(Janice Carson of Krystal Xolo)
Nancy Gordon's fibromyalgia pain had haunted her for years, forcing her to quit her job and sending her into depression. She's found salvation, however, in the form of two primitive jungle creatures with magical healing powers.
Or so the Aztec legend goes.
Gordon's creatures are rare and ancient Mexican hairless dogs, known as the Xoloitzcuintli (pronounced "show-low-its-queent-lee"). The breed, considered the oldest in the Americas, was revered by the Aztecs, who believed the dogs could protect people and heal their pain.
It's a myth that our modern age has debunked. But while this naked canine is anything but ordinary, some owners continue to claim their Xolos' charms extend to a spiritual level.
"They are an amazing, rare breed," says Gordon. "I do believe they are special; I do believe that you don't get the same effect from any old breed. … They're highly intuitive."
The dogs help ease her physical pain by acting as living water bottles, draping their permanently toasty bodies around Gordon's neck when she drives in her car or goes to the movies.
She swears that Toaster, a coated Xolo (roughly half of Xolo puppies are born with fur), and Toaster's hairless daughter, Pink, turned her life around.
"It's night and day in a lot of ways. I was basically pretty much bedridden and house ridden," says Gordon. The dogs "help me get out and move more comfortably. They've helped with my depression tremendously."
The ancient Aztecs certainly seemed to feel the same way. They believed the dogs were gifts from the gods, with the power to heal people's' illnesses.
This legend continued beyond the Aztec era. "Dogs That Changed the World," a PBS Nature show, visited a rural village in Mexico, where an old woman demonstrated how she applies Xolo puppies to her arthritic joints.
"If you go back and read these old dog books, they say, If you take the dog to bed with you for three nights, the disease will go from you to the dog," says Amy Fernandez, president of the Xolo Club of America.
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