Mexican Hairless ( Xoloitzcuintle )

   Think I might start posting a new breed every day. Or at least every week depending on time. Going to start with one of the more unusual breeds i've photographed - The Mexican Hairless or Xoloitzcuintle. 

Mexican Hairless

 I'd always thought these dogs were the same breed as Chinese Crested, which I'm sure must be considered very bad form amongst Mexican Hairless breeders. I'd wanted to photograph one for a while but you just don't see them. There are in fact only about 65 individual animals on the country. The ones featured here belonged to a woman who had seven. This must make her the leading expert on the breed, or at least the keenest. She was very reluctant to give me access to them at first. They had never been photographed by anyone and she was concerned I may want to make the images funny or ridicule them because of their appearance. Apparently Hoover had once contacted her to see if they could use them for in advert in which the powerful new cleaner would appear to have sucked off their fur. This is the last thing I wanted to do. I think they are beautiful animals and after spending a few hours with them I would go as far as say I wanted one. In fact the one pictured below could have gladly come home with me that day. It does look a little bit like Dobby the House Elf from Harry Potter but in a good way.

Mexican Hairless