No hair?

Well; it is suppose to be cooling off for a while, I'll believe it when I feel it. In the high 90s yesterday; my house sounded like a library. All the dogs had found their place and were crashed. A favorite spot is my bedroom although it is the hottest room in the house; you can hear the constant hum of the fan, the dogs love the fan. Tilley will infact lay right in front of the fan if I have it set on the floor; something you would never do with a puppy around. She enjoys the wind in her ears and the cool air passing over her; she will sleep deeply there enjoying the cool. Afterall Tilley wears a fur coat; who wouldn't want to lay in front of the fan?

Over the years I've shot (photographed) alot of dogs and one of the most different breeds has been the Xoloitzcuintli. Known commonly as the Xolo (sholo) is the national dog of Mexico and originated in South America a very longtime ago. When I first met a xolo I was mesmerized by their coat or lack there of. They feel so foreign to the touch that I just had to keep my hands on them. Their skin is soft but not; feeling like nothing I had touched before. They commonly have a nice tuft of hair between their ears and due to a lack of hair show all the tiniest scars on their body.

Even though the breed is a hairless one there is a coated Xolo. The breeding of hairless and hair dogs is controversial but it is done. The coat of the xolo coated type is short, smooth and dense. Very different from the coated chinese crested dogs.

The breed is a hardy one and although they have no hair they do very well in different weather. Most xolo's have a good supply of sweaters for the winter of course as do any other hairless breeds. The xolo comes in toy, miniature and standard sizes of which I met the miniature. I have seen images of the standard and would like to meet one someday. The vast amount of xolo's live in Mexico and this is the first country to have recognized the breed.

When I first met the xolo's I had the honor of shooting I was quickly told of the short form of the name. As hard as I tried I could not get my brain t to recallhe actual name and was glad to be able to call them Xolo's (sholo's).

See you do learn something new everyday.