Playing cards from Dogstuff

It’s Hollywood’s fault, really. Well, that and irresponsible breeders.

First there was Legally Blonde. Then came The Simple Life with Paris Hilton and her dog Tinkerbell, followed by Beverly Hills Chihuahua. And, of course, Gidget, the star of those “yo quiero Taco Bell” commercials.

Chihuahuas have been portrayed as cute little accessories; demand has soared; and breeders have overcompensated. The result? Chihuahuas have surpassed pit bulls as the breed most surrendered at animal shelters.

The problem is particularly acute in California. A third of the dogs in San Francisco’s city shelter are all or part chihuahua. In Oakland, it’s more than 50 percent. And in Los Angeles, there are so many chihuahuas that they’re being airlifted to other states to find them homes.

Chihuahuas are cute, no doubt about it. They’re also nervous, high-strung, fragile, and not a good fit for most families.

Officials hope to stop irresponsible backyard breeding of Chihuahuas with new regulations and an education program. In the meantime, the airlifts and “Chihuahuapalooza” adoption programs will continue.

Lost in DC

See Prettier than Napoleon’s post for the details.

Lilly will soon be "a normal little puppy"

A chihuahua puppy born with a fifth leg protruding from her stomach won’t have it much longer.

The puppy, originally named Precious, was going to be sold to a Coney Island freak show until a local woman stepped in to buy her. Now called Lilly, she’s been checked by a vet and given her shots, and is scheduled for surgery to remove the extra leg.

“Everything looks like it’s going to be pretty simple,” said Allyson Siegel, Lilly’s new owner. “Once the leg’s off she should be a normal little puppy.”

Siegel plans to give Lilly to her sister and niece once the dog has recuperated.

As the Los Angeles Times reports, a woman giving a party tied her two dogs to a treehouse by their leashes, and then blocked the entrance with chairs. This was all intended to keep the dogs from escaping the back yard while guests entered through a side gate. Why she couldn’t confine them somewhere inside the house, I don’t know.

One of the dogs, a chihuahua, got past the chairs, tried to jump from the treehouse with its leash still attached, and … well, you can guess the outcome wasn’t good.

Fortunately for the dog, one of the guests, Krisna Torres, performed mouth-to-snout resuscitation and got her breathing again. A vet checked her out and cleared her to go back home.

Let’s hope her owner has learned a lesson.

One of the dogs rescued at auction

A large puppy mill in Denver, Prairie Bark Kennels, decided to auction off 202 of its breeding stock prior to relocating. Two local rescue groups offered to pick the dogs up and find them homes, but PBK said no.

Instead, they loaded the dogs — yorkies, papillons, dachshunds, pugs, chihuahuas and others — into crates and hauled them 788 miles to Missouri to be sold at auction.

Sharon Peters describes what happened next.

They had spent their lives in cages, never knowing human companionship or care. They were rescued filthy, frightened, and flea-bitten.

But now, after careful rehabilitation and socialization, 5 of the 84 dogs rescued from Skagit and Snohomish counties in Washington are ready for adoption.

They’ve gone from hiding underneath their beds at the Seattle Humane Society to “jumping up and down excited to see us,” said Katie Olsen.

Playing cards from Dogstuff

Staff are telling prospective owners that the dogs — mostly yorkies, poodles and chihuahuas — will still need a lot of socialization. Though they’re mostly a year or two old, they have never lived indoors with a family. They still need to be housebroken and learn about unfamiliar sounds, like a vacuum cleaner.

The shelter would like adoptive families to take their new member to training classes, and ideally have another dog in the home.

“We want them spoiled and pampered, and the dog is going to be going everywhere with the new families,” said Olsen.

The shelter also needs more volunteer foster parents for its remaining dogs and other guests.

Chihuahua Pinata

These new figurines are the ultimate dress-up for Chihuahuas – princesses, hula dancers, cupids  and more, all in colorful cast resin and measuring 3-4 inches.   This link will show you our current collection, but here are some samples.  

As always, when Jane brings in something new she’ll buy just one or two in each item until we see if it catches on.   So if you go to dogstuff.com to buy and we’ve already sold out (we have hundreds of customers with Chihuahuas) just drop us a note at customerservice@dogstuff.com and we’ll be glad to order more. 

As always, if you’d like to see our total Chihuahua-specific collection, search by breed at Dogstuff.com or use this link.

Meantime, go ahead and overdose on cute:

Cupid Chihuahua

Sock Hop Chihuahua

Chihuahua Princess

Hula Chihuahua

Now let’s add “comfy” to cute with these newly arrived socks:

Chihuahua Socks

You can see these and any of our other Chihuahua items (175 at last count) by using the “Shop by Breed” link on the left side of every dogstuff.com page, or by using this link:  Find Chihuahua Stuff!