How To Avoid Chihuahua Mixes

As a Chihuahua Breeder with many years of experience, I get letters and emails from people all the time with questions about this fabulous breed. One of the most often asked questions I get from people is about size and weight. People who did not buy their Chihuahuas from me ask why they have a Chihuahua that weighed so little as a young pup and now tops the scales at fifteen or even twenty pounds? Many also wonder why their ears and snouts are so extended? The answer is a simple, but not happy one. They were scammed!

Many unethical Breeders use an old trick to double their profits on toy pups. They breed Chihuahuas mixed with Mini-Pinchers. Why? Because both breeds have pups that look almost identical during the first eight weeks of life, but Chihuahua-Mini Pin mixes produce eight or more pups, compared to purebred Chihuahua females which usually have litters of one to three pups and rarely more then four. That means more profit for them, but a mixed pup for you. The difference between the purebred and the mix becomes very obvious as time passes.

Purebred Chihuahua pups have a unique look to them, but one that can be shared with Mini-Pin pups up to a point in their development. The differences start to become obvious by the time the pups reach nine to twelve weeks of age. Mixed pups feature ears and heads that seem much too large for their body frame. Snouts on mixed pups are very extended, much more so then one would expect to find on any type of Chihuahua.

The two basic body types of purebred Chihuahuas are Appleheads and Deerheads. Appleheads tend to have shorter snouts, while Deerheads have elongated snouts. Still, the Deerheads have much shorter ears and snouts then the Chihuahua-Mini Pin mixes. Those trying to sell mixes as purebreds will often tell unsuspecting customers that the reason for a pups larger snout is that it's a Deerhead. But mixes have much longer snouts, extremely over-sized ears and heads that seem much larger then their bodies can support.

One might think that purebred papers will guarantee a purebred pup, but that isn't always the case. In many instances Breeders have been able to manipulate various purebred registries and get papers for pups from mixed parents. Looking at the parents also doesn't work. Most unethical Breeders will have bogus parents with similar colors all ready to be viewed.

The key to making sure a Chihuahua is what it's supposed to be is proportion. Whether the Chihuahua pup in question is a longhair or shorthair, they should have a body that is evenly proportioned. No matter how young the puppy is, its ears, head and body should look proportionate with ears and a nose that do not seem unusually large or long. Because Chihuahuas are ancient dogs that weren't created by any known genetic manipulation like other toy dog breeds, there can be a lot of diversity when it comes to color and length of hair. But body proportions on most Chihuahua pups are very even at almost any age.

Most of the people who have reported this scam to me bought their pups from unethical Breeders in Southern California (San Diego and L.A.), Southern Arizona (Tucson and Nogales), Texas and Missouri. These places are also notorious for being locations of puppy mills and unhealthy dogs sold on the street that have been brought in from Mexico. As a Breeder located in central Arizona, I hear horror stories all the time from people who have bought pups from these other areas and ended up with mixed breed dogs or animals too ill to survive, so buyer beware!

The basic colors for purebred Chihuahuas are white, fawn, black, tan, red, blue, the super rare merles or a mixture of any of the above. Most of the mixes take on the black and tan color of the mini-pins. But because many Chihuahuas are also black and tan, the key to noting the difference is an overfill of tan color on the face of the pup just below the nose and around the mouth, instead of an even coloring.

While some Chihuahua mixes are wildly popular like the Peke Chi's (Pekenese and Chihuahua mix), most people dislike the Chihuahua-Mini Pin mixes because they just get too big to be considered toy dogs. These mixes also love to bit on and chew everything they can find, compared to purebred Chihuahuas which are not known for that type for behavior.

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