Mary Allen
Strictly speaking, there are no mini Chihuahuas that are often advertised as teacup Chihuahuas. What is meant, however, is the same: extremely small bred Chihuahuas. As if the little one from Mexico wasn’t small enough, it absolutely has to be a mini. Some trends are difficult to understand. Especially when they are at the expense of the animal’s health.
When is the Chihuahua a Mini? Let’s take a look inside the breed standard:
There is no sizing here. Only a weight between 1 and 3 kg is specified, with 1.5 to 2.5 kg being considered ideal. Incidentally, dogs that fall outside of this framework are not allowed to be bred. Hear hear!
If you also browse through specialist literature, a size between 15-23 cm is often given.
So these are the defaults. A minimum height of 15 cm and a minimum weight of 1 kg. However, it occasionally happens that particularly tender puppies are born in a litter that remains below these minimum values.
According to the breed standard, these animals are not allowed to be bred from, but the suppliers of Teacup dogs and Mini Chihuahuas do exactly that. The result is tiny, fragile Chihuahuas that often have health problems and do not have nearly as good a life expectancy as the normal-sized breed representatives.