AMERICAN KHALA ASSOCIATION
Dedicated to the preservation and Promotion
of theLatin American hairless dog

 

 

INTRODUCING KHALAS

The hairless hound is indigenous to Latin America from Mexico throughout Central and South America. Almost every Latin country has a variety, whether the medium sized, somewhat heavy bodied "pottery" type or the taller, leaner, "gazehound" type. The difference between the two is more of substance than of height. Both types can and do appear in the same litter and no attempt has been made, as yet, to breed selectively for one type or the other.

The dogs are known by different names, even within the same country. We have only recently classified them simply as KHALA, which is the Bolivian Quechua Indian word meaning "without clothing." The Peruvian Quechua word for the breed is "caa allego" which translates to "without vestment." In other countries the Indian names translate similarly, which would indicate a difference in dialect rather than in breed.

The Khala is a naturally healthy, hearty animal that survives without pampering from the coastline to high in the Andes. It is a dog of the people and shares their meager existence with affection and a willingness to make do that is common to most unrefined canines. Like their humans' family tree, Khala pedigrees are seldom written down and are more of common knowledge and spoken word. It is normal for the entire village to know the names and a lot more, of any dog's parents, grandparents, and so on for many generations. Some effort is being made in several countries, most notably Bolivia and Peru, to track and record pedigree and to exchange breeding animals between geographic locations. Exportation to the U.S. and Europe is limited but not impossible.

 

 

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 AMERICAN KHALA ASSOCIATION
Dedicated to the preservation and Promotion
of theLatin American hairless dog

 

 

STANDARD FOR THE KHALA

(KHALA MEDIO - POTTERY TYPE - AND KHALA GRANDE - GAZEHOUND TYPE)

 

Because the two types of Khala can occur in the same litter and it is often difficult to tell which type a puppy is until almost adulthood, both types may be shown together except for the OPEN class which should be restricted to animals at least one year of age and divided into OPEN/GRANDE and OPEN/MEDIO. Judges should be aware of the differences between the two types as adults and not penalize puppies that do not conform completely to one standard or the other. One type is NOT preferred to the other.

 

 


 AMERICAN KHALA ASSOCIATION
Dedicated to the preservation and Promotion
of theLatin American hairless dog

 

 

STANDARD FOR THE KHAIA MEDIO (pottery type)

GENERAL APPEARANCE: Medium sized hound, powerful yet graceful.
SIZE:Dogs and bitches the same, 14-17 inches, weighing 15-30 pounds.

TEMPERAMENT: Loving and docile with family and friends, aloof, standoffish, even unfriendly with strangers. Tolerant and packish with household animals but not submissive.

HEAD: Skull long, wide between the ears, moderately pear shaped with slight stop, muzzle slightly shorter than skull. EARS Large and thin, wide at the base and tapering to a rounded point. Normally carried folded back (rose ear) but one or both may stand erect, especially on alert, or may hang naturally with little fold. EYES: Large, oval, dark colored but may be lighter in light skinned dogs.BITE: Scissors, however lack of dentition is normal and bite may be hard to determine. Poor dentition is NOT to be faulted PIGMENT Dark or matching skin color.

BODY: Long and strong with moderately sprung ribs and depth of chest.
NECK Moderately long and muscular. BACK Long, level with slight rise over loin. TAIL Long, tapering from a thick base to the tip, normally carried down, but rising to back level or higher, saber style, when excited or in motion.

LEGS FORELEGS: of medium lengtl4 straight, well boned. HIND LEGS of medium length, moderately angulated. FEET Harefooted, well defined toes with heavy claws somewhat longer than most breeds. DEWCLAWS Allowed both front and rear.

COLOR Immaterial.

VARIETIES HAIRLESS 1) totally hairless; 2 ) hairless except for a well defined but short (less than 2 inches) Mohawk between the ears and extending down the face to about eye level, with or without slight leg and/or tail feathering; 3) having a very slight peach fuzz covering over some or all of the body, with or without a Mohawk and/or slight leg and/or tail feathering COATED short, straight, soft, single coat over the entire body. NOTE: Although intrinsic to the breed, this IS primarily a hairless breed and coated animals are not shown.

