Blue Chihuahua Trend Spawns Lots of Genetic Defects

This is an old NY Times article, but I just had to shed light on this blue Chihuahua issue. To get smaller, cuter, and rarer dogs, backyard breeders in Japan are doing screwed up things like mating dogs repeatedly with their own offspring to make rare recessive traits show up more often. Pictured here is one of these blue-tinged chihuahuas that were so very trendy a couple years ago. People paid up to $10,000 for these. And of course, horror stories that come with excessive in-breeding abound: some of these pups have brain disorders that make them just run in circles all day, and others had "bones so frail they dissolved in their bodies." Apparently, genetic defects in dogs are 4x more common in Japan in the US or Europe.

Good thing Ruby's a red minpin, not a blue chihuahua.

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