hector the ‘mighty’ chihuahua

dear famous chihuahua,

i  am submitting a photo of the most beautiful chihuahua in the world … ahem next to teaka of course. his name is “hector” which means mighty one, very appropriate for this little beast. he is 10 months old and the light of mine and my wife’s lives. you can tell from the picture that hector the chihuahua is a ham and loves to be photographed.

i feel the need to tell you how i “finally” obtained hector. in 2002 we lost our cockapoo dog that we got for my son when he was a baby. we had her for 18 years. i had always loved chihuahuas and actually had a chi-beagle mix as a child. to make a long story short, over the last few years i have been bugging my wife to get another dog, preferably a chihuahua since i had one before. each time i would mention it she would say no more dogs! every christmas or birthday i would get either a t-shirt with a chihuahua on it or a stuffed chihuahua etc… you get the idea, my family was teasing me.

one saturday last june i was sitting at home when my son came by with my 3 grandchildren. the kids burst into the house with a small paper bag folded and closed yelling here grandpa, here grandpa! with my wife by my side on the sofa i slowly opened the bag and to my surprise was a beautiful fawn 17 week old male chihuahua that i already knew i was going to name hector years before. i looked at my wife and her face turned beet red. as soon as she held him, she was in love. it was like day and night, what a turn around.

i must mention something that is just a little off topic, chihuahua’s and grapes. i made a horrible mistake by giving hector grapes as a snack, not very often thank god. during his training at pet smart i purchased a “kennel club” book called chihuahua: a comprehensive guide to owning and caring for your dog by barbara andrews. in the everyday care chapter of the book it states, “add to your chihuahua’s health and longevity by including fresh or raw food in his diet. even if raised on standard kibble, he can quickly learn to appreciate apples, grapes or bananas”.

i bought all of the above, including grapes, it was not until recently i discovered grapes are toxic to certain animals and can cause kidney damage or renal failure. i  did not do my homework. i took it for granted that this book was accurate and boy was i wrong. by the way, little hector is fine and has had no ill effects from the grapes.

i must say this is a wonderful site with a ton of information and beautiful photo’s. i have just begun to scratch the surface here. thanks so much for having this chihuahua website.

paul from lakewood, colorado