Chinese Crested Breed Standard
Toy Group
General Appearance
A toy dog, fine-boned, elegant and graceful. The distinct varieties are born
in the same litter. The Hairless with hair only on the head, tail and feet
and the Powderpuff, completely covered with hair. The breed serves as a
loving companion, playful and entertaining.
Size,
Proportion, Substance
Size - Ideally 11 to
13 inches. However, dogs that are slightly larger or smaller may be given
full consideration
Proportion - rectangular-proportioned to allow for freedom of movement. Body length from withers to base of tail is slightly longer than the height at the withers
Substance - Fine-boned and slender but not so refined as to appear breakable or alternatively, not a robust, heavy structure.
Head
Expression - Alert and intense.
Eyes - Almond-shaped, set wide apart. Dark-colored dogs have dark-colored eyes, and lighter-colored dogs may have lighter-colored eyes. Eye rims match the coloring of the dog.
Ears - Uncropped large and erect, placed so that the base of the ear is level with the outside corner of the eye.
Skull - The skull is arched gently over the occiput from ear to ear. Distance from occiput to stop equal to distance from stop to tip of nose. The head is wedge-shaped viewed from above and the side.
Stop - Slight but distinct.
Muzzle - Cheeks taper cleanly into the muzzle.
Nose - Dark in dark-colored dogs; may be lighter in lighter-colored dogs. Pigment is solid.
Lips - Lips are clean and tight.
Bite -
Scissors or level in both varieties. Missing teeth in the Powderpuff are to
be faulted. The Hairless variety is not to be penalized for absence of full
dentition.
Neck,
Topline, Body
Neck - Neck is lean
and clean, slightly arched from the withers to the base of the skull and
carried high.
Topline - Level to slightly sloping croup.
Body - Brisket extends to the elbow. Breastbone is not prominent. Ribs are well developed. The depth of the chest tapers to a moderate tuck-up at the flanks. Light in loin.
Tail - Tail is
slender and tapers to a curve. It is long enough to reach the hock. When dog
is in motion, the tail is carried gaily and may be carried slightly forward
over the back. At rest the tail is down with a slight curve upward at the
end resembling a sickle. In the Hairless variety, two-thirds of the end of
the tail is covered by long, flowing feathering referred to as a plume. The
Powderpuff variety's tail is completely covered with hair.
Forequarters
Angulation - Layback
of shoulders is 45 degrees to point of shoulder allowing for good reach.
Shoulders - Clean and narrow.
Elbows - Close to body.
Legs - Long, slender and straight.
Pasterns - Upright, fine and strong. Dewclaws may be removed.
Feet - Hare
foot, narrow with elongated toes. Nails are trimmed to moderate length.
Hindquarters
Angulation - Stifle
moderately angulated. From hock joint to ground perpendicular. Dewclaws may
be removed.
Feet - Same as
forequarters.
Coat
The Hairless variety has hair on certain portions of the body: the head
(called a crest), the tail (called a plume) and the feet from the toes to
the front pasterns and rear hock joints (called socks). The texture of all
hair is soft and silky, flowing to any length. Placement of hair is not as
important as overall type. Areas that have hair usually taper off slightly.
Wherever the body is hairless, the skin is soft and smooth. Head Crest
begins at the stop and tapers off between the base of the skull and the back
of the neck. Hair on the ears and face is permitted on the Hairless and may
be trimmed for neatness in both varieties. Tail Plume is described under
Tail. The Powderpuff variety is completely covered with a double soft and
silky coat. Close examination reveals long thin guard hairs over the short
silky undercoat. The coat is straight, of moderate density and length.
Excessively heavy, kinky or curly coat is to be penalized. Grooming is
minimal-consisting of presenting a clean and neat appearance.
Color
Any color or combination of colors.
Gait
Lively, agile and smooth without being stilted or hackneyed. Comes and goes
at a trot moving in a straight line.
Temperament
Gay and alert.
Approved June 12, 1990
Effective April 1, 1991
Danzee groomed at nationls in Biloxi
A subject I think is really important is the varieties of Chinese Crested. It is important not only to explain, but to show with pictures, which would avoid lots of confusion of whether you have a hairy hairless or a powderpuff. I’ll explain and then include some pictures below the text:
Varieties:
-Powderpuff (variety with hair)
The Powderpuff is exactly the same as the hairless chinese crested, except, of course, for the fact that it is completely covered in soft, silky hair. This hair should be straight, soft and long. The Powderpuff’s mantle is made up of 2 coats. The Powderpuff is also different from the hairless by its teeth, which should be complete and looking like any other dog’s
Sp. & Int. Ch Moonswift English Rose (Laura) Owner: Teresa Moreau (Della Castafiore)
-Hairless (which is divided in 3 sections)
-True Hairless
The True Hairless has a completely hairless body. Some may have very little, thin hairs that come out easily; but true hairless have few, short hair in the head and really few in paws and tail. Almost completely hairless Chinese Cresteds with long hair in the head, feet and tail do exist but they’re very rare, and their bodies are not as hairless as the True hairless.
