The Chinese Crested is as exotic looking breed that originated in China. It is a very small dog that only stands between 9 and 13 inches tall and it weighs less than 12 pounds. It comes in two coat variations. The first variation is the hairless version. This version is bald except for section on its head, tail and feet. Here this breed has long silky tuffs of hair. The second variation of the Chinese Crested is the Powderpuff version. In this version the coat has two parts. The undercoat is silky downy undercoat and a long straight outercoat.
To care for this breed you will need to groom it according to the type of coat that it has. For the hairless variation you will want to massage their skin with cream to keep it moisturized. If the hairless will be outside you may also want to use a sun block to help reduce the chances that they will develop a sun burn. This variation should not be left outside for very long as they are more susceptible to the elements. To groom the powderpuff variation of this dog you will want to brush their hair on a weekly basis.
The Chinese Crested is a toy dog, that has fine-boned, elegant and graceful features and movements. There are two distinct varieties that are born in the same litter. One is the hairless variety with its body mostly hairless with hair only on the head, tail and feet and the other is the Powderpuff, which is completely covered with hair. Any color or combination of colors is allowed, either solid, mixed or spotted all over.
Its size is ideally 11 to 13 inches. However, dogs that are slightly larger or smaller may be given full consideration. Its body shape is rectangular and 
allows for freedom of movement. The head of the Chinese Crested is wedge-shaped when viewed from the top and the side. The muzzle has a slight stop, and tapers nicely into the cheeks.
As with many breeds there is some dispute over the origins of the Chinese Crested Dog. However, it is almost certain that despite its name, the Chinese Crested Dog did not originate in China. It is believed that Chinese mariners sailed from African territories with this breed on board.
Chinese brought the dogs on board their ships to hunt vermin. Eventually, they renamed the dogs “Chinese Crested” and the name stuck.
Both varieties require certain amounts of grooming. The Puffs have a very soft and fine double coat that requires frequent brushing to avoid matting. Although a Puff’s coat does not continuously grow like that of some other breeds, it can grow to be quite long at full length. This breed has little to no shedding
The advantage of owning a naked dog is that it has no body odor, no heavy shedding and no fleas. And people who are allergic to other, hairier breeds, may find that this one causes them no problems.
Chinese Crests become very attached to their owners. They love lots of attention, affection and togetherness. The breed serves as a loving companion, playful and entertaining.
They are delicate and happy little dogs and are very loyal and devoted to their owners. Alert and highly intelligent, they can easily be trained for obedience and tricks.
The breed can fit in any lifestyle and environment. They get along very well with other small animals and children. They do not bark loudly or often and because of that they don’t make very good watchdogs.
Standoffish by nature, Chinese Crests need extensive exposure to people and to unusual sights and sounds. Otherwise their natural caution can become shyness or suspiciousness, which is difficult to live with.
The Chinese Crested breeds are difficult to housebreak. Consistent crate training is mandatory. Some owners are not able to fully housebreak them even as adults. However, if you start early and condition your dogs to eliminate in specific areas, they will eventually get the idea.
Play will take care of a lot of their exercise needs, however, as with all breeds, play will not fulfill their primal instinct to walk. Dogs that do not get to go on daily walks are more likely to display a wide array of behavior problems.
15 Responses to “How to Train a Chinese Crested”
Hi,
I have a 7 month old Chinese Crested who is completely lovable and very spoiled. She is great with my other two dogs and very patient with my 2 year old daughter. The issue I am having is we had two incidents where she peed on me. I woke up to her on top of me and peeing through the blanket and did not stop even though she saw me wake up. The other night she jumped up on the couch with me and peed on me again through the blankets. She does have accidents throughout the house on the carpet but I do take her out quite often outside to try to get her used to going outside instead of inside. If you can give me some insight for why this is happening or how to change this reaccuring habit please let me know.
Thank you,
Chelsey
Hi Chelsey,
I have a Chinese Crested Powder Puff boy he is 2 and a half now and we have had since he was 10 weeks old. He is a beautiful boy and loves us and my other dog and the cats and the kids. I have to say though that I am so cranky and really over his toilet issues. He also has peed on my partner like yours peed on you. He just stands there and pees on her, pees where she sits pees where she lays and he also pees where the cats lay and if we do not walk him for one day he pees all through the house to let us know he is “PISSED” off, pardon the pun..we have a female 3 year old Chihuahua and she is 100% toilet trained even runs out to the yard in the pouring rain and does her business, she is so well behaved and was easy to toilet train. We fostered another Chinese Crested and we rehomed him 4 months ago and his toileting was horrific..he would pee everywhere and poo everywhere even on the kids beds it was bad, he went to a lovely lady but she still has bad issues with the toileting..I have been told by vets and breeders that Chinese Crested are known to be dirty like this and it is because they are very primitive in nature, they come from Africa and are a really old breed so I guess we will never really get that wild dog out of them!! I am torn about what to do with our boy as he is destroying our house but we love him…let me know how it is all going for you and your CC.
