If you suspect that your pet is stolen it is crucial to take immediate action. Here is a list of immediate steps you should take in order to try and ensure a speedy return.

1. Begin the search for a missing dog immediately. Enlist friends and family members to start searching your local neighborhood. Start your search on foot first. Circle around you block and then widen the circle to include the next block and the block around that until you are reasonably sure that you are including neighboring areas. Be sure to have a friend or family member wait outside your home in case your dog returns to your building or doorstep. Also make sure that you check all local parks and any of your pet’s favorite places.

2. Answer your telephone twenty-four hours a day in case someone contacts you with news about your missing dog. Keep the telephone line free!

3. Put together a clear, bold, easy-to-read “lost chihuahua” poster, The two- line, bold headlines should read: “REWARD: LOST DOG.” The flyer should also your pet’s general physical description and temperament, the date and location of where your pet was lost and two or more phone numbers that people can call if they find your pet. While the flyer should offer a reward for the safe return of your pet, it should not specify the amount of the reward.

4. To prevent con artists from scamming you for the reward money and cruel pranksters from falsely raising your hopes, leave one or two physical characteristics off the description you offer on your missing poster. That way if somebody calls, you can ask if the dog has any other marks besides what was described.

5. Contact all local animal shelters, humane societies, veterinary hospitals, and animal control officers immediately and ask them if a pet that meets your description has been reported or turned in. Also contact your local police, sheriffs’ office, pet supply stores, groomers, boarding kennels, and training schools. This makes it harder for your lost pet to be sold to a buyer.

7. Contact agencies like Petfinders (1-800-666-5778) that specialize in recovering lost pets.

8. Place “Lost Pet” ads (with your pet’s photograph) in the “Lost and Found” and “Pet” sections of all local newspapers. Many times local community papers will run these types of ads free. Make sure you include your dog’s picture if possible.

9. The Internet is also a good place to let lots of people know about a lost pet. Send emails, complete with a picture of your pet, to everyone you know in your neighborhood and surf around to see if there is a localized “Lost Pet” broadcast alert you can post your notice on.

10. If a caller claiming to have found your pet tells you to meet him at a strange or dangerous location, or to send him money in order to get your puppy back then chances are very high that you have been conned. Call the police immediately and they will deal with it.

In 1923, the American Kennel Organization sorted all dog breeds into five basic categories: Sporting Dogs (including hounds), Working Dogs, Toy Breeds, Terriers and Non-sporting Dogs. The Chihuahua is classified as a ToyDog.

Toy dog are often called lap dogs are essentially smaller or miniature versions of larger breeds. They were originally bred to be the companions of royalty in the Orient and in Europe. Of course sometimes they were also bred to be sacrifices or meals. Most toy dogs are less than a foot tall and weigh less than twelve pounds, perfect for settling in a lap.

Unfortunately, their tiny size does not mean a tiny temperament. Many toy dogs can be as savage or tough as their larger counterparts. In fact this noble, yet stupid bravery is very characteristic of most toy dogs. When it comes to the inbreeding of dominant or aggressive traits, in this case, size does not matter.

Toy dogs relate best to adults as they find the swift and unpredictable movements of children to be very irritating. They also tend to only be loyal to one person, thus demonstrating characteristics of aggression, territorialism and possessiveness. Toy dogs are also more likely to suffer from separation anxiety than other breeds. These typical behavioral problems and how to deal with them are discussed in later chapters of this book.

The fact that toy dogs are small doesn’t mean that they prefer small spaces. In fact, many are so active, almost hyperactive, that they need even more exercise than a larger dog.

. The terms “teacup” or (”tea cup”) and “tiny toy,” have increasingly come to be used to describe smaller adult dogs and especially Chihuahuas. Any kennel club, however, does not use the terms, officially. Since the terms are unofficial, there is Chihuahua that can be described as a “teacup.”

Many professional breeders argue that the whole concept of the “teacup” is nothing more than a marketing tactic to charge high prices for dogs that are frequently runts or that may have health problems due to dwarfing.

For instance, Chihuahuas that are exceedingly small, particularly those that are two pounds or less fully grown, often have shortened life spans and require special care. If you are dealing with someone who is trying to sell you a teacup dog ask him or her how the dog deserved that name.

The AKC says a chi chi can be up to 6 pounds. Over 6 pounds is undesirable as a show dog (but probably just as desirable to have as a pet.)

Along with “mini” and “tiny toy”, “teacup” is sometimes used to describe runts or unhealthy dogs. Always remember that these and other terms are not officially used by any kennel club or reputable breeder. Some teacups may have shortened life spans and other health problems due to extreme dwarfing.

It is not surprising that the nickname for a Chihuahua is Chi or Chi-Chi. The word “chi” means life force in China and most Chihuahuas certainly display plenty of that. Chi-chi is also French slang for fashionable or cute.

