World's smallest dog?

That's a dog?  Looked more rodent like to me( Rat with a fancy fur coat!)

I would hate to be the vet that had to perform surgery on him if he needed it. 

Whoa! that's a dog?

Sheesh!! That's just crazy!! Cute little thing though!

Oh wow what a little tiny dog that is and to think that Chilli weighs more then that dog.  Still a cutie pie though

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Rodents are meant to be less than one pound, not dogs...not even Chihuahuas.

 
Heck, most of my male rats weigh over a pound...it's hard to imagine that my male rats are larger than that dog. [&o]
 
 

 Looked more rodent like to me( Rat with a fancy fur coat!)

 
You mean like this one? Maulie has a pretty fancy coat. [sm=biggrin.gif]

 
But really, it IS scary that that dog is so small. I can't even imagine the health problems it must have. And with Pepito, who is big for a chihuahua...I worry about stepping on/injuring him all the time. I can;t even IMAGINE having a dog that small. []

Ratsicles, I love that rat!  Is it supposed to be one of those hairless ones?  I've seen white ones like that and I wanted one sooo bad but hubby said no.[&o] Sniff.  They are totally awesome though!

From what the lady said in the interview it was a fluke, not something he was bred for, his sister is normal size so it ccould be a form of dwarfism, or just from the mother not getting the proper nutrience, it is cute though.

WOW that's a small dog. In the article it says that he stays in a playpen at home because a fall of the couch could kill him and he has to be kept away from their other animals. I'm sure too that he can never be underfoot. They also have to feed him every 3-4 hours because of hypoglycemia. I can't imagine having to be sooo careful with a dog; I would always be terrified of him getting hurt.

Ratsicles, I love that rat!  Is it supposed to be one of those hairless ones?  I've seen white ones like that and I wanted one sooo bad but hubby said no.[&o] Sniff.  They are totally awesome though!

 
Maulie was a Double Rex. [] It's genetically unrelated to hairlessness, it simply occurs when a rat gets two copies of the rex gene (both parents are rex). It results in rats with very tightly curled hair, with bald patches that molt and change constantly. There are varying degrees of hairlessness in double rex rats- from rats with just a very tightly curled coat to ones that are almost completely hairless- but true, genetic hairlessness is caused by a different set of genes than double rex. Which causes alot of confusion for some people, who think they have hairlesses when actually they have an extreme double rex...and vice versa. Most of the "hairless" rats you see in pet stores are genetically double rexes, since there are lactation issues in most lines of true hairless and the crappy mills and BYBs that breed them wouldn't know how to deal with that anyway.
 
But yeah, they're pretty neat. I've had a few true hairlesses too, but I won't derail the thread further with more pictures.[] They're definitely neat rats, but require some special care.
 
 
But anyway, I'm glad to hear that dog was not intentionally bred to be so small. I hope they reconsider the breeding of that line if that type of overly small puppy pops up again in a future breeding...

To me this in a very touching story.
 
The owner took in an emaciated, abandoned pregnant dog and took care of her. The Chi gave birth to one normal pup and a smaller pup that vets suggested she euthanize. Instead of euthanizing the dog because it might have future health problems, she has re-arranged her life to take care of this fragile dog.
 
The owner is aware that the dog has special needs and is willing to take care of the dog and pay the vet bills.
[sm=clapping%20hands%20smiley.gif]Good for her.
 
I just hope this doesn't encourage more idiots to breed for the super-small dog.

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ORIGINAL: polarexpress

To me this in a very touching story.

The owner took in an emaciated, abandoned pregnant dog and took care of her. The Chi gave birth to one normal pup and a smaller pup that vets suggested she euthanize. Instead of euthanizing the dog because it might have future health problems, she has re-arranged her life to take care of this fragile dog.

The owner is aware that the dog has special needs and is willing to take care of the dog and pay the vet bills.
[sm=clapping%20hands%20smiley.gif]Good for her.

I just hope this doesn't encourage more idiots to breed for the super-small dog.

 
That's what I think too!  People need to read the story.  The dog wasn't bred on purpose by this lady.  The mom was a stray and instead of euthanizing the little guy, she gave him a chance.  I think that's great of her.
 
And I think he's cute.