What is a Teacup Dog?
In the United States, The American Kennel Club (AKC) recognizes 21 canine Toy breeds, or breeds of diminutive stature. The term “teacup dog” is not a breed, but slang for an undersized dog from one of these groups, most commonly the Chihuahua. Teacup dogs are small enough to fit in a teacup, giving rise to the name. Often the term is used loosely to drive up the price of a puppy, as some people find the extremely small size desirable. In reality, “teacup dogs” often have special medical needs, health issues, and tend to have shorter lifespans than their normal-sized brothers and sisters.
Well, actually it’s more of a marketing term or gimmick. Some breeders or retailers use this term to indicate an individual of extremely tiny size, most often 1-4 pounds as adults. Typically it’s in association with breeds such as Maltese, Poodles, Yorkies, and other toy breeds. The American Hairless Terrier is also a victim of this ploy. There is NO official ‘teacup’ size…these are indeed TOY breeds (the AHT is actually a terrier) but they are not TEACUP breeds, and none of the standards provide for such a ‘variety’. So do ‘teacup’ dogs even exist? Of course they do. For one reason or another very small individuals do occur in any breed. Though even these individuals face many of the problems of tiny dogs, the problems become worse when these tinies are then bred to each other. NO reputable breeder will deliberately breed exceptionally tiny individuals. Size Guarantees and how to they get those tiny dogs? There aren’t any perfect guarantees. Period. Size is determined by a number of