Chihuahuas are very active, saucy animals that fall into the American Kennel association category of a “toy dog.” (In fact a chi chi can be described as the worlds only “natural toy dog.” It also bears the distinction of being the world’s tiniest breed.

What does China have to do with this tiny Mexican dog who most of us are familiar with from seeing them cavorting in a Freda Kahlo painting or advertising Mexican food for Taco Bell on T.V.?

It seems that the organ of the dog’s breed is the subject of some debate. The most popular point of view is that the breed originated over 2000 years in the state of Chihuahua in Mexico which is why you see so many of these dogs wearing cute little sombreros in family photographs.

However some experts believe that the Chihuahua’s canine lineage goes back a long way before the birth of Christ. The Chinese just as expert at miniaturizing plants such as the bonsai as they were dogs and horses. It is theorized that this culture may have may have developed the Chihuahua by miniaturizing a dog called the Techichi/ These tiny dogs were also bred for the dinner table, ritual sacrifice and as companions for royalty.

The Techichi was a short-legged stocky dog compared to today’s graceful, thin limbed Chihuahua. It is believed that the Techichi may have been imported to Mexico from Europe by Spanish explorers.

The reason this is not such an implausible theory is that carvings found in the Monastery of Huejotzingo, on the highway from Mexico City to Puebla, show pictures of a dog that strongly resembles both the modern day Chihuahua and the Techichi.

However the reason that many breeders ALSO subscribe to the theory those Chihuahuas are of Mexican origin is because the tiny bodies of Techichi dogs have also been found in the graves of the ancient Toltec and Aztec tribes. This means that despite what was just theorized above, a Chihuahua like dog may have indeed been bred by ancient civilization that long predate the birth of Christ or at least been around in Mexico from the 9th Century A.D. In these cultures the dogs were also employed as ritual sacrifices and companions for royalty.

However the loving house pet that knows today, as the chi is believed to have been perfected as a breed around the early 1850s in Mexico. The breed is well established and the Chihuahua Breed Standard was first recognized by the American Kennel Association in 1904.

These lively and lovable little dogs with their slim, limber bodies and eyes as round as saucers came in three varieties: smooth coat, longboat, or hairless. The hairless version is now known’s the Xoloitzcuintle, or Mexican Hairless. However the two most popular types that you will find as pets in Europe and North America are the smoothcoat and longcoat.

It

Friendly enough to romp in a yard with group kids and yet courageous enough to take a pride of attacking lions in Africa, the Rhodesian Ridgeback has been the subject of fine artists since the mid-sixteenth century because of its unusual markings and friendly attractive demeanor. It is a fine beast to walk at the end of your leash as it is a protective, yet well-behaved dog that is easily socialized.

This courageous yet calm canine is a regal subject for a portrait because of its noble bearing, big soft friendly eyes and smooth caramel to gray coat. Its fur is beautiful and silky and drapes with the hand. However it is also a legendary creature with one very special anatomical feature that is found in no other canine breed.

If you look at the back of a Rhodesian Ridgeback you will see that it boasts a long narrow ruff of fur that stretches from head to tail along the length of spine. If you look at this ridge closely it almost seems like one long scratch from a single pronged lion’s nail had raised the nap on the fur in the opposite direction and the hair has stuck up in a ruff permanently.

In fact, the legend of the how the Rhodesian ruff came to be is the scenario that you will see immortalized in old European paintings. In these works of art will often see scenes of a pride of lions attacking a single Rhodesian Ridgeback or you will see a group of Ridgebacks taking on a single lion. Always in these scenes, the back of Rhodesian Ridgeback as it is being attacked is being scraped during a scuffle with a lion.

This long reverse ruff is a symbol of the dog’s bravery that has remained with it and that we can see and feel every time we run our fingers through the Ridgie’s fur. The ruff itself can be quite beautiful with little streaks or whorls about it; it is like a scar of honor that is always there on every puppy that is born as a reminder of the dog’s heritage as a hunter and protector.

There is the legend and then there is genetics of how this beautiful ruff came to be. The Ridge’s full official name is the Rhodesian ridgeback because immigrants to that area of Africa owned them.

German and Dutch emigrants believe the original ridgeback stock produced by the crossing of such dogs as mastiffs, bloodhounds, Great Danes, and terriers brought to South Africa. In addition to its outstanding ability at hunting lions, the ridgeback was prized as a protector of farms from prowling animals.

No matter what its origins there is no doubt whatsoever that the Rhodesian Ridgeback is one of the most beautiful and well composed of mutants, both aesthetically and in terms of temperament.

The Ridgie a smart sensitive and loyal dog, soft and cuddly like a big cuddly teddy bear yet at the same time a loyal watch and guard dog. However unlike the some guard or watch dogs the Ridgie is more mellow; also has the characteristics of a companion dog which makes it a truly unusual pet. The Ridgie truly a masterpiece of breeding and that ruff from head to tail is your indication that you are about to buy one of the best behaved, friendliest and loyal of puppies that exists