Why does my dog only have four toes on his back legs?

I have a male chihuahua. My sister has 1 male & 1 female. I was clipping their nails one day and noticed both males have only four toes on their back legs and the female has five. I was just curious. Anyone know why?

Well, here's one thought...

Four toes is normal. The fifth toe, actually the first digit, is no longer functional, and if it is present is called the "dewclaw." The first digit is the equivalent of our thumb, and through evolution, the first digit of the dog virtually disappeared.

Sometimes dogs are born with the dewclaw, but owners will often have them removed when the pups are still quite young. This isn't quite the same as declawing a cat... the dewclaw most of the time isn't attached to the leg and can be snipped off without much or any bleeding and leaving virtually no open wound.

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A Bird With a Dinosaur Toe?

More Evidence That Birds Descended From Raptors

An artist’s conception of Rahona ostromi. This early bird, which lived 65 million to 70 million years ago, retained many dinosaur-like features

March 17 — On the island of Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa, scientists have uncovered another clue pointing to the evolution of birds from dinosaurs—a primitive bird that retained the slashing second toe of a velociraptor.
Most paleontologists have accepted the idea that birds have evolved from a group of dinosaurs known as theropods, which included the rapacious velociraptor of Jurassic Park fame. The raven-size fossil dates from 65 million to 70 million years ago, to the waning era of dinosaurs.
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Still looking for more toes...

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