Mini Foxingese

The name Mini Foxingese is a nod to this dog’s size and the names of its parent breeds: Toy Fox Terrier and the Pekingese. The Toy Fox Terrier is one of the few purebred breeds that originated in the United States. It is a robust combination of the Smooth Fox Terrier and several other small breeds including the Italian Greyhound, Toy Manchester Terrier, Miniature Pinscher, and Chihuahua. It was bred to hunt and kill small rodents in the 1900s and became very popular in farms across the country because of this skill. Eventually, Toy Fox Terriers were adopted by carnies and became common performance animals in carnivals and circuses during the 20^th century. Around this time, families also started to adopt the small breed as a house pet, and it was officially recognized by the American Kennel Club in 2003. The Mini Foxingese’s other parent breed, the Pekingese, is one of the oldest known breeds. It hails from ancient China and was named after the capital city of the country, Peking (now Beijing). The Chinese believed the Pekingese possessed spiritual powers and was the manifestation of the mythical “Foo” dog who protected its owners from evil spirits. As such, it comes as no surprise that Pekingese were adored by the elite classes in imperial China. The Chinese maintained tight control over the breed for much of its history; however, several Pekingese were smuggled out of the country in the 1860s by invading Western European forces during the Second Opium War. After the rest of the world was introduced to the Pekingese, it quickly grew in popularity – particularly in the United Kingdom and North America, where it was recognized by the AKC in 1909. Due to the presence of both parent breeds in North America since the 1900s, the Mini Foxingese is thought to have been breed sporadically for nearly a century. It has only recently been recognized as a designer breed, however – though not by the AKC.