# What do you get when you cross a wolf and a chihuahua? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 9, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856 "2010-03-09T15:25:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/1 "2010-03-09T15:25:55Z")
No, this isn’t a joke (though I’m sure the smart-alecs of the Dope will be submitting punchlines shortly). A wolf and a toy dog are technically the same species, right? So if you were to crossbreed a wolf and a chihuahua (I assume artificial insemination would be involved), what sort of weird hybrid would you get. Have any bored scientists actually done this? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/2 "2010-03-09T15:30:38Z")
Following the traditional naming convention, a male wolf crossing a female chihuahua would produce a wihuahua, although that might not be viable due to size. A male chihuahua crossing a female wolf would produce a cholf (pronounced “Chulf”). (In defense of the “no joke first replies in GQ”, I’m not making up this naming tradition, even if it has never been applied in this particular instance!) I have no idea what they’d look like, though. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/3 "2010-03-09T15:32:01Z")
How about a medium to smallish dog that would vaguely resemble its parents? What else would you expect to happen? ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/4 "2010-03-09T15:43:08Z")
Well, a Shepard-Corgi cross is pretty freaky looking, and that’s two breeds of domestic dog. Chihuahuas are even further away in genes and size from wolves. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/5 "2010-03-09T15:58:31Z")
My grandmother had a dog. His mother was a chihuahua. We have no idea what his father was. He grew to the size and shape of a sled dog, but with slightly shorter legs. When his fur was long, he looked like a husky or a malemute. When Mom had his fur shaved one summer, he looked like a gigantic chihuahua. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/6 "2010-03-09T16:00:27Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > A wolf and a toy dog are technically the same species, right? Two different species–the wolf is _canis lupus_ and the domestic dog is _canis familiaris_. I have heard of cross-breeding, but I don’t know they produce fertile offspring. Ed: Once someone bred a male chihuahua with a female wolf. Johnny: How did they manage it? Ed: Someone put him up to it. [rim shot] ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/7 "2010-03-09T16:08:43Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Two different species–the wolf is _canis lupus_ and the domestic dog is _canis familiaris_. I have heard of cross-breeding, but I don’t know they produce fertile offspring. Not according to modern conventions. Nowadays the tendency is to classify domestic breeds under the species name of their wild ancestors, so that dogs are considered a form of _Canis lupus_. Domestic dogs and wolves are fully interfertile. In fact, all species in the genus _Canis_, including dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals, are capable of producing fully interfertile hybrids in captivity. What a wolf/chihuahua hybrid would look like would depend on which genetic alleles found in the two forms are dominant. Often the “wild-type” ancestral alleles are dominant over the alleles found in artificial breeds, so that it might be expected that a hybrid would be closer to a wolf than a chihuahua. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/8 "2010-03-09T16:12:15Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Ed: Once someone bred a male chihuahua with a female wolf. > Johnny: How did they manage it? > Ed: Someone put him up to it. [rim shot] I think you got the names reversed – Ed was the straight man! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/9 "2010-03-09T16:18:53Z")
“Grandma, what big eyes you have” or A wolf that shakes. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/10 "2010-03-09T16:31:39Z")
I have read that when you try to breed a large dog with small dog say a great dane and chihuahua, the developing embryo usually aborts itself if size becomes an issue ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/11 "2010-03-09T16:47:28Z")
I’m not sure what you’d get, but I’m imagining a pack of them yipping madly as it takes down a moose. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/12 "2010-03-09T16:50:56Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Two different species–the wolf is _canis lupus_ and the domestic dog is _canis familiaris_. I have heard of cross-breeding, but I don’t know they produce fertile offspring. It’s quite common. See [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canid_hybrid#Wolf-dog_hybrid). They are the same species, different subspecies. > [@mbh](#): > > My grandmother had a dog. His mother was a chihuahua. We have no idea what his father was. He grew to the size and shape of a sled dog, but with slightly shorter legs. When his fur was long, he looked like a husky or a malemute. When Mom had his fur shaved one summer, he looked like **a gigantic chihuahua**. (Bolding mine)This is the most frightening thing I’ve read on this site. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/13 "2010-03-09T16:51:10Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Two different species–the wolf is _canis lupus_ and the domestic dog is _canis familiaris_. I have heard of cross-breeding, but I don’t know they produce fertile offspring. Further to what \*\*Colibri \*\*said, the timescale just isn’t there to support non-fertile offspring. The earliest date I’ve seen for dog domestication is about 100k years ago, but the more commonly accepted date is about 15k years ago. Neither of those dates is remotely long enough for a population of large mammals to become unable to breed successfully. Plus, it is highly unlikely that dogs and wolves were maintained as separate breeding populations for all of that time anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/14 "2010-03-09T17:12:45Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > They are the same species, different subspecies. Not even that, according to modern convention. While dogs are often referred to as _Canis lupus familiaris_ for convenience, they don’t really fit the modern concept of a subspecies, which is a distinctive population confined to a particular geographical area. They are just the domestic variety of _Canis lupus._ ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/15 "2010-03-09T17:25:14Z")
What do you get when you cross a wolf and chihuahua? A painful chihuahua. Okay, seriously, first you’d have to have a really horny wolf otherwise it might decide the chihuahua is food not friend. If the chihuahua is the female and it survives the mating (you can always use artificial insemination) it will probably be unable to give birth, heck they have trouble when bred with other chihuahuas. If the chihuahua is the male then he will probably need some help with the mating or the female wolf should be asleep so she won’t notice. I’ve seen several dogs that people claim are crosses between a large breed and a chihuahua, usually they look more like the large breed but a little smaller. I don’t think a cross that has really odd features, like large breed’s head on a chihuahua body, would be viable. One final note on breeding dogs, crosses between two purebreds do not always produce a standard looking dog. In one litter you could have some pups that resemble one parent or the other and some that look like a cross between the two and some that look entirely different. It takes several generations to produce a new breed that will have a standard look for all dogs of that breed ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/16 "2010-03-09T17:55:02Z")
A chupacubara? ---
**Author:** ![cgg419](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cgg419/32/2847_2.png) [@cgg419](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cgg419)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/17 "2010-03-09T18:13:23Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Well, a Shepard-Corgi cross is pretty freaky looking, and that’s two breeds of domestic dog. Chihuahuas are even further away in genes and size from wolves. Will a Corgi screw anything? My sister has a Rottweiler-Corgi cross [Ozzy](http://img697.imageshack.us/i/ozzyz.jpg/) ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/18 "2010-03-09T19:51:27Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Well, a Shepard-Corgi cross is pretty freaky looking You think [this little guy](http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdb206/sets/72157622773681734/) is freaky looking? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/19 "2010-03-09T21:08:36Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I have read that when you try to breed a large dog with small dog say a great dane and chihuahua, the developing embryo usually aborts itself if size becomes an issue However, with a enough dollars couldn’t on effect in vitro fertilization and use a surrogate bitch? ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856/20 "2010-03-09T21:17:50Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > surrogate bitch That would make a great band name. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-a-wolf-and-a-chihuahua/531856.md?page=2)