Chinese Crested Grooming



Oz sleeping - you can see his thick leg hair & sparse body hair

 Technically, Oz, Willie and Cee Cee are variations of the hairless variety as they have no undercoat and there are spots on their bodies that are naturally bald.  With that you would think that grooming would be a breeze, but not so!  In fact, quite the opposite, if you don't groom them, they begin to look like they have mange, as some spots grow thick hair, others don't.  For instance, Ozzie grows hair on most of his top side with the exception of his "black spot" on his back, where he grows only fuzz.  His sides are sparse and his legs grow thick hair.

Willie grows silky fine hair most everwhere except his sides, it would look like he was wearing a shaggy toupee if he grew out.  And Cee Cee only grows hair on her thighs, face and a strip down her back, sort of a hair chaps with a mohawk look...  Quite unattractive.

So yesterday was a spa day, meaning 3 hours of coaxing, trimming and cleaning up hair balls from our "hairless dogs".  Cee Cee and Willie both get a true crested trim, muzzles, body and half way down the leg.  Ozzie squirms too much and so he gets to have a little facial hair, but we trimmed his ears like a little spock.  He looks cuter with a little hairy face anyway.  It's part of his personality. 


Oz - happy in a new hair cut




Cee Cee lounging after spa day




Willie so handsome when he's trimmed



Cee Cee La Rue

Cee Cee La Rue came to us originally as "Firecracker" and registered as "Whispering Lanes Hells a Blazing" - now That's a mouthful! Twelve pounds of tough, this little lady was alpha all the way. She immediately adopted Scott and I and set up house of the big bed, plopping on the pillows inbetween us with her little Queen like air of "I'm home, you can serve me now"...

When we first got her home we quickly decided Firecracker was just too much name to say over and over again. It was exhausting! So we studied our little vixen waiting for a name to pop out. We quickly noticed that she only turned in one direction and that was counter clockwise. She literally couldn't get her little body to go another direction. Even when jumping onto the bed, she had to start from the side that would allow her a big counter clockwise leap else she would back up to the bed and wait to be lifted. We attribute this to crate living as some research showed this as a pretty common trait in crated dogs. In any case, this was a habit she was not going to break.

Shortly after we brought her home I had set up a spot in the downstairs bathroom where she could have some space but not get into trouble and I went off to do some errands. Typically when I came home there was lots of happy barking - today only silence. I went into the bathroom, and little Firecracker had somehow got hold of the toilet paper and started turning in circles... she had managed to completely teepee herself to the roll. I wish wish wish i had taken a picture! In any case, Cee Cee for "counter clockwise" fit and that became her name. La Rue was added for her queenly posture...

Crazy Little Dogs

Three years ago I decided it was time to get another dog. The actual decision was made when my husband bought himself a Harley. I know, not a good decision to get a pet, but at the time I was going to be home bound from surgery and since I wasn't going to be hopping on the harley I decided I needed a companion.


I had some criteria - hypo allergenic, small and easily transportable, but I have to admit, my biggest goal was to find the dog that would embarrass 'daddy' when we showed up at harley runs. I pictured a little bundle happily bounding off to greet my husband, not deterred from his black leather from head to toe, only focused on "pick me up".... You get the picture. I remember him saying "you wouldn't dare".... or something to that effect, so off I went in search of the perfect new child.


I should insert here, that I am crazy about animals and spent many years on farms raising animals of all kinds. I fully intended on giving this new little member the best possible home so I knew what i was getting into in the care department.


Just about that time there was a commercial running with a Chinese Crested and of course there was the ugliest dog in the world competitions which the Crested is a frequent winner. After doing some research I decided "that's the dog for me!" Hypoallergenic, small, friendly and hopefully hairless. Perfection in a package!


That is how we can to be the parents of "Cee Cee La Rue" our first Crested. Two years later we decided CC needed a companion and instead of one more little female, we came home with two big males. Not sure what happened with that master plan, but now we have the three charmers, CC, Oz and Willie - all crazy little dogs.