33 Fun Facts About Chihuahua

Which city's Triple-A baseball team is named the Chihuahuas?

El Paso. The team picked the name from a 2013 name-the-team contest, over finalists including the Aardvarks, Desert Gators and Sun Dogs.

Which bandleader, known as the 'Rumba King', made a trademark of conducting with a Chihuahua in one arm?

Xavier Cugat. After seeing Desi Arnaz perform, he hired him for his touring orchestra, a debt Arnaz later acknowledged.

DNA studies suggest native American dogs entered North America from where?

Siberia. Those first American dogs carried a unique genetic signature that is now nearly extinct.

Which conquistador wrote that the Aztecs raised and sold little dogs as food?

Hernán Cortés. The market he described was in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital his forces went on to capture.

Breed standards call for a Chihuahua skull of what shape?

Apple-shaped: the AKC and FCI standards describe a well-rounded 'apple dome' skull, and a flatter head is counted as a fault in the show ring.

What is the 'molera' that many Chihuahuas have on their heads?

A molera is a soft spot like a baby's fontanel, where the skull bones have not fused; it is hard to see but easy to feel with a fingertip.

The older Chihuahua type with a flat-topped head, wider-set eyes and longer legs is known as what type?

Deer. In the show ring, judges count that flatter head against the dog as a fault.

Which comedian voiced Papi, the lovestruck Chihuahua in Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008)?

George Lopez. Papi, a landscaper's pet, has an unrequited crush on the pampered heroine and heads south of the border to rescue her.

In 2009 the British Chihuahua standard dropped a clause preferring which of two equally good dogs?

The more diminutive one: in 2009 the UK Kennel Club removed the clause 'if two dogs are equally good in type, the more diminutive one is preferred', part of its health-driven revision of breed standards.

Why do many breeders try to produce ever-smaller Chihuahuas?

'Teacup' dogs command higher prices: the tiniest Chihuahuas are in higher demand, even though larger breeding females are less likely to suffer obstructed labour and the breed does not breed true for size.

Which coat pattern do the UK Kennel Club and FCI Chihuahua standards both refuse to accept?

Merle. Its gene carries health risks: dogs with two copies of it may be deaf or have eye defects.

According to the American Kennel Club, Chihuahuas are not recommended for which households?

Families with young children, whose rough play a dog this small and fragile may not survive unhurt.

The Techichi, the Chihuahua's supposed ancestor, was bred by which Mesoamerican culture?

The Toltecs. The Aztecs later refined their larger Techichi into a smaller, lighter dog.

What unusual trait did the Techichi, the Chihuahua's supposed ancestor, have?

It was mute and could not bark, unlike the Chihuahua, a vocal little watchdog known to bark at people and other dogs.

Who voiced Tito, the streetwise Chihuahua in Disney's Oliver & Company (1988)?

Cheech Marin. Tito, Fagin's streetwise Chihuahua, runs with a gang of thieving dogs led by Dodger, voiced by Billy Joel.

Mesoamerican peoples believed the Techichi could do what after its owner's death?

Guide the human soul in the afterlife: Techichis were often sacrificed and buried with their owners, in the belief that the dog would lead the soul through the underworld.

What was the famous catchphrase of the fast-food advertising Chihuahua of 1997 to 2000?

'¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!', Spanish for 'I want Taco Bell', was the Chihuahua's signature line from 1997; 'Yeah, drop the Chalupa!' and 'Viva Gorditas!' followed in later ads.

Who provided the voice of the Taco Bell Chihuahua?

Carlos Alazraqui. The ads were the big break for the stand-up comic, who later played Deputy Garcia on Reno 911!

When two men sued over its Chihuahua ads, who did Taco Bell insist had created the dog?

Its advertising agency. A federal jury in Michigan disagreed, siding with two men who had pitched a 'Psycho Chihuahua' character.

After her Taco Bell ads, the famous Chihuahua appeared in which 2003 film?

Legally Blonde 2. In it, Elle Woods tracks down her Chihuahua Bruiser's mother and finds a cosmetics company using her for testing.

What is the name of the pampered heroine dognapped in Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008)?

Chloe: the pampered Beverly Hills Chihuahua, voiced by Drew Barrymore, is dognapped on a trip to Mexico and rescued with help from Delgado and the lovestruck Papi.

In Beverly Hills Chihuahua, what breed is El Diablo, the villain who hunts the heroine?

Doberman. The dognapped heroine is thrown into a dogfight pit with him before a former police dog helps her escape.

In Beverly Hills Chihuahua, a long-haired Chihuahua named Montezuma tells the heroine the breed is what?

'Tiny but mighty'. Montezuma's pack rescues the heroine and Delgado from mountain lions, and he tells her to find her bark.

Ren Höek of Nickelodeon's Ren & Stimpy is described as what kind of Chihuahua?

'Asthma-hound': Ren Höek is billed as an 'asthma-hound Chihuahua', a scrawny, unhinged dog paired with Stimpy, a dim-witted Manx cat.

John Kricfalusi based Ren on a 1946 photograph of a Chihuahua in a sweater by which photographer?

Elliott Erwitt: Kricfalusi modelled Ren on Erwitt's photograph 'New York City, 1946', a ground-level shot of a sweater-clad Chihuahua beside its owner's feet.

After creator John Kricfalusi was fired in 1992, who took over the voice of Ren the Chihuahua?

Billy West, already the voice of Stimpy, took over Ren after Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi over late episodes.

Which country's cloning lab made 49 copies of a Guinness record-holding Chihuahua?

South Korea. The dog's owner had asked for 10 clones and sued in 2019, arguing the extra copies made her dog's record dubious.

Wheely Willy, the wheelchair-using Chihuahua from Long Beach, toured which country in 2004 to promote his book?

Japan. All Nippon Airways greeted him at Tokyo's airport with a pilot's cap, and he met the royal prince and princess.

What was the name of Paris Hilton's famous Chihuahua, dubbed an 'accessory dog' on The Simple Life?

Tinkerbell, the Chihuahua Paris Hilton carried everywhere on The Simple Life, lived until 2015; Hilton later built a $325,000 air-conditioned house for her pets.

Besides the long coat, what is the Chihuahua's other recognised coat variety called?

Smooth. Its coat should be soft, close and glossy, while a long coat so thin it resembles bareness gets a show dog disqualified.

The Chihuahua's ears are described as large and what?

Erect. Both major standards want them upright, flaring out at about 45 degrees at rest, and the AKC disqualifies cropped ears.

Pearl, named the world's shortest living dog in 2023, was born to a clone of which record-holder?

Miracle Milly. Pearl's mother is one of Milly's identical 'sisters', so the record stayed in the family after Milly died in 2020.

Which joint problem is the Chihuahua believed to be significantly predisposed to?

Medial patellar luxation. Mild cases are often just monitored, but severe cases may need surgery.