Sculptures of dogs were common companions of the dead in shaft and chamber tombs, where they played important religious roles. The repertoire of their figures is extensive, particularly with regard to postures and attitudes, not so in the representations of races. Regarding the latter we observe that the artists did not necessarily intend to represent biotypes; they may even display fantastic elements, but they are still outstanding artistic testimonies of Pre-Columbian fauna. Most features of the work we see correspond to the famous and somewhat strange Mexican hairless dog known as Xoloitzcuintle.
Four breeds of dogs existed in ancient Mexico. According to biologists Raul Valadez, Alicia Blanco and Bernardo Rodriguez, the most abundant was one of medium height, with a slender body, long head and mottled fur of various colors; one similar to the previous one is identified in the Maya region, only with a short face; another one also similar to the first but with short legs is associated with Western and Central Mesoamerica; the fourth race is the only one with a variety that is hairless or has virtually no fur, the Xoloitzcuintle. Just like the common dog, it is of medium size, and perhaps had a skull with a slightly narrower and shorter snout. The absence of fur was due to a genetic abnormality.
The Xoloitzcuintle comes in a second variety with short and straight hair. Both are still prevalent today; the hairless dogs are thin, smooth and wrinkled, and their bones may even stand out. In the case of our sculpture, the multiple linear markings on the head and neck, as well as some on the body, have wrinkles and allow us to identify it as a “Xolo”. The concave, pointed and raised ears, elongated or dolichocephalic skull, the broad chest, the height of the limbs and the dimensions of the rest of the body also coincide; a medium size, strong, muscular dog was decidedly modeled, one with a youthful appearance.
The artists emphasized the lack of hair through protrusions that indicate bones, without that implying anatomical precision: the three bulges on the chest correspond to the sternum and the four on the back to spinal vertebrae. In the view of the back the pelvis stands out like a pair of curved projections; the incised lines on the body that touch the conical protrusions indicate ribs. One of the most striking features is the open mouth that lets us see the teeth, with large canines or fangs, giving the face an aggressive attitude. In contrast to the configuration of the rest of the animal that corresponds to the hairless Xoloitzcuintle, the teeth indicate a dog of another race or one of the same Xoloitzcuintle variety with fur, whose teeth are complete; I am inclined towards the latter possibility.
The hairless dogs have fewer and smaller teeth: in general they appear to be spaced apart since they lack canines and premolars. Only the young have all their teeth; however, the work we linger before shows an adult dog. The "abnormal" teeth of this one, on the other hand, an accentuated hairless Xolointzcuintle, demonstrate that the ultimate goal was not to represent races, but that the artists created a reality that seems natural and is consistent with the cultural concept of the dog and the purposes that this work of burial art would meet.
In principle it can be deduced that the sculpture of this strong, aggressive and alert dog provides an effective and vigilant protector of the deceased in the shaft tomb. Above all, I think that the intention was there to synthesize the two varieties of Xoloitzcuintle in a single figure and thus express the duality of the race which shows the symbolic values of a Mesoamerican deity represented as a dog: Xolotl. Among the Mexica, Xolotl is the twin or fraternal brother of Quetzalcoatl, and also the god of plants and animals that grow in pairs; among its better known attributes is that of guiding the dead on their journey through the underworld.
