Meet the world’s SHORTEST dog! Chihuahua claims the record – standing at just 3.59 INCHES tall

Meet the World’s Smallest Living Dog; Pearl, a chihuahua who is only 9.14 cm tall.

The two-year-old pooch is just 12.7cm tall – less than a £20 note – and weighs 553g.

She was presented on Sunday on the set of ‘Lo Show Dei Record’, an Italian television program in which Guinness World Record holders are in the spotlight.

However, she was formally recognized as the world’s smallest dog in August 2022, after it was confirmed that she was smaller than the previous record holder, Milly.

Milly was also a Chihuahua, measuring 3.80 inches (9.65 cm), and happened to be Pearl’s aunt.

She held the record from February 2013 until her death in 2020, but 49 clones of her were made in that time.

Pearl was born in Orlando on September 1, 2020 and weighed less than 28 grams.

She still lives there with her loving owner Vanesa Semler.

The tiny pup is now nearly seven times smaller than the world’s shortest-lived female, Jyoti Amge, and nearly eight times smaller than the shortest-lived male, Edward Niño.

To verify her height, she was measured three times in a row using a dog measuring port by a vet at Crystal Creek Animal Hospital.

In between measurements, she was described as “active,” sauntering around the dog puddle.

This was taken from the base of the front left foot to the ridge between the shoulder blades.

On “Lo Show Dei Record,” Pearl was taken on stage in a basket shaped like an Easter egg.

Ms. Semler told host Gerry Scotti that she has expensive taste, enjoys high-quality chicken and salmon for dinner, and likes to “dress up nicely.”

She also takes Pearl on shopping trips and has an unusually calm disposition.

A recent study found that short-snouted small dogs, such as pugs, bulldogs, and shih tzus, are the most misbehaved breeds.

Ms. Semler said, “We are blessed with her and this unique opportunity to break our own record and share this great news with the world.”

The Chihuahua breed was first noticed in the mid-19th century, named after the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

It is thought to have originated in Mexico and was selectively bred by indigenous people over a thousand years ago to be companion dogs.

Their small size, which is usually about 5 to 8 inches (13 to 20 cm), made them easy to carry, but they also have a distinctively rounded head and short snout.

Chihuahuas were introduced to the United States in the late 1800s and became popular among the wealthy as a fashionable accessory.

But the breed doesn’t claim the title of smallest dog that ever lived, as that was a dwarf Yorkshire terrier named Sylvia, who stood 2.8 inches (7.11 cm) tall.

At the other end of the scale, in 2011, a Great Dane named Zeus stomped his way to claim the title of “tallest dog ever.”

The giant dog stood 44 inches (1.1 m) at the shoulder and 7 feet 4 inches (2.23 m) when it stood on its hind legs.

He broke the previous record held by another Great Dane named Giant George by an inch.

Owner Denise Doorlag, who lived in Otsego, Michigan, USA, said Zeus was so big that small children thought he was a horse.

‘We [would] often get, “Hey, do you have a saddle for that horse?” or “Is that a dog or is that a pony?” some people are just floored. It was very funny.’

The huge dog weighed 70 kg and chewed through 14 kg of dog food every day.

Sadly, Zeus passed away just after his sixth birthday in 2014, but his name is still in the Guinness Book of World Records as no dog has beaten him vertically.

Last year, however, another Dane was awarded the record for the world’s longest living male, and he was also named Zeus.

He measures a whopping 3 feet 5.18 inches (1.05 m) and lives in Bedford, Texas, USA with his owner Brittany Davis.

She says it’s expensive to feed such a large dog, while Zeus consumes twelve cups of “Gentle Giants” large breed dog food in the morning and another six in the afternoon to fuel his “zoomies.”