The smallest dog currently recognized by Guinness World Records is a Chihuahua named Pearl, who stands 9.14 cm (3.59 in) at the shoulder and lives in Orlando, Florida. Her height was verified on August 23, 2022 and announced publicly in April 2023, according to the Guinness World Records entry for shortest dog living. She is the third Chihuahua since 2007 to hold that title. This is what the record books actually document: the dates, the measurements, and the parts most often misreported.
Pearl, 3.59 inches, measured with a wicket
Pearl was born on September 1, 2020 and weighed less than an ounce at birth, Guinness reported. At verification she measured 9.14 cm (3.59 in) tall, 12.7 cm (5 in) from nose to tail, and 553 g (1.22 lb). Her height was taken at Crystal Creek Animal Hospital in Orlando by her veterinarian, Dr. Giovanni Vergel, using a dog measuring wicket set from the base of the front foot to the top of the withers, repeated three times, according to Guinness World Records' announcement. The procedure is the point: it separates a verified record from a photograph of a dog beside a soda can.
Her owner, Vanesa Semler, told Guinness: "We're blessed to have her. And to have this unique opportunity to break our own record and share with the world this amazing news." Semler described Pearl to NBC 6 South Florida as "a bit of a diva" who favors chicken and salmon.
The Chihuahuas who held the title first
Semler's phrase "our own record" is literal. The previous holder lived in the same household. Miracle Milly measured 9.65 cm (3.8 in) on February 21, 2013 and lived in Dorado, Puerto Rico. Born in December 2011, she weighed under an ounce and fit inside a teaspoon; her mouth was too small to nurse, so Semler fed her by eyedropper every two hours, Guinness reported in 2013. Milly died in 2020, before Pearl was born. Guinness describes Pearl as the daughter of one of Milly's identical sisters.
Before Milly, the height title belonged to Boo Boo, a long-haired Chihuahua owned by Lana Elswick in Kentucky, listed at 10.16 cm (4 in) and measured on May 12, 2007. Across those fifteen years the verified record moved by about one centimeter, roughly four tenths of an inch. At this scale, records change by millimeters, whatever a headline promises.
Length, and the record no Chihuahua holds
Height is only one category. Guinness keeps a separate length record, measured from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail bone rather than the hair. The listed holder is Heaven Sent Brandy, a Chihuahua owned by Paulette Keller in Largo, Florida, at 15.2 cm (6 in), confirmed in 2005, per Guinness World Records' history of the largest and smallest dog breeds. Guinness's page for that category lists the criteria but no current holder, so the 2005 mark is the most recent it has publicized.
The record most often attributed to the breed, though, was never a Chihuahua's. Guinness lists the smallest dog ever as a dwarf Yorkshire Terrier owned by Arthur Marples of Blackburn, UK, which stood 7.11 cm (2.8 in) at the shoulder and measured 9.5 cm (3.75 in) from nose to tail. The dog died in 1945, shortly before its second birthday, and the entry still stands. Chihuahuas dominate the living categories. They have never taken the all-time one.
The 1.54-pound puppy who never needed a certificate
Most very small Chihuahuas never go near a measuring wicket. In January 2017 the Wisconsin Humane Society adopted out the smallest dog in its history: a Chihuahua puppy named Thumbelina, who weighed 1.54 pounds. She had been surrendered to the organization's Racine campus before Thanksgiving 2016 at seven weeks old, weighing 0.64 pounds, after her family was unable to keep caring for her, ABC News reported. Angela Speed, then vice president of communications at the shelter, said Thumbelina was about half the size of a typical Chihuahua at that age and was "definitely the smallest dog ever adopted from the Wisconsin Humane Society."
She went home on January 12, 2017 with Brent and Jenny Stache of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, who already had a Chihuahua from the same shelter. "We're over the moon about our family getting a wee bit bigger today," Jenny Stache told FOX6 Milwaukee. Shelter staff estimated she would not exceed two pounds as an adult. Her life after 2017 was not publicly documented, and the shelter framed her as its own intake record, not a world one.
What extreme smallness actually costs
The records are entertaining. The market around them is a separate matter. "Teacup" is not an acknowledged size designation in any AKC-recognized breed, and the American Kennel Club warns in its guidance on finding a responsible breeder that puppies marketed that way can be susceptible to a range of health problems, starting with an inability to maintain their blood-sugar levels. That risk is not hypothetical here: Milly needed eyedropper feeding every two hours to survive her first weeks, and the same mechanism sits behind our blood sugar guide. Add the breed's own quirks, such as the skull soft spot covered in our molera explainer.
For owners of ordinary small Chihuahuas, the guidance is less dramatic. The AKC's advice for toy breeds and extra-small dogs recommends ramps or steps instead of jumps down from beds and couches, and notes that being picked up by strangers frightens small dogs and raises injury risk. Where a healthy adult should land is in our guide to how big chihuahuas get, and the timeline is in when chihuahuas stop growing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the smallest dog in the world right now?
Pearl, a Chihuahua in Orlando, Florida, at 9.14 cm (3.59 in) tall, verified on August 23, 2022. The living title is judged on height at the withers rather than weight, measured with a wicket and documented by a veterinarian. Claims of smaller dogs circulate constantly; without that measurement they stay claims.
Was the smallest dog ever a Chihuahua?
No. Guinness lists the all-time entry as a dwarf Yorkshire Terrier owned by Arthur Marples of Blackburn, UK, at 7.11 cm (2.8 in), which died in 1945. Chihuahuas hold the current height and length records, but not the historical one.
Are "teacup" Chihuahuas a separate type?
Not as a breed or a size class. The AKC states plainly that "teacup" is not an acknowledged size designation in any AKC-recognized breed. A Chihuahua under two pounds is an outlier that needs closer veterinary monitoring, not a variety you can order to specification.
Since 2007 the verified record has moved about a centimeter, and two of its three holders belonged to the same owner. The more durable story is the one from Wisconsin, where a 1.54-pound puppy nobody measured for a certificate went home to Oak Creek in January 2017 and became somebody's second Chihuahua. If a very small one turns up in your life, the document that matters is a veterinary record, not a certificate, and the adoption-side version of that math is in our guide to choosing a chihuahua rescue.
