While little or nothing is known of the previous history of the Toltecs, it has been established that they existed in what is now Mexico as early as the ninth century A.D., and that during their several centuries of occupancy they had a breed of dog called the Techichi. This dog was small, although not tiny and of heavy boned structure. His coat was long, while his most distinctive feature was muteness.

The Techichi, regarded as indigenous to Central America, is the progenitor of the Chihuahua that now enjoys popularity throughout North America, where he has been bred to his greatest perfection. No records of the Techichi are, so far, available prior to the ninth century, but it seems probable that his ancestors were in the locality prior to the advent of the Maya tribes about the fifth century.

The evidence firmly establishing the Techichi to the Toltec period is found in pictures carved on stones - they may be found today in the Monastery of Huejotzingo, on the highway from Mexico City to Puebla. This monastery was constructed by the Franciscan Monks around 1530 from materials of the existing Pyramids of Cholula, built by the Toltecs. The carvings give a full lhead view and a picture of an entire dog that closely approximates the Chihuahua of modern times.

This civilization was centered principally around Tula, which is close to the present Mexico City, and there one finds the most abundant relics of this ancient breed. For that reason, there always has been some speculation regarding the discovery of the earliest speciments of the modern breed in the State of Chihuahua. The dogs were found, about 1850, in some old ruins close to Casas Grandes, said to be the remains of a palace built by Emperor Montezuma I.

Legend and history are rich in tales of the ancestors of the present Chihuahua. He is described as a popular pet, as well as a religious necessity, among the ancient Toltrec tribes and later among lthe Aztecs. Archaeologists have discovered remains of this breed in human graves in Mexico and in parts of the United States.

The modern Chihuahua is quite different from his early ancestors, with his variegated colours ranging from snow white to jet black. Mexico favours the jet black with tan markings and the black and white spotted.

North American breeders have produced a diminutive dog that has few comparisons, even among other breeds, in size, symmetry and conformation, as well as intelligence and alertness. Curiously, the Chihuahua is inclined to be clannish, recognizing and preferring his own kind. The smooth coated are the most numerous in Nortjh America and inclined to be the most clannish, but the long coated Chihuahua is rapidly increasing. It has identical characteristics of the smooth.