Cheers
Renay
Hi
I have a male Chinese Crested Powderpuff he is now one and a half years old. I crate trained him from 9 weeks old and persisted with this for around 1-2 months, he toilet trained within about 3-4 weeks. He now has no accidents and is good at asking to bed let out. He stays at home from 8-5 some days when both my partner and I are at work and there are no accidents! However his mum a hairless Chinese Crested was not toilet trained at all, but I lay this on her owners. Toilet training as with a human baby must be persistent and continuous until you are sure they’ve got it. If you re struggling for time. Crate train it’s fool proof! I’ve done it with all my dogs and foster dogs, it’s quick and efficient. Honestly, research crate training it is NOT cruel and it works. I was dubious at first but I have never looked back! I had one incident of my dog peeing on my partner, I am suspect to whether this was dominance or if I just hadn’t let him out in time. The owner of Buddys mum did say Chinese Crested are hard to toilet train, it’s true some dogs are harder to train then others, especially if they weren’t trained from pups upwards, I had a Jack Russell Terrier who we could never get to be 100% house trained but get on it whilst they’re young and with it and hopefully you’ll get there. Dogs do not like to pee/poo where they sleep and eat which is why crate training works so well, so if you have a young or old dog you’re struggling with, try this. I wish I’d known about it when my Jack Russell was alive. Good luck and Best Wishes!
Chinese Crested are not dirty dogs by any stretch of the imagination. Your dog peeing on you sounds like a dominance issue and I would like to know if your dog has been neutered. My Crested is house trained for both inside on papers when we can’t be home and outside when we’re home. Whatever vet you took your dog to has no experience with the breed at all. I think you should find a crested group like the one I listed above and actually learn from people who know the breed.
Chinese Crested are primitive dogs, and can be quite dominant. It is up to the owner to non-aggressively show them who is the leader/top dog. This does not mean being harsh with the dog, but being the one in control. Being in control of some Crested can be difficult as they can be very determined little dogs. Mine was extremely hyper, an intense jumper, screamed and ripped at his crate all night, and is stubborn and sneaky dominant. I actually didn’t think I would survive the first year with mine cause he was so utterly determined to have complete control. I even ended up in a life-threatening car accident due to the severe shortage of sleep I went through for 8 months. Then for a few months I asked my neighbor to take him at nights, and now he is much better behaved. My Crested thought he was all powerful, and would jump down a whole flight of stairs in one leap if not kept on leash. He would literally leap off the bed and land 12 feet away. Scared me half to death many times. He didn’t stop this behavior until he ended up at the bottom of the steps hurting. He also literally ate (not just chewed up) everything he could get hold of. There were many times I dug far back into his throat to dig out stuff that was near to going down the hatch.He is (still) very determined not to be viewed when he goes potty, yet if you aren’t right there with him he will be naughty. He is now almost 2 and we are finally getting through most of the kinks, though I still have to be constantly aware of him with potty habits. He doesn’t pee in other rooms but he still pees outside of his potty tray, and he has an extremely determined case of Coprophagia that I have been unable to break him of. If he can’t get away by himself without me watching, then he will literally hold his poo till he is severely constipated. His potty habits of not wanting to be seen definitely show his dominance issues. I still would not trust him out of my sight, cause I am sure he would start using non-potty areas for potty.
When he was a few months old, and even up to a year old, I was told several times to put him down, as dogs like him were unredeemable. I couldn’t do it. He has been a rough road to hoe, but there is a sparkle in him that is just amazing. There are just so many wonderful good qualities to this little dog. But I do have to say that all the months of absolute misery with him has left a bond that is weaker than the bond I have had with all other dogs I have owned. Perhaps that bond will increase now that the worst is over. Now that I am through the hard times, I am glad I have him, but if I had known what I was going to go through when I got him, I would never have chosen to go through it. This Chinese Crested was the most difficult dog I have ever owned. Usually I raised poodles. And, then I thought I had it rough with the first couple of years with a Maltese. But, the Maltese was a piece of cake compared to this Crested.
