Native of the Lybian desert and smallest of foxes: the Fennec fox (Vulpes zerda). This is the closest wild relative of the Chihuahua.
The range of the Fennec fox extends across North Africa. Note how the Arabian peninsula was once part of Africa and ought still, in my opinion, to be shown on maps as Africa's NE shoulder. It is departing Africa because it rides its own tectonic plate, but including it in Africa gives the mother continent better symmetry.
So how did the Fennec fox derived "dog" now called the Chihuahua get across the Atlantic ocean? PreColumbian clay figurines of Chihuahuas are common, even our Norton museum has shown them. Aztec royalty kept hundreds of the tiny dogs in their palaces. They served the rulers in this life and in the next. (And, you guessed it, the Conquistadors ate the little guys. "Meat of the Gods" same as the chocolate tree, Theobroma cacao.) Legends abound and are told even today--we heard wonderful tales on the way to the Mexico City airport years ago. The following example was told to us by our cab driver:
"An old, old man is very poor and still working hard to earn enough for food and shelter. His only companion is his old Chihuahua. Every morning the old man gets out of bed before sunrise to fry two eggs, one for his Chihuahua and the other for himself. Then he heads out the door and walks to the fields where he will labor until near sundown. Well, this old, hard working man has painful arthritic feet. His malady threatens to prevent his working and that would mean starvation for both him and his dog. So, when he turns in for the night he tucks his tiny dog under the covers, pushing him all the way to the foot of the bed. Then he climbs in and rests his gnarled, aching feet on the little dog. In the morning, lo and behold, the old man has no pain in his feet and is able to prepare the eggs and head out for another hard day in the fields. Meanwhile the faithful little dog limps painfully from the bedroom to the kitchen, having taken the pain from his master."
My wife has survived very serious illness and surgery. At 5:20 PM on June 30, 2002, she had the onset of extreme chest pain. She was sitting in her favorite chair. I came home to find her in great pain and agitation. Our Chihuahua was clinging desperately to her chest. She said she had to get him off her chest it hurt so much. I said she should perhaps move to the couch. She said she doubted she could make it to the couch (12 feet away). I said let's go to the hospital. The little dog risked life and limb to cling to her chest--she wanted to throw him off her chest. I could not dislodge him. She is a survivor of the same ailment that claimed a famous star of TV, a sudden, catastrophic failure of the proximal thoracic aorta.
Recently, my wife had the influenza 2009 H1N1 and developed bronchospasm and localized asthma. Once again, our Chihuahua braved life and limb to cling mightily to his mistress' chest and do his best to take the asthma and dyspnea from her. He wheezed away night after night. Now that antibiotics and inhalant medication and time have cured his mistress both she and he sleep soundly, no wheezing. Paco has not yet tried his healing on me. Maybe he senses I am an orthodox doctor and that his unorthodox healing might either offend me or not work on me or both. I could go on and on.
The Mexican dictator General Antonio López de Santa Anna, outfoxed so to speak at the Alamo, kept dozens of these little wonder dogs with him on campaign. He believed as do many Mexicans past and present (despite the exterior trappings of devout Roman Catholicism) that the Chihuahua will go ahead of the departed soul into the underworld. This legend is a scene out of Black Orpheus: seven rivers, cold, dark, and scary; a ferryman poling his empty raft; enigmatic and arcane questions requiring correct answers. But the ferryman looks just like a Chihuahua, at least the head. A jackal headed figure is poling the raft. Your Chihuahua hails the ferryman and gives the signs. He goes on to tell the ferryman about his dear master, emphasizing the good features and playing down the bad. He negotiates passage across the seven rivers aux champs elysees. This whole thing smacks seriously of Egyptian, don't you think? And there is the matter of how this descendant of tiny indigenous foxes of Egypt's Libyan desert ended up in the temples of Aztec royalty. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, the Chihuahua is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
This has the appearance of a crime scene, but appearances can be misleading. Now, nobody is perfect, and neither is our Chihuahua. He is known in our neighborhood of elderly people and small dogs as the Devil Dog of Pipers Landing. His full and proper name is Lord Pacal of Palenque, "Paco" for short. He of the good medicine, in the sense of Indian medicine bundle. He is tiny, but as noted above, appearances can be misleading. He is totemic.
Paco views people in black and white. He worships our eldest grandchild, loves our daughters, hates our son, our daughter-in-law, our son-in-law, both grandsons and both younger granddaughters. He adores my wife and loves me. He arrives at these polar opinions instantaneously, and they remain constant and irreversible for ever after. In ten years only one person has managed to move from the hate column to the love column, and it took her five years to do it. Once a cousin from Kansas came to visit. Paco came to check the family out. He immediately growled at the wife, snarled at the husband, and wagged his tail in greeting for their daughter. He despises anyone who comes to work on the house, including electricians, plumbers, gardeners, carpenters, and delivery people. All others he divides into two groups: blond and brunette. He loves the former and hates the latter. He confuses gray/white hair and blond. He makes no distinction between natural blond and bottle blond. In the case of the cousin from Kansas, the mother was brunette, the daughter red headed, and the father bald. He hates most other dogs but accepts one of our neighbors' two pugs. He likes Chester because he is a Yankee from Connecticut and very gentlemanly. He dislikes Winston who is from the South and overly demonstrative.
