Tinkerbell
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Tinkerbell the Chihuahua
The Chihuahua (or Spanish: Chihuahueño) is a Mexican breed of toy dog. It is named for the Mexican state of Chihuahua and is among the smallest of all dog breeds. It is usually kept as a companion animal or for showing.
DNA studies suggest that native American dogs entered North America from Siberia roughly 10,000 years ago, and were then isolated for some 9,000 years until the arrival of the first Europeans; these pre-contact dogs exhibited a unique genetic signature that is now almost gone. A study based on sequencing of ancient dog genomes, published in 2020, suggests that this pre-colonial ancestry survives in two Mexican breeds, to the extent of about 4% in the Chihuahua (and some 3% in the Xoloitzcuintli).
Colonial records refer to small, nearly hairless dogs at the beginning of the nineteenth century; one claims that sixteenth-century conquistadores found them plentiful in the region later known as Chihuahua.
In a letter written in 1520, Hernan Cortés wrote that the Aztecs raised and sold little dogs as food. The American Kennel Club first registered a Chihuahua in 1904, Midget, owned by H. Raynor of Texas.
