long coat or smooth coat?

Question
I bought a chihuahua from a ckc registered breeder in dec.  he was 10 weeks old and was sold to me as a long haired chi.   Now that he is a little older I'm trying to figure out if he is truly long hair or short.  His ears and the back of his legs are the only thing left with long hair.  The hair on his back is not as short as my mom's short hair chi.'s but it's not long either.  I used to have a long hair a long time ago since ckc doesn't recognize a medium coat, what is he really?   My friend thinks that maybe one parent was short hair and one parent was long and he is the result. either way I don't care I love him anyway,but i'm tired of people asking and me not having any idea what to tell them.  Can u help me please!

Answer
Ladonna-

If he has any feathering at all, he's considered a long coat. Bad breeding can result in the thin coat that you are seeing, or it could also be that he is just stripping out of his puppy coat and growing into his adult coat, in which case his fur will start coming in a little thicker around 12 months of age. Puppies typically grow into their coat :)Either way he is a long coat, but he probably has a weak or thin coat.

For future refference, CKC is not exactly a reputable kennel registry, as it has no guidelines, allows the registration of mixed breeds, and allows the registration of dogs with no proven background. In fact, in one of the classes I teach, as a demonstration I registered two stuffed (plush toys) animals with the CKC. All I had to do was send in a form and $20 for each of them, and my two stuffed golden retrievers were registered with CKC. They then "had puppies" and I was sent CKC paperwork for each of the imaginary puppies. The next year I went to our local shelter and took pictures of 5 different mutts, sent their pictures and the forms in to CKC and they were also, all of them, granted CKC paperwork, although they were just pound dogs.

While AKC paperwork does not necessarily mean a well bred dog (plenty of backyard breeders use AKC) it is harder. AKC requires DNA testing and genetic research on dogs that are bred so many times a year, they do not allow puppy mills (CKC does) they do not allow the registry of mixed breeds, they MUST come from AKC parents or from reputable kennel registries across the sea (they do not accept CKC paperwork) etc. So you would be much better off getting an AKC registered dog in the future (OR RESCUING) and EVEN BETTER from a reputable show breeder who does all the correct genetic testing and breeds discriminatly. You may spend a few more dollars on the dog, but in the end, you will spend a LOT LESS at the vets.

Anyway, sorry to get off topic :) Enjoy your new puppy!