He is tiny on the outside but very big inside.
Once our eldest granddaughter was running down the street well ahead of me. I heard a scream and hurried to see what was the matter. A very large and friendly chocolate Labrador retriever had run across her yard to play with my granddaughter. Paco took this as an attack and engaged the enemy with a preemptive attack of his own. When I got to where all this was taking place I saw an amazing sight. This little girl was standing in front of this very big dog with a tiny dog hanging for dear life onto the base of the big dog's wagging tail. Paco is an eighty pound dog in an eight pound package. (Yes, he is fat for a Chihuahua but his mother believes food is love.)
Chihuahuas have a surprisingly fast "clock" in the sense of a computer system. They will walk along side you even when you are walking quite fast. This means their legs are a blur. Same with their tail which can wag so fast it is a blur on camera. Their relative the Fennec fox is surprisingly athletic and known for its leaping attack onto the back of prey. This looks almost like the lion and the gazelle. Both Fennec and Chihuahua have elongated toes on the front feet, large eyes, tiny faces with small jaws, and ears with character. It would be worthwhile to study these two with DNA for distant kinship. I know of no such studies.
The tail wags so fast it is a blur on camera. There is no greater love than a Chihuahua's.
"Legend and history are rich in tales of the ancestors of the present Chihuahua. He is described as a popular pet, as well as a religious necessity. The Techichi, companion of the ancient Toltecs, is believed to be the progenitor of the Chihuahua. No records of the Techichi are, so far, available prior to the 9th century, but it is probable his ancestors were present prior to the Mayans. Dogs approximating the Chihuahua are found in materials from the Pyramids of Cholula, predating 1530 and in the ruins of Chichen Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula.
There is little question the Chihuahua’s principle home was present-day Mexico but the breeds immigration to Europe may be the result of the travels of Christopher Columbus. A historical letter written by Columbus to the King of Spain makes reference to the tiny dog.
The Chihuahua as we know it today is a much more diminutive dog than its predecessor. It is theorized that the Chinese Crested, brought from Asia to Alaska across the Bering Strait, was responsible for the reduction in size. Modern Chihuahuas are also found in a myriad of colors. The Chihuahua is an older breed by American Kennel Club standards, first registered in 1904."
This is courtesy of the American Kennel Club web site.
Fennec Fox Profile courtesy of the National Geographic Society site:
"The fennec fox is the smallest of all the world's foxes, but its large ears, measuring 6 inches (15 centimeters), appear to be on loan from a bigger relative.
Fennec foxes dwell in the sandy Sahara Desert and elsewhere in North Africa. Their nocturnal habits help them deal with the searing heat of the desert environment, and some physical adaptations help as well.
Their distinctive, batlike ears radiate body heat and help keep the foxes cool. They also have long, thick hair that insulates them during cold nights and protects them from hot sun during the day. Even the fox's feet are hairy, which helps them perform like snowshoes and protects them from extremely hot sand. The fox's feet are also effective shovels for frequent digging—fennec foxes live in underground dens.
These foxes dwell in small communities, each inhabited by perhaps ten individuals. Like other canids, male fennecs mark their territory with urine and become aggressive competitors when mating season arrives each year.
Fennec foxes are opportunistic eaters. They forage for plants but also eat rodents, eggs, reptiles, and insects. Like most desert dwellers, the fennec fox has developed the ability to go for long periods without water.
These foxes are cream-colored with black-tipped tails. Their adorable appearance makes them favorites of the captive pet trade, and local peoples also hunt the fennec fox for its fur. Little is known about the status of wild fennec fox populations."
Note the comments below by John P. Jackson, Article Directory:
"Urban legends are also known as folklore, often these tales are concocted by people of a bygone time period who have tried to offer up explanations about the unexplained. Some of these mythical tales and stories still exist and linger on, even today. There are several stories that surround different dog breeds, Chihuahuas included.
Chihuahuas Cure Asthma and Allergies:
One such legend for Chihuahuas hails from Mexico, which states the dogs have an uncanny ability to transfer the illness of the owner to itself and thus freeing the owner from such illnesses as allergies and asthma. This legendary folklore resurfaced in America where Sandra Billitz of Warrior, Alabama, states she bought a Chihuahua with the strict intention of having the dog cure her mother of asthma.
Bigchihuahua.com disputed the claim that a Chihuahua can cure or lessen the effects of asthma, even though Ms. Billitz stated that it cured her mother. Devoted Chihuahua owners commenting on the site claimed that their Chihuahuas truly cured or lessened the symptoms of their asthma. However, Bigchihuahua.com backs up their statements by citing there is no specific information to lend credence to this claim.
