Meet Pearl, the World’s Shortest Dog

Lisa Selvaggio
by Lisa Selvaggio
Published:  September 15th, 2023

Good things come in small packages, and that’s certainly the case when it comes to a tiny dog named Pearl. Irresistibly cute, she’s a 3-year-old Chihuahua who was born on September 1, 2020 and named the world’s shortest dog by Guinness World Records in 2023. Here’s a bit of information about her and what makes her so special.

Connie Sinteur/Shutterstock

Exactly How Small is Pearl the Dog?


Sure, chihuahuas are known for their small stature, but pint-sized Pearl is a mere 3.59 inches tall and 5 inches long.


As you’d expect, this itty-bitty canine doesn’t weigh much either. When she was born, she was less than one ounce (can you imagine?!), and she grew to weigh just 1.22 pounds.  


When she’s next to certain everyday items, like a remote control, shoe, or plastic tumbler, Pearl is smaller or about the same size, and she’s even roughly the same length as a U.S. dollar bill –you can find videos and photos online to see just how little she is compared to those objects.


Pearl Is Related to Miracle Milly


Pearl isn’t the only super small dog in her family. She’s related to Miracle Milly, who used to hold the title of world’s shortest dog, at 3.8 inches tall.


More specifically, Pearl’s mother was Milly’s sister, so Milly was her aunt. Unfortunately, Milly died in 2020, which is the same year that Pearl was born.   


A Dog Who Doesn’t Mind Dressing Up and Being in the Spotlight


Vanesa Semler is Pearl’s owner, and was also Milly’s owner. She has described Pearl as somewhat of a diva who likes to be dressed up and prefers eating high-quality foods. And this one-of-a-kind dog also likes listening to classical music and watching television.


A little pooch with a big personality, Pearl doesn’t mind being the center of attention. She’s been on stage in front of an audience for a TV show in Milan, Italy, and Vanesa even went shopping with her teeny dog while exploring the city.


Pearl shares her home with three other dogs. Calm, playful, and fun loving, she definitely captures the attention and adoration of anyone she meets. See for yourself in the video below, but be prepared, as you might experience some cute aggression from this teeny dog who will always be the size of a puppy:

WOW
Lisa Selvaggio
Lisa Selvaggio

Lisa Selvaggio is a freelance writer and editor, and our resident cats-pert, with certifications in pet nutrition and pet first aid. She enjoys producing content that helps people understand animals better so they can give their pets a safe and happy home.

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Depression, anxiety, and an inability to cope may cause unusual behaviors in your pet.

Handsome Rescue Cat Hamlet Runs His Own Hotel

Move over, Fido! Who needs a guard dog when you have a feline overseeing the place? At least, that’s how the owners and employees of New York City’s Algonquin Hotel seem to believe…Since the 1930s, the hotel lobby has been carefully supervised by a one-of-a-kind employee. But don’t let his small size fool you – the Algonquin Cat, as they are lovingly called, is an important fixture of the hotel with a long history that most are unaware of.The tradition began when the hotel’s owner, Frank Case, welcomed a stray orange tabby cat named Billy into the hotel. It wasn’t long before Billy could be seen walking the hotel’s elegant halls with his head (and tail) held high. Before long, he was renamed Hamlet (a more literary name suitable for a cat with such big responsibilities), and a legend was born.Since that day, the hotel has never been without a feline greeter. All boy cats that serve in this role are orange tabbies named Hamlet while all girl cats are ragdolls named Matilda. The best part? In honor of the first Hamlet’s origin story, all the hotel’s resident cats are rescues.Today, Hamlet the 8th continues to rule the hotel lobby, an incredible step up from the feral cat colony he once called home.When he’s not working, Hamlet is pampered with daily brushing, fashion show benefits, birthday parties, and other perks. Plus, of course, the steady stream of attention that he receives from the many cat lovers who come to see the hardworking kitty.Just a couple of years ago, the hotel underwent a refresh. The oldest continuously operating hotel in the city was starting to look a little worn. In addition to focusing on maintaining the historic architecture and feel of the hotel, the redesign also focused on finding new ways to accommodate Hamlet VIII and the many cats that will follow in his paw prints.A small cat house was installed by the reception desk. “The idea is, hopefully, he likes it in there so the guests can see him when they first walk in, but he also feels safe,” explained Sara Duffy, a principal at the architecture and interior design firm Stonehill Taylor who carried out the hotel’s refresh.The cat-friendly accommodations didn’t end there. A bookshelf in the hotel’s lounge features cat-friendly nooks and ladders, allowing him to easily move around the room while visiting with various guests. A daybed by the window creates the perfect place for Hamlet VIII to relax and soak up the sun’s rays.“He likes to be up high and look down, to observe but not be pet all the time. But sometimes he likes to come down and participate,” said Duffy when asked about the lounge’s design features.If you’re interested in visiting Hamlet VIII while in New York, the Algonquin Hotel is located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues at 59 West 44th Street. Or you can read more about these legendary cats in the book Matilda, the Algonquin Cat.Join the PetGuide community. Get the latest pet news and product recommendations by subscribing to our newsletter here.

