Chihuahua Development

Chihuahuas change in so many ways as they grow, starting out as tiny little blind and deaf newborns and growing through various puppy stages, adolescence (the uglies/or teenage stage), young adult, and adult.

Their ear canal develops and their eyes begin to open around 2 weeks old, their teeth start to break through their gums at 4 weeks old. Playing and building motor function skills continue from here, while their coats get thicker as well as fluffier in longcoats. Personalities become more obvious and develop and change with interactions as they learn the growing world around them. Their first few months of life are super important to their development both physically and mentally, with good genetics and positive experiences, Chihuahuas grow into wonderful dogs that make great family pets to a wide variety of homes.

While puppy coats develop, their colour and pattern can change too. Some genetic combinations mask some colour or pattern characteristics, while others, like sable, can make a puppy look almost brown/black when born, and gradually over weeks and months fade to a gold, red or a sandy colour. Some Tanpoint/Tricolour puppies can appear to be only a solid colour like black/blue/chocolate with or without white when only a few weeks old, but their tan markings (eyebrows/cheeks/legs) slowly appear out of the darker colour and increase in size and colour intensity.

Some chihuahuas start out visually stunning, but then the uglies hit! If you have a longcoat, their once-fluffy coat will mostly shed out until your longcoat almost resembles a smooth coat. But don’t worry. Their coat will grow back and be even thicker, longer, and more beautiful with time.

Now, more of the uglies…

Your cute baby puppy can get all gangly, long legged, or even look like one half of their body grew before the other half. And that’s not all.

Their adorable faces change, morphing their once-perfect baby features. This happens at different rates and to different degrees depending on the dog and its DNA. Some puppies go through this change quickly and stay pretty cute all the way through. Some dogs’ muzzles or ears grow larger first, while their domed head and rounded eyes can take much longer. This can give a less desirable appearance until their physical traits all catch up with each other.

Displayed below are a few of my past and current breeding and show chihuahuas in various stages of their lives, ranging from baby puppy, to young or full adult. Pregnancy and raising puppies is quite taxing on a female dog’s body, and longcoats especially lose much of their longer coat while nursing, which you can see in Rogue’s photos below. Fortunately this does grow back with time and a good break from being a mum.