Approved August 10, 1999

 

 

 

 


 AMERICAN KHALA ASSOCIATION
Dedicated to the preservation and Promotion
of theLatin American hairless dog

 

 

STANDARD FOR THE KHALA GRANDE (gazehound type)

 

GENERAL APPEARANCE: Elegant and graceful medium sized sighthound, well coordinated and able to move with ease and agility.

SIZE: Dogs and bitches the same 17-20 inches at the withers, weighting 18-30 pounds proportionate to height.

TEMPERAMENT: Loving and docile with family and friends, aloof, standoffish even unfriendly with strangers. Tolerant and packish with household animals but not submissive.

HEAD: Skull long and lean, moderately wide between the ears, barely perceptible stop, and muzzle slightly shorter than skull. EARS Large and thin, wide at base, tapering to a rounded point. Normally carried folded back (rose ear) but one or both may stand erect, especially on alert; never hang flat close to head. EYES Large, oval, dark colored, but may be lighter in light skinned dogs. BITE Scissors, however lack of dentition is normal and bite may be hard to determine. Poor dentition is NOT to be faulted. PIGMENT Dark or matching skin color.

BODY: Ribs slightly sprung, deep chested, abdomen slightly tucked up. Long lean. BACK Long, level with slight rise over loin. TAIL, Long and slender, whiplike and mobile, normally carried down but rising to back level or higher, saber style, when excited or in motion.

LEGS FORELEGS: Straight and long. Lightly boned, but not spindly, pasterns somewhat long and flexible. LEGS Long, moderately angulated,
hocks well let down. FEET Harefooted, well defined toes with heavy claws somewhat longer than most breeds. DEWCLAWS Allowed both front and rear.

COLOR: Immaterial.

VARIETIES HAIRLESS: 1) Totally hairless; 2) hairless except for a well defined, but short (less than 2 inches) Mohawk between the ears and extending down the face to about eye level, with or without slight leg and/or tail feathering; 3) having a very slight peach fuzz covering over some or all of the body, with or without a Mohawk and/or slight leg and/or tail feathering. COATED Short, straight, soft, single coat over the entire body. NOTE: although intrinsic to the breed, this IS primarily a hairless breed and coated animals are not shown.

Approved August 10, 1999

 

 

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THE KHALA, LATIN AMERICA'S HAIRLESS HOUND

by

SHERRY KIDWELL

 

 

Within an hour of their birth the puppies were able to stand on all 4 feet and totter

forward. Don't get me wrong: they were not walking. But they were strong enough--and

determined enough--to get their feet under them four square and take a step forward before

falling. All 7 of them, from the smallest to the largest. And they were large--the largest

puppies I've ever had and for 20 years I've raised Shar-Pei whose puppies average a pound

at birth. At 2 days, when I finally got to weigh the Khalas, even with the normal post-birth

weight loss, the smallest puppy weighed 15 1/2 ounces. As for determination, each was

born with a definite mind of its own. Move them from one side of the bed to the other to

change the bedding and they were back on the original side within seconds. Try to clip

nails and I was dealing with all 4 feet at once. Even at just a week, holding a puppy meant

keeping it from scrambling up my arm to my neck like a hamster. And they are so tuned in

to each other, they all wake up when one is touched. My friends have said " I haven't seen

you this excited about a litter in years!" and they're right.

 

I got my first Khala, a hairless sighthound type Peruvian, 3 years ago; she's the mother

of the puppies. Over the following years, leads for males did not pan out. With all the civil

unrest in South and Central America, exporting Animals is extremely difficult. Then last

year at Christmas time, I saw a newspaper ad for "hairless dogs" and found Alex, a Khala

breeder from Bolivia. I got 2 "pottery" type puppies from him, a male and a female. The

male is the father of my puppies. Alex has relatives near here and visits several times a

year, bringing puppies with him each time. I have added a Bolivian sighthound type female

and a Chilean sighthound type coated male to my collection.

