Wednesday, March 12, 2014

A Fun Loving Dancing Freak



This hairless Chinese Crested dog is named "Nathan," and he is said to love to "chair dance." 

I think it's reasonable to wonder if this behavior actually developed because Nathan is trying to alleviate mild discomfort caused by his obvious skin condition, but since I do not know this dog, let's take it on face value and assume the dog is simply playing.

For the record, Chinese Cresteds are not from China.  The gene pool of these dogs is South American in origin, and the dog was developed in the U.S. in the 1930s, shortly before burlesque stripper Gypsy Rose Lee helped popularize the breed.

Closely related to Mexican Hairless (Xoloitzcuintle), and Peruvian Hairless dogs, the Chinese Crested shares the same no-hair and poor-dentition genetic mutation common to all three breeds.  A 
mutation of the FOXI3 gene controls the development of coat and teeth in all hairless breeds, and is believed to have first occurred as a single mutation in the New World some 4,000 years ago.
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