Fender Stratocaster n'Vogue Vogue Chinese Cresteds
An Engel's Dream of Fantasy Aingeal Cresteds
-Moderate Hairy Hairless
The moderate Hairy Hairless and the Hairy Hairless, are the hairless crested that are usually seen in shows (although there are some true hairless too). This is due to their long and beautiful crest, socks and plume. The moderate hairy hairless has body hair, but it is very scarce, mostly in their back, along the spine and in their legs, and some in their sides. They are totally hairless usually in the neck and back part of the legs, some have hairless sides too. This body hair is shaved or removed (with epilady or hair removal cream). The body hair is really sparse, skin can be seen between hair since the moderate hairy hairless and the hairy hairless only have 1 coat, the powderpuff has 2.
Jozee groomed, with no body hair
-Hairy Hairless
The hairy hairless is almost the same as the moderate hairy hairless except it has much more body hair, only having few hairless places, such as the neck and the back side of legs. The Hairy Hairless can easily be confused with a powderpuff. There are some ways of telling one from the other. For example, the teeth (hairless have sharpy, thin teeth and are missing some teeth, the powderpuff has a complete, normal bite). Another way to tell one from the other is by the hair: the hairy hairless has 1 single coat, making it easy to see skin if moving the hair apart with the hand. The powderpuff, on the other hand, has a double coat and you can barely see its skin.
In this photo we can see danzee only has 1 coat, skin can be seen
Tristar's Pinch Me I'm Dreamin' "Gala" Aingeal Cresteds
Half body shaved, half body hairy
By Ezequiel Mazzetti (Lisbury’s) and Giovanna Suedan (Atle Tzontli)
Some modifications by Elisa Tapia
Main Characteristics
The chinese crested is a companion dog, it's small, agile and active.
The most relevant characteristic and the one that calls the attention, is the absence of hair in the body, having only hair in the feet (socks), head (crest) and tail (plume). This is due to an incomplete dominant genetic mutation: the gene that produces the absence of hair is semiletal. This means that a hairless dog carries a gen that codifies the information for it to be hairless (dominant) and another gene for it to have hair (recesive). The puppy that receives both genes to be hairless (one from each parent) dies before being born, being this a complete dominant mutation. It is said that if hairless dogs have been bred for 5 generations without a single dog with hair, puppies die because they are receiving only hairless dominant genes, which is why it's recommended to breed hairless with hair variety. Other characteristic of the breed, linked to the absence of hair, is the absence of some dental pieces and the type of teeth, being thinner and sharper than those of a normal dog.
Even though the hairless variety is the most known and popular, in almost every litter, puppies with hair are born, turning into their brothers’ replica but covered in a long silky veil of hair. These puppies are named Powderpuffs and their genetic is the same as any other dog, they don't have the hairless gene, which also causes the teeth to be normal.
Both varieties are accepted and valued in breeding terms, they can be bred together and be shown in dog shows together.
Many people think the hairless body temperature is higher than the other dogs' temperature, but it is exactly the same, being this about 38.5º C. However, on the hairless, heat is felt directly from skin. Chinese Cresteds tend tol tremble a lot for any reason, but this is normal.
The Chinese Crested is accepted in any color or combination of colors, so there are many different Chinese Cresteds.
Crested's Temperament
The Chinese Crested is social and loving by nature; he needs your company and love. It's an animal that likes being always with its owner and give him constant love.
It's ideal for every type of person, since it easily adapts to it's owner personality and way of life. With senior adults, it'll be a quiet, calm and very sweet company dog. They also get along wonderfully with children because they love to play, run and jump all over the place, being an extraordinary play mate who never gets tired.
With strangers, they can be a little reserved, and they are a little jealous of their owners, but they are never aggressive dogs. They are very protective with their owner and pet companions, if they feel someone is a threat to them they will quickly start growling but won’t attack unless attacked first.
They are very lively, happy, funny and elegant. They are always trying to steal a smile from people around them.
Even though their size is small, sometimes they tend to adopt "little guardian" attitudes in the house, barking and warning about the presence of strangers, making him what people call "an alarm dog".
When the owner gets home, they become really happy and start jumping all over the place until they have all the attention for themselves. They understand people's different moods and adapt to them in an amazing way.
All of this makes out of the Chinese Crested, an exceptional company dog.