 

The Khalas are alert, active and agile. They are housedogs, like all the rest of my dogs, and

run with my Shar-Pei, Bulldogs (English) and young Soft Coated Wheaten. All my dogs

"speak English," although the Bulldogs like to pretend they're deaf, and the Khalas tend to

be mindreaders, picking up as much from my body language as from my conversation.

They are noisy when playing with each other, sounding like each chase or wrestling

match is a battle to the death, but they have never drawn blood from each other. They play

differently amongst themselves than with the other dogs (but I've noticed that with other

breeds as well.) Their skin scratches and mars easily but doesn't bleed much. The "pottery"
type seems to have slightly thicker, tougher skin than the sighthound type and for all of

them, flight is preferable to fight in a serious squable. I have never seen a Khala lose its

temper, but they occasionally really irritate the other dogs.

 

 

My hairless dogs get very little special care. They get a shower every once-in-a-while

and occasionally I rub a little Vaseline into their skin. (Too much or too often makes the

skin too soft and it will tear easily.) They don't wear sunscreen in the summer, but they do

wear sweaters when the temperature starts dropping... if I'm chilly THEY have to put on

clothes. (I raised my kids the same way.) If one of the Khalas feels chilly, it goes to get its

sweater and brings it to me. Each dog has a different color and, believe it or not, when I

pick up a sweater, the dog that wears it comes to me to have it put on--without me calling it

or even looking in its direction. My coated male treats his breed-mates the same with or

without sweaters while my other dogs often grab the sweaters and try to pull them off or

drag the Khalas around by them. I put clothes on the puppies for the first time when they

were 31 weeks old--none of them resisted putting their heads or 'Legs 'through the

openings or made any attempt to take off their own or another puppy's covering., Their

mother acted like it was perfectly normal for her youngsters to be wearing socks on their

backs. Three of my 7 puppies are coated--crinkled hair like Poodle babies--and they haven't

reacted at all to their littermates' new look or feel. I find the Khalas' acceptance of unnatural

covering interesting since so many of my other breeds tend to try to remove anything new

or different, even new collars.

 

In general, I have found the Khala to be more in tune with each other and with me than

any of my other breeds. They are clean animals, easily housebroken and highly trainable.

They are not yappy but will be very vocal about strange cars or people or animals they do

not know. They have been accepting, but reserved--and watchful--of people I invite into

"their" territory.

 

Their history, throughout Latin America, is mainly speculation although they are found

in almost every South and Central American country. Evidence of their existence dates back

before the 1200s. Khala structure, whether sighthound or pottery type, suggests a working

hound background.

 

There are very few Khala "breeders" and little effort being made to track pedigrees--an

individual puppy's background is known for generations by the villagers where he lives but

is seldom written down. The American Khala Association, formed this year, is registering

hairless dogs imported from or born to imports from Latin America. Coated dogs from

hairless parents are registrable also. So far, regional differences in Khalas from the various

countries have been less evident than those found within AKC breeds from around the US

and Canada.

 

 

I have been involved with breeding and showing dogs all my long life. My tastes are

varied and sometimes exotic. If I ever have to get down to just one breed my choice will be

the Khala. Whether hairless or coated, the Khala is the most unique and interesting dog I

have been around--and they're a great way to meet new people!

 

 

 

Khala Medio (Pottery type)

14 to 17 inches, 15 to 30 pounds
(imports may be heavier)

 

Khala Grande (Sighthound type)

17 to 20 inches, 18 to 30 pounds
(imports may stand-,considerably taller)

 

For further information:

AKA President at Ldgraling@hotmail.com

or AKA Registrar, Sherry Kidwell, 706-793-1359,

4440 Fairbluff Rd., Hephzibah GA 30815.

 

 

Back to Articles of Interest

 

The Katherine Walsh Page
The Lascelles de Pemio Real Page
The Jane Qualtrough Delgado page

Home I Xolo web sites I History and breed information I Health and Care I Web-less Xolos
Photo Gallery I Breeders List I Owners List I Articles of interest I Xolo related links
Puppy Gallery I Xolo Brags I Peruvian Inca Orchid dogs I Rescue Xolos I What's New