A Chinese Crested litter often contains two kinds of puppy: nearly naked ones with a crest, socks and tail plume, and fully coated Powder Puffs. Hairlessness cannot breed true for a genetic reason that reaches right into the jaw.
| FCI | Group 9 (Companion and Toy Dogs), Section 4 Hairless Dogs, Standard No. 288, without working trial |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | China (patronage Great Britain) |
| Height at the withers | Ideal males 28 to 33 cm, females 23 to 30 cm |
| Weight | Not specified in the FCI standard |
| Life expectancy | Median 13,4 years, both varieties combined (McMillan et al. 2024) |
| Coat | Hairless: crest, socks and tail plume only; Powder Puff: undercoat with a long, soft veil of hair |
| Colours according to the standard | Every colour and colour combination except merle |
Treasure guardian of the Han period
The standard says the origins are difficult to establish. Han dynasty families reportedly kept the dog to guard treasure houses, using a larger form for hunting too. It appeared at American shows from 1885 to 1926, then scarcely for around fifty years.
Cheerful, never vicious
The standard gives no further temperament description. As a small, active companion, the dog belongs in the middle of their people’s everyday life, with search games and little tricks providing activity.
Why a litter is never uniform
Hairlessness comes from a FOXI3 change involved in controlling hair and teeth; the Xoloitzcuintle and the Peruvian Hairless Dog (Perro sin pelo del Perú) carries the same change (Drögemüller et al. 2008). Researchers never found animals with two copies, probably because they die before birth. Every hairless dog therefore carries one copy, and litters always include coated siblings, the Powder Puffs (Parker et al. 2017). With two hairless parents, an average quarter of embryos are lost.
What the standard forgives in the teeth
The standard literally says the hairless variety has the primitive trait of forward-pointing canines and should not be penalised for incomplete dentition. Museum skulls of hairless dogs with this mutation show missing permanent canines and premolars, sometimes incisors too (Kupczik et al. 2017). Because the trait being bred is inseparably linked to tooth loss, we classify the Chinese Crested as extreme breeding (breeds whose standard causes health problems).
Watching heart and nervous system
A Swedish study of 102 healthy Chinese Cresteds found mitral valve regurgitation in 38 per cent, without establishing whether valve disease was already present (Adler and Tidholm 2023). Canine multiple system degeneration, an early-onset progressive movement disorder, is recessively inherited; its SERAC1 cause is detectable by genetic testing (Zeng et al. 2024). The breed is nevertheless long-lived: median 13,4 years, compared with 12,0 for crossbreeds.
Protecting skin instead of coat
Without hair, skin lacks protection from sun and cold. Summer calls for shade and sun protection agreed with your vet; winter for a coat.
Before choosing a puppy
Ask for both parents’ SERAC1 tests and heart examinations, inspect their teeth and firmly budget for skin care and dental treatment.
Difficult if
You seek a straightforward dog for any weather, or do not want to support breeding that accepts missing teeth as the price of appearance.
To see whether such a small companion suits you, try the breed quiz, with a more thorough look in our book “Welcher Hund passt WIRKLICH zu dir?” (book in German). If size is the main attraction, consider coated companions such as the Papillon or the Bolognese; find every breed in the Dog Breed Encyclopedia. Shelters and rescue organisations also seek homes for small dogs. For getting started, there is the free Puppy Starter Pack.
Further reading
- Havanese: beginner-friendly does not mean undemanding
- Maltese: lovely character, full-time grooming
- Puppy will not sleep: what really helps on the first night
Sources, accessed on 20.10.2026: FCI-Standard Nr. 288 Chinese Crested Dog (fci.be, English version dated 06.10.2026, valid publication dated 08.09.2026, no German version); Drögemüller C et al., A mutation in hairless dogs implicates FOXI3 in ectodermal development, Science 2008; Parker HG et al., The bald and the beautiful: hairlessness in domestic dog breeds, Phil Trans R Soc B 2017; Kupczik K et al., The dental phenotype of hairless dogs with FOXI3 haploinsufficiency, Sci Rep 2017; Adler E, Tidholm A, Prevalence of mitral valve regurgitation in 102 asymptomatic Chinese Crested dogs, J Vet Cardiol 2023; Zeng R et al., Canine Multiple System Degeneration Associated with Sequence Variants in SERAC1, Genes 2024; McMillan KM et al., Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death, Scientific Reports 2024.
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