# Teacup or Teapot!



## Pixie Luna (Jan 11, 2011)

Hi, Sizes of Chihuahua's seem to vary a lot..

Pixie seems very petite. Ive measured her floor to shoulder and she was 9 inches, is this quite tall?
Although im unsure what she weights, I know her parents were upto/under 3lb so the breeder said she would be small. Pixie was the only puppy her mother carried.

Would you guys say she was a small or a standard size? and if shes standard how tall/small are teacups/small Chi's considered? :shock:


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## Yoshismom (Jul 6, 2005)

First of all there is no such thing as a Teacup, this is a term used by shady breeders to get your interest in your pups. Although it could be used as a descriptive word to describe the smaller of the breed but the term is very frowned upon for the most part. It would be hard to judge Pixie on just her measurements and weight as some are not standard but very fine boned, etc... A picture would help a lot. Usually a stacked picture from the side. Keep in mind though unless you are going to show/breed it doesnt matter if they are standard or not 

Here is the British Chihuahua Club site where you can view the standard 
British Chihuahua Club


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

AKC recognizes 2 pounds-6 pounds as the standard so even if your wee one was just 2 pounds, she'd be a regular Chihuahua (all chis are in the Toy Breed category).
Mine are just a couple of ounces apart in weight but look visually VERY different since one is really lanky and tall. Weight and photo of your baby would be helpful.


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## Hichi (May 22, 2011)

Pixie UK said:


> Hi, Sizes of Chihuahua's seem to vary a lot..
> 
> Pixie seems very petite. Ive measured her floor to shoulder and she was 9 inches, is this quite tall?
> Although im unsure what she weights, I know her parents were upto/under 3lb so the breeder said she would be small. Pixie was the only puppy her mother carried.
> ...


As Michele said. Teacups are a marketing term ad not recognised by the kennel club or the breed clubs. the standard callsfor chis to be between 2-6lb 4-6lb is preferred. 

I highly doubt your puppies mum was under 3lb it makes your breeder extremely irresponsible if she was. If she was only puppy Was she born by c section?

How old is your puppy? 9 inches is the taller end really although we don't actually have a height for the standard justthat they are slightly longer thanthey are tall. She hasn't finished growing so I would say she will
Be a taller girl.


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## Pixie Luna (Jan 11, 2011)

Oh certainly, I know the term Teacup isnt official and just a term, and im not planning on breeding or showing her - after the advice on here how Chi's get on so well together, we're 'considering' the idea of getting a Chi friend for Pixie so are looking at local litters and I notice the weight or the term Teacup/Small is sometimes mentioned and I was wondering how small is small for them to be saying it.

We'd like to find a sister similar size to Pixie, as we've seen they seem to vary so much in size some seem to look a lot bigger than her, this post was as we were wondering if Pixie was considered a 'smaller' Chi etc or how to find one similar size. 
A brief attempt at weighing her resulted in 3 to 3 1/2lbs.

I will try get a photo of her standing from the side etc on here  
(Im also noticing most litters here seem to be apple dome heads - I think Pixie is a deer head, are apple heads more common?)

Yes she was born by c section I believe. We saw her mum n dad, her mum and dad were both quite small.
Pixie is 8 months old now.


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

She sounds similar in size to my girls. Ruby will be 9 months tomorrow and weighs 3.5 lbs. and Hope will be 10 months on the 29th and weighs 3.6. 
It was important to me to have them be similar in size because Hope (who we got first) was very playful and rambunctious. 
We got Ruby at 14 weeks so we had a better idea of her size. It will be hard to know as puppies. Both my girls were the same size as their littermates until about 14 weeks, then their littermates grew to now be 1lb.-1.5lbs. larger than they. 

Applehead is the breed standard but there are many deerheads here and many who prefer that look. 

I never thought that I'd have more than one dog at a time. Growing up we had chis but my parents believed that they were a one dog per household breed. I am now a HUGE advocate of 2 (or more!). For us it was the best thing we did when we added our second.


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

Oh. I'd ignore the teacup word as a descriptor given by breeders. I've seen a few breeders who have a 3 lb. 8 week old describe them as teacup. haha! Get their weight, check against the chart to at least get a ballpark. Since small=fashionable it seems that everyone is after very small dogs so they are being marketed that way. 
Even if your girl got to 6 pounds (top of the weight for breed standard), you'd still have a small dog.


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

The best way to make sure you are getting a smaller dog is to get an older puppy, like 7-8 months old or rescue an adult. Pepper was 15 oz when I rescued him and all the weight charts charted him at being 4-4 1/2 pounds as an adult. Well, he's a year old now and 5 pounds 2 oz. Still love him to death, but it's hard knowing how big there are going to be when they quit growing. And size doesn't seem to matter when it comes to playing, my 2 pound 14 oz diva Twiggy plays with 5 pound Delilah and even with a bad leg, she usually wins. lol


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## Yoshismom (Jul 6, 2005)

She is darling 

I would stay away from any breeder that uses the Teacup term. Look at parents, grandparents and also check the chart. Chart is really not accurate these days but does work for some on occasion. I would say that between the parents, grandparents and chart you may get a ballpark idea, but remember they can really surprise you to. 
You cannot go by the Teacup term as the breeders that usually use this term are usually just using it to get you to buy their Chi's and I have known plenty of 8 to 20lb Teacups. I have a friend that paid $2000.00 for a Chi that weighs 18 lbs now so be careful ;-)


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## bayoumah (Nov 30, 2010)

hi my buster is almost 1 year he weighs 6pounds he weighed 1 pound 7 ounces at 8 weeks the chart said around 5 pounds so hes alittle over but he does enjoy his refreshments like me


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## LadyJ (Aug 20, 2010)

Lavender is two years old and weighs 6 pounds. She is very slender and has longer legs. I have had a Chi that weighed 4 pounds, two that weighed 6 pounds, and one that weighed 16 pounds!!!! He had to lose down to 12 pounds, but he was just a bigger boy, very well proportioned and quite beautiful. I think everyone loves the tiny ones (me, too) because they are so cute. A 4-pound dog is very small and so is a 6-pound one. I can't imagine dealing with one that weighs 2 or 3 pounds. I would worry so much about it getting hurt. I love to see the pictures of the tinies though. Can't help loving them all!!!

Jeanette


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