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Originally Posted by MorganGrayson
I got a book on Chihuahuas, but it didn't say what inspired the Aztecs to breed them that size. For all I know, it could have been the size of the roasting pan. You know those crazy Aztecs. 
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My darling Morgan,
I would not be worthy of being your bitch if I couldn't fill your day with useless, though interesting, Chihuahua trivia.
From
http://www.canismajor.com/dog/chihua.html
The Chihuahua takes its name from the Mexican state abutting west Texas and New Mexico, but likely came from the ancient Techichi dogs of the Toltecs crossed with hairless dogs from the Orient. Historians describe the Techichi as a heavy-boned small dog with a long coat indigenous to Central America and definitely connected to the Toltec civilization near present-day Mexico City. The Techichi was larger than the modern Chihuahua and was mute.
The Aztecs conquered the Toltecs and adopted the little dogs as sacred icons of the upper classes, used in religious ceremonies to expiate sins and as guides for the spirits of the dead. Somewhere along the way, breed historian K. deBlinde* concluded, the Techichi was crossed with an Oriental hairless breed that made its way to the New World via the Bering Strait land bridge and the smaller, smooth-coated, vocal Chihuahua of today was born.