Xoloitzcuintli Dog Names

There are not many Xoloitzcuintli dogs that are spotlighted within pop culture. However, Disney Pixar has chosen the Xolo, as he is nicknamed by lovers of the breed, to star in their 19^th animated feature film, Coco. This film was an instant success because of its whimsy and intense computer generated colors. The characters were lovable and brought smiles to the faces of young and old. In the movie, a young boy named Miguel and his dog, a Xoloitzcuintli named Dante, travel into the Land of the Dead. Dante was initially a street dog that found a friend in Miguel. Dante was first introduced to Pixar fans in a short film called Dante. In this short animated film Dante finds himself in a lot of trouble through his mannerisms and his mouth. This animated film was used to gauge reactions of the audience to the character.

The animators at Pixar have claimed that the dogs from Disney’s Lady and the Tramp and Pixar’s Up gave them inspiration in developing Dante the Xolo. Dante’s street dog persona closely mimics that of Tramp and lends a bit of cockiness to his otherwise comical appearance. Dante is a scrappy, fun-loving mongrel that showcases the character of the Xoloitzcuintli. Xoloitzcuintli are dogs that can trace their lineage back over 3500 years and were originally used to keep evil spirits and intruders from the home. With his ancient and colorful past, animators felt that the Xoloitzcuintli was the perfect breed to use in the film as the young boy’s side kick as he travels through the Land of the Dead.

A team of researchers for Pixar began studying the Xolo by watching videos so they could have an idea of his personality and movements. The next step was to have models come into the studio so they could study the dogs in real life. Digital sculptures for Dante took about four months to complete and the actual articulation of his animation took about six months. Animators did find it challenging to fully illustrate the quirks and personality traits of the Xolo. It took some interesting and clever techniques to bring Dante to life. Conveying the hairlessness of the Xoloitzcuintli was problematic since the Xolo is not completely hairless so the animation team added hair around his ears and head giving him a scruffy appearance. The team then added wrinkles to Dante’s skin and used those wrinkles to define the cartoon aspect of the character. Rips, tears and scars were added to Dante’s ears to give credence to his street dog persona.