Many possible explanations exist because of the way a Chihuahua owner feels pure love, "the power of faith, belief and suggestion." Also since a Chihuahua can either have a smooth or longhair coat, it is possible that a smooth coated Chihuahua owned as a family pet, can produce less dander and other airborne allergens which can be triggers for asthma and allergies in some people.
Chihuahua Being Swept Up By a Hawk:
Occurring in Manhattans Bryant Park, this incident happened when a tourist had her pet Chihuahua on a leash and saw a trained hawk, who was part of the recreational program of the park, swoop down and carry the dog away in its sharp talons. Apparently, the Chihuahua ended up being released and suffered only minor injuries.
No proof was offered to back up these claims that a tiny Chihuahua was almost a meal for a trained hawk. The hawk more than likely believed the animal to be a rat or other vermin. Officials at the park have since taken extra precautions to prevent something like this from happening. They are continuing their hawk recreational program, which was implemented to get rid of the pigeon population in the park. The program has been a success and park officials say they are not going to get rid of the program because of one small mistake.
According to David Emery of "Your Guide to Urban Legends and Folklore," this hawk story should be considered a "near myth." Emery also states that it could become a real urban legend if the Chihuahua had not been tethered to a leash at the time.
Nonetheless, an urban legend still exists where a small pet like a Chihuahua is commonly being caught and snatched up by birds like hawks, pelicans and other large birds. Most likely, it is a coyote who would hunt down a Chihuahua and other small animals.
A Tourist Buys a Chihuahua Which is Really a Rat:
Another story widely reported on the internet was that a couple from America purchased a Chihuahua to bring home with them. It turns out the dog was strange looking, but the buyer reassured them it was really a Chihuahua. Once the couple returned to the states, their veterinarian confirmed that they had actually purchased a hairless, Mexican sewer rat.
There are several versions of this story circulating around, some have stated the dog was a stray and the couple took a liking to it, others have said the dog was close to drowning and was rescued. Still other sources state that the vet confirmed the animal was a number of different species of rat; Korean, Chinese and Guatemalan are just a few. Other variations of the story claim that the hairless rat was allegedly dying by the time it reached a veterinarian. Again, like all the other stories, this one is also an urban legend."
By: John P Jackson Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/Chihuahuas--Urban-Legends-And-Myths-About-The-Breed/973422
Well, my first hand accounts of Chihuahua/Health are for real, I guarantee that. No rehashed urban legends there. As for Jackson's article, make up your own mind. Or buy your own Chihuahua and see what follows. I did not tell you all the adventures Paco and my family and I have had for the past ten years. I should have told you that I did have a golden eagle swoop down in an abduction attempt. I felt the powerful left wing as it dropped over my shoulder. I reflexively pulled in the leash and avoided an aerial tug-of-war with the big raptor. And yes the landing gear was down and very impressive! My wife had a similar experience years before with an osprey which she batted away. And it is not uncommon to see the osprey pair who live behind us circle overhead when we are taking our walk. Once I was working on the boat, standing in the back of the boat and Paco was nosing along the shoreline where the manatees browse. Suddenly I saw what looked like a submarine missile launch five or six feet behind the boat. A large dark form shot out of the water toward Paco. I shouted loud but Paco was already hightailing it up the bank and to the house. Alligators claim a lot of dogs here in South Florida. But I doubt they catch many Chihuahuas. That's the kind of canine intelligence that's useful here in Florida.
Some interesting background facts on the Mexican state and city that gave the Chihuahua its name, Chamber of Commerce material:
"Chihuahua, capital of the state of Chihuahua, is a prosperous city of almost 700,000 people located in northern Mexico amidst an unforgiving landscape of sun-baked hills and mesas. Travelers usually spend little time in Chihuahua, treating it merely as a starting point for the spectacular Copper Canyon train ride. However, Chihuahua´s unusual museums, historic architecture, and friendly citizens make it a pleasant city to linger in for at least a day or two.
The first settlers in this area of Mexico were miners digging for silver in the nearby Sierra Madre mountains. They were followed by Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries sent to Christianize local indigenous peoples. In 1709, the Spanish established a town called San Francisco de Cuéllar on the present site of Chihuahua. It eventually grew into a large administrative and military center.
After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, the city was given the name "Chihuahua," thought to be a corruption of a word from the Nahuatl indigenous language meaning "dry and sandy place."
In more recent times, Chihuahua´s best known son was the actor Anthony Quinn who died in 2001. Quinn was born in Chihuahua on April 21, 1915, during the Mexican Revolution. Fleeing the war, his family moved first to Texas and then to Los Angeles, where Anthony Quinn eventually became a Hollywood star, often playing the rebel in feature films. A statue of Quinn performing his famous dance from the movie "Zorba the Greek" can be seen in Chihuahua´s Palomar Park."
Didn't you love Anthony Quinn's Zorba? Six degrees of separation or less, favorite dog to favorite movie character.
This is the point at which the paths crossed: this embro whose face looks like a Chihuahua puppy is actually a human embryo. So much for six degrees of separation!Ήμουν ακριβώς αστείος: το embro δεν είναι ανθρώπινο!!
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