In an effort to volunteer my services, I took a trip to Santiago Ixcuintla in December 1996. Situated along the flat coastal plain of the Mexican State of Nayarit, surrounded by field of tobacco, it is a humid town under a withering sun. After three days of discussions with representatives of the Huichol people, I came to realize that small animal veterinary service was the least of their needs as an indigenous nation. I fell in love with a breed of dog - the Ixcuintla.
Ixcuintla dogs are the true Mexican hairless.
Leathery gray skin, surprisingly smoot to the touch. Sparse tufts of wiry hair over the knuckles, top of the head and base of the tail. Sweet dogs - dogs of the Aztecs, they were bred for companionship and food. Ixcuintla dogs are the boxy, pointed ear animals represented in Aztec drawings. Diego Rivera depicted them larger than life in his 20th century murals of Mexican history.