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If you'd like to be considered as a potential owner, please contact us via the enquiry form here or text us on +64 275 127 399
Kitaco Kennels, owned by Dr Tracey Tonkin BVSc (Hons), is a New Zealand based preservation breeder of the only truly ancient dog breed - Chihuahuas. Kitaco became the first Dogs NZ Accredited Chihuahua breeder in 2015 and is the only Chihuahua breeder in NZ who is also a vet, with a special interest in canine reproduction.
Dr Tonkin is also the President of the Dominion Chihuahua Club.
Kitaco is also delighted to announce that for the 3rd year running (2021-2022-2023), we are the DogzOnline NZ Long Coat Chihuahua Breeder of the Year.
We believe all breeders should take responsibility for any dog they produce. All our dogs come with a no questions asked return policy for the dog's entire life.
We believe in science over guesswork, and that healthy dogs are more important than winning dogs.
We understand that this is the 21st Century and that old school methods of "breed lots of dogs to see what we get" have been replaced with a much better science-based understanding of diseases, genetic issues and even coat colour.
We believe breeding is not successful or ethical without understanding genetics and keeping up with the latest advancements in genetics and reproductive science.
Because of the advances in DNA profiling, we believe all breeders should be working toward eliminating conditions that cause Chihuahuas a lifetime of suffering and should never breed from affected dogs.
We believe each generation we breed should be better than the one before and that "better breeding" means "healthier breeding",
We believe that Conformation Show judging is too subjective and flawed to offer a reliable measure of a dog's quality, so while we show our dogs (if they enjoy it) and strive to have them achieve the title of "champion" it is not our reason for breeding and we will always err on the side of "healthy" over "winner".
Besides making wonderful pets, we have dogs working as therapy dogs, in the entertainnment industry, in musical theatre, working with internationally renowned acts like Piff the Magic Dragon, on TV and featured in newspapers and magazines.