should it. This problem seems to hap- pen less often of late. I don’t think a person has been born who can tell for sure if a dog is over the six pound limit. That is why we have scales available to the judging public. Don’t guess about size; call for the scale. A 5 lb. 15 oz. entry should be given the same consideration as a tiny competitor. As long as a dog does not exceed the six pound limit it should be given full consideration. Our stan- dard no longer says the smaller entry should prevail. There are only four disqualifica- tions. These should be considered as the dogs are being examined. Broken down or cropped ears is a difficult DQ to understand. (I have included a pho- to of a dog with broken down ears.) Handlers of a dog with questionable ears don’t usually allow their entry to look down. If you question an ear or ears, bait the dog so that the dog has to look downward. If the ear can- not be held erect while looking down, the ear(s) is/are a disqualification. The example included in this discus- sion has a crease at the outer edge of the ear. Sometimes a dog will have ears that bounce as the dog moves around the ring. This is not neces- sarily a broken down ear. You will not see cropped ears in the show ring nor will you see docked tails or bobbed tails. Bareness in a long-coated entry is seldom if ever seen. My experience has taught me that bareness appears under the chin and down the throat of the dog. Here again, this is a DQ that you most probably will not see in the ring. The Chihuahua Club of America has spent many long hours working with an artist and club members to cre- ate an illustrated standard. Once completed this illustrated standard should prove to be an invaluable asset to all judges of the Chihuahua.
too long of a body. If the Chihuahua has a front well under itself as called for in our standard it should appear to be nearly square. The overhang of the front results in slightly longer than tall. This dog appears to have the de- sired level topline. This level top line should be present when standing or when moving. Movement is described in the breed standard as swift. Swift should mean going around the ring swiftly. It does not mean a rapid sewing machine up and down kind of a movement. A judge can make several evalua- tions of correct movement as a class is sent around the ring. The front should reach rather than lift. The rear should be a driving rear with pads of rear feet clearly visible as the dog moves away. The standard calls for convergence as speed increases. A Chihuahua should not move with its front wide apart like a French Bulldog. Both front and rear should converge somewhat. There are some generic kinds of eval- uations that a judge should make just as he/she would judging any breed. These include spring of ribs, pasterns, condition, elbows, etc. The Chihua- hua is often considered to be the smallest of all purebred dogs. This is in size only. A typical Chihuahua is often guilty of forgetting his size and will challenge a dog much larger. Handlers have to be constantly aware of this problem, and not allow their Chihuahuas to go after larger dogs. The Chihuahua has personal space just like a Doberman or a Mastiff. Judges do not get into the face of a Dobe, but there are some judges that think they need to get into the space of the Chihuahua. This is a pet peeve of mine. There is no need to get right in the face of a Chihuahua and talk baby talk to it. Even the most well- behaved Chihuahua will not tolerate such an invasion of personal space nor
44 • T op N otch T oys , S eptember 2021
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