The Chinese crested dog is considered a small dog – its average height is from 30 to 35cm, and it weighs about 4.5kg. Colours can vary: from white, silver-grey, apricot, mahogany, copper, even dark blue… all the way to black; it usually has two to three colours, with smaller or bigger darker spots on its skin. All colours are allowed and recognized. This doesn’t go for the colour of its eyes – they are always big and black.

A very interesting thing about Chinese crested dogs is that they can be born as hairless or as powder puff.

The first type, hairless, as its name says, has no hair on the biggest part of its body. To be more precise, it has crests only on its head, on the tips of its paws and on the tip of its tail. I saw this type of a dog for the first time when I went to Sweden to visit some friends of mine, and I instantly wanted to have one just like it in my home. (Until then, my only pets were German shepherds and I was very fond of bigger dogs. ) I’m waving to Sascha and her family, and I am presenting you here a photo of the incredible Pusel!
Vulcan’s father Kića is a “real” hairless dog, too. (I’m going to explain this term “real” a bit later.)

The second type, powder puff, has its whole body covered in very long and thick hair! It also exists in different colours. These dogs also have darker spots, but they cannot be seen because they are covered in hair!

This beautiful dog, Leo, Vulcan’s brother, is an example of a powder puff dog, as well as our Dea.

Except the difference in looks, these two varieties of Chinese crested dogs also have different teeth: powder puff dogs have a complete set of teeth, while hairless dogs often don’t have all permanent teeth; besides, lower canines of hairless dogs are pointing outside.

There is also a difference in ears position: powder puff dogs frequently have lowered ears, and hairless dogs always have straight ears (for hairless dogs, lowered ears are considered to be a disqualifying flaw).

Between these two extremes, there is also a third type of a Chinese crested dog – they are unofficially called semi-coated or hairy hairless. These dogs are also considered hairless because they have got all their characteristics, only they have bigger and enhanced crests. (That’s why I used the term “real hairless dog” in previous text.) The crest on this dog’s head goes down its neck, its whole tail is covered in long tassel-like hair and the crests on its legs don’t cover just the tips of its paws but go all the way up its legs, like some sort of boots. They are very attractive, and no wonder they are becoming more and more numerous at exhibitions in the past few years. Our Vulcan belongs to this type of dogs, as well as its mother Kaća.

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Hairless and powder puff. When you look at them, you wouldn’t even think they belong to the same race. Nevertheless, they come from the same litter; they are of the same parents, born one next to the other.
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« Origins ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ Temperament »

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Tagovi: appearance, Chinese Crested dog
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