Chihuahua Named by Guinness World Records as Shortest Dog: ‘Bit of a Diva’

A Chihuahua measuring under four inches in height has been named by Guinness World Records as the world’s shortest dog alive.

Guinness World Records announced Pearl, a two-year-old Chihuahua, is officially the shortest living dog in the world, measuring just 3.59 inches in height and five inches in length.

Guinness World Records noted that Pearl’s small stature seems to run in the family, given that the new world record holder is a collateral descendent of a previous world record holder, Miracle Milly, whose sister is Pearl’s mother.

Both dogs weigh less than 28 grams at their birth, per Guinness World Records.

“We’re blessed to have her,” Pearl’s owner, Vanesa Semler, told Guinness World Records. “And to have this unique opportunity to break our own record and share with the world this amazing news.”

She also described Pearl as “a bit of a diva” on the Italian television show Lo Show Dei Record.

Guinness World Records noted that the measurements that led to Pearl’s record were taken at the Crystal Creek Animal Hospital in Orlando, Florida, where she was born in 2020.

People magazine noted that while Pearl is the shortest living dog, a dwarf Yorkshire terrier from the U.K., which died in 1945, measured 2.8 inches in height and 3.75 inches in length.

In November, as the AFP noted, a 30-year-old Portuguese livestock dog named Bobi was recognized by Guinness World Records for having reached the oldest age ever recorded in a dog, having been born in central Portugal in 1992.

In 2016, as UPI noted, a skateboarding cat was added to Guinness World Records for performing 20 tricks in a minute. The cat’s owner, Robert Dollwet, said he trained the cat “using a specific positive ‘methodology’ similar to the way marine animals are taught” to perform skateboard tricks on command.