Wow, you have had it rough, I’m glad my Chinese Crested has never done any of this! Although he does love to jump and I’m amazed at how high/far he can jump! And although he doesn’t chew/eat things that aren’t his at home, walking him can be a struggle as I live in the city and he try’s to eat EVERYTHING in sight that’s remotely edible on the street/road and I have had to drag/rip a number of chicken bones out of his mouth which is no mean feat especially when he locks his jaws… Congrats to you for sticking with your pooch
Hi,
I honestly dont know if i just got lucky with my chinese crested, but he was housetrained in 2 weeks. However he is going through a second chewing stage and getting a little bit destructive. We go on walks and play with him contanstly, I have tried that bitter spray, he loves it, ive tried pepper and it doesnt affect him, and he LOVES lemon flavors ect. Doesn anyone have any suggestions on how to help this chewing stage before I go INSANE?!
How old is he? This sounds like a supervision problem.
I got lucky with Buddy, he has never chewed anything that wasn’t his, chewing can be deterred quite simply by giving him loads of his own things to chew, when you catch him chewing on something that isn’t his, quickly stop him and engage him with tug play with something of his own or stick a chew bone in his mouth, be persistent and keep repeating this until he learns again what he can and can’t chew.
When you go out and leave him unattended, stick the radio/tv on as distraction, get him one of those treat balls that he can roll around to make the treats come out (only give it to him when you go out so he looks forward to it), make sure he’s distracted and entertained whilst you’re gone. If you have to, try a normal “spray” water bottle and spray him whilst saying “no” when you catch him chewing something he shouldn’t be (worked wonders to stop my dog barking for attention) and doesn’t harm them and then again give him something of his and make a big nice fuss out of it. he’ll learn what things not to chew because it gets a bad reaction and what he can chew that gets him a good fun reaction. Whenever you see him nicely chewing something of his make a big nice fuss of him. He will get the message
Hi, I have a chinese crested bitch 9 month old now and up to the age of 7 months the perfect pet, easily house trained learned new tricks easily loving and affectionate until she came into her first season, apart from her skin being covered in large spots ( now clear ) she has become difficult to feed, does not want to sit on my knee as before and prefers to sit coiled in her basket. She loves to prance about in an open space and comes back on demand but then becomes a different dog when we get home, she`s like a moody teen, has anyone else had this problem or any idea what causes this behaviour and any thing different i can do.
Hi
I have a male Chinese Crested Powderpuff he is now one and a half years old. I crate trained him from 9 weeks old and persisted with this for around 1-2 months, he toilet trained within about 3-4 weeks. He now has no accidents and is good at asking to bed let out. He stays at home from 8-5 some days when both my partner and I are at work and there are no accidents! However his mum a hairless Chinese Crested was not toilet trained at all, but I lay this on her owners. Toilet training as with a human baby must be persistent and continuous until you are sure they’ve got it. If you re struggling for time. Crate train it’s fool proof! I’ve done it with all my dogs and foster dogs, it’s quick and efficient. Honestly, research crate training it is NOT cruel and it works. I was dubious at first but I have never looked back! I had one incident of my dog peeing on my partner, I am suspect to whether this was dominance or if I just hadn’t let him out in time. The owner of Buddys mum did say Chinese Crested are hard to toilet train, it’s true some dogs are harder to train then others, especially if they weren’t trained from pups upwards, I had a Jack Russell Terrier who we could never get to be 100% house trained but get on it whilst they’re young and with it and hopefully you’ll get there. Dogs do not like to pee/poo where they sleep and eat which is why crate training works so well, so if you have a young or old dog you’re struggling with, try this. I wish I’d known about it when my Jack Russell was alive. Good luck and Best Wishes!
Hey everyone. I also have a 7 month old chinese crested powder puff female.i got her at around 5 months and the previous owner said she was trained but she wasn’t when I first got her. She toilet trained really well with me for 3-4 weeks but has now taken to peeing everywhere including her own bed in her crate and seems to have little or no issues in lying in it.
I’ve taken her to the vets to check for uti and see if she is I’m season but there is no medical reason as to why she is doing this.
She had an accident when I came home this eve in her bedding so I promptly removed it let her out and changed her bedding, she came in after being outside for 20 minutes or so climbed in her crate and pee’d all over it again only this time wasn’t happy lying in it but I don’t know if me keep removing the wet bedding is helping her to learn it isn’t ok to do this as I do remove it very quickly after accidents as I feel awful leaving it in there.Can anyone give me any advice on how to stop this as I really don’t want to rehome her but I don’t think I can cope with this for the next 10-13 years..x
She needs to be kept on a leash for now and with you. No freedom until she earns it.
Also forgot to add I am fitting a doggie door for her this weekend but I’m really not sure if it will work as she seems to be ok in peeing where ever she damn well feels like it x
Don’t get a dog door! Dog doors are the worst idea for dogs that aren’t house trained.