CRESTIES

Hey...I know that you are probably thinking...that is the
UGLIEST dog on the face of the earth...well..ok...I admit...
they are a very "special" looking breed. I got my dog "Alf"
(short for his paper name "Alf-Alfa Romao") from a friend of
mine who needed to find him a good home..she said that nobody
wanted him...everyone thought he was sick and getting kemo or
that he had mange or something....or that he was just plain
ugly...now...I can understand not knowing about the breed...
us chinese crested owners welcome questions...we are more
than happy to talk about our "babies", but one thing I really
don't like is a rude person...I wouldn't call anyone else's
dog ugly....I know that dog is beautiful in that person's eyes.
My buddy Alfie passed away. I miss him like crazy and still
love him. I am so glad that he was part of my life. He was one of
the most wonderful friends anyone could ever ask for.
Anyway, a little information on this wonderful rare breed...
the interesting thing about this breed is that there are 2
varieties of the chinese crested...the hairless and the
powder-puff version. The hairless looks like a "clidsedale"
horse with its long silky mane on the neck and the hair on
its little feet and on its tail...the powder puff variety has
a long soft silky coat with a little bit of undercoat. The
crestie is a very elegant, agile, alert, happy-go-lucky,
affectionate dog that moves with grace like a prancing pony.
They are a very wonderful unmistakably unique breed... you
can't help but love them..they are so different... that they
are cute!
The chinese crested is an ancient dog that originated in
Africa. From there, the breed made its way to China, then
found its way to europe and South America. The breed was
first registered in the UK under the name "Chinese Emporer".
The hairless variety of the breed was re-introduced as the
"chinese crested" in the 1960's by the AKC (american kennel
club) and the powder puff version was later recognized around
1984.
Now...I will be the first one to tell you that this breed is
not for everyone...in fact crestie owners are very unique
people themselves...if you ever get a crestie...please...try
to get all of the information that you can before you get
one.It is a rare breed and it is next to impossible to find a
breed book on them..even though the hairles crestie looks
like a low maintenance dog...they are not...they are prone to
skin problems, and it can be very frustrating because thier
skin is so delicate...(and since they don't have hair, thier
skin is thier only protection...you HAVE to maintain and take
good care of there skin). They are also prone to loosing
their teeth at an early age.. so you need to keep up with
cleaning their teeth too... see I told you they are ALOT of
work! The powder puff variety needs everyday combing so they
don't get matted...both varieties of the breed usually get
thier face and ears shaved...well.. at least for show.. (to
tell you the truth... I like a fuzzy face on my little
hairless "Alfie") they are very intelligent, yet they are
very energetic and fairly easily distracted...ok...they are
goof-butts..but that is one of the most lovable things about
them!
Thank you for reading all of this and if you have ANY
questions about cresties, e-mail me and I will be more than
happy to try to answer to the best of my ability..also...
look at my links page for some of my favorite crestie pages!

tiegra@hotmail.com