VARIETIES & GENETICS
All hairless breeds (except the American Hairless Terrier) have two varieties. Those without hair on their bodies, Hairless, and those fully coated, called Powderpuffs.
The unique difference between the Chinese Crested and other hairless breeds is that the Chinese Crested carries the gene for long hair. All other have a short coat.
The distinct varieties, the hairless and the powderpuff are born in the same litter. The Hairless with soft silky hair is only on the head, tail and feet.
The Powderpuff, covered with a soft silky coat of moderate density and length.
In the hairless variety, soft silky hair is found only on the head (crest), tail (plume), and feet and lower legs. The skin of the hairless areas is smooth and soft. In the powder-puff variety, the entire dog is covered with a soft silky coat of moderate density and length.
It is important to have some understanding of the genetics to understand the Chinese Crested. Hairlessness is the result of an incomplete Dominate mutation. Hairlessness in dogs is dominant and not recessive as in most mutations. The hairless and powder puff varieties are inseparable due to this genetic makeup.
The powderpuff (PP) crested does not contain any hairless genes, though the hairless (HL) contains a hairless gene and a powderpuff gene.
When breeding HL to HL you have a 25% chance of getting a PP.
When breeding a HL to PP, you have a 50% chance of PPs.
It does not matter how many generations of HL to HL you breed,
as each living HL carries a PP gene. So the odds of getting
PPs are always the same...25%, or 50% or 100% if you breed two PPs together.
But for any one litter - breeding a hairless to a hairless
might result in everything from only haitless pups to only
Powderpuffs - similarly whan breeding a Powderpuff to a hairless.