Study Finds Pet Pigs Don't Bond with Their Humans Like Dogs

Have you always dreamt of bringing a pet pig into your home? Have you seen any adorable social media videos of cute companion pigs behaving like dogs as they interact with their people? A recent study published in Scientific Reports reveals that these videos may be misleading. Comparing the behaviors of companion pigs and dogs, the researchers discovered that the two species respond with noticeably different behavior patterns when interacting with people, including their owner and a stranger. Most importantly, they found that pet pigs don’t develop the special pet-owner attachment with their humans that we see in dogs. The findings are significant when you consider the role that pets play in society today. Once seen as valuable for their work in farming, protection, and other tangible roles, most pets today are kept instead solely for companionship.

Study Finds That Dogs Can Have Upsetting Reactions to Humans Crying

There is no dog owner out there who hasn’t wondered at one point in time: “Can my dog understand my emotions?” While this question has been around for ages, the latest scientific studies reveal that your pet dog can get stressed out when you are sad and cry.The study included both dogs and pet pigs, both of whom were discovered to be able to tell the difference between humans humming and vocally crying. The dogs especially were seen to get more stressed out by the crying, more so than the pigs, according to a new scientific paper in the journal Animal Behavior.This is a breakthrough study, indicating that during the early domestication process, dogs evolved specifically to have a greater understanding of human emotions. Previously, it was also found that dogs were capable of something called “emotional contagion”, meaning that they align their emotional states with that of their owners.  "We were curious whether the emotional contagion observed between dogs and humans was related to the well-conserved acoustic structure of some emotional vocalizations across species, or if it was promoted by the dogs' specific selection for cooperation and dependency on humans," study author Fanni Lehoczki, an animal behavior researcher at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, said in a statement.To investigate if the stress responses were universal across intelligent pet animals or specific to just domesticated dogs, the research team compared the reactions of both companion pigs and pet dogs to the sounds of humans either humming or crying. The humming sounds were non-negative but still strange sounds while crying was distinctly emotionally negative."For collecting this data we used a so-called 'citizen science approach'," co-author Paula Pérez Fraga, also a researcher at Eötvös Loránd University, added. "The animals were tested remotely at their homes by their owners, facilitating the inclusion of more subjects in the study from various locations worldwide."Interestingly, it was revealed that the pigs were much more stressed when hearing the humming, while dogs reacted stressed to the sound of humans crying."Our study revealed a remarkable difference between dogs' and pigs' reactions to human sounds: dogs exhibited more stress responses and vocalizations to the crying, whereas pigs exhibited fewer stress responses and vocalizations to the crying," it was announced in the study. "To our knowledge, this is the first study comparing the behavioral reactions to human emotional vocalizations of two social domestic species kept as companion animals."The reason for this could be that dogs were domesticated over thousands of years, and there was a strong “selection pressure” for them to cooperate with humans and understand their emotions. And the fact that the dogs were stressed by the sounds of humans crying, definitely indicates that they have the so-called “emotional contagion” from humans. "While we cannot exclude that pigs also experienced emotional contagion when listening to human crying, one explanation for their reaction might be that humming is highly unusual and surprising sounds stress out pigs more than human sadness. On the other hand, one thing is clear, dogs seem to be specially keen on catching the emotional content of differently valenced human vocalizations, even of the more unusual ones," Pérez Fraga added. "Therefore, selection for cooperation with humans might be key in promoting human-sound induced emotional contagion in domestic animals. However, to confirm this suggestion further research is needed involving physiological measurements."

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