Xoloitzcuintli (Standard)

It is a lean, elegant dog, slightly longer than tall, with a wedge-shaped head, almond eyes and large, upright ears. Most are hairless, with smooth, close skin that is usually dark, ranging from black and slate to liver or bronze, sometimes with a short tuft on the head. Coated puppies appear in the same litters, because hairless dogs carry only one copy of the dominant hairless gene.

The Standard Xoloitzcuintli is one of three sizes of an ancient Mexican breed. Its name joins Xolotl, an Aztec god, with itzcuintli, the Nahuatl word for dog. Clay dog figures from western Mexico, some thought to show hairless dogs, suggest how long such dogs have been kept, and Aztec belief held that dogs guided the dead through the underworld. The American Kennel Club registered the breed as the Mexican Hairless in the late nineteenth century, later dropped it, and readmitted it under its Nahuatl name in the twenty-first century. The Standard was kept as a companion and household watchdog.