinks/index.html
