Toy dog breeds

All you need to know about very small dogs

Looking for toy dog breeds? Here are descriptions and useful facts about tiny dogs from around the world - all to help to make the task of choosing a dog breed easier.

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Toy breeds are among the most popular dogs in the world. They combine the advantages of all small dogs (less food, less exercise, less space required and easy to carry) but take those one step further - some are small enough to fit into a handbag!

If you decide you would like a dog a little larger, but still small, check our Small Dog Breeds page for more breeds to choose from. Or, if you would like something larger, try Medium Sized Dogs and Large Dog Breeds.

On this page:

Definition of a toy dog

List of toy dog breeds

Definition of a toy dog

Toy dog breeds are generally held to be no more than 30 cm (12 inches) at the shoulder. Most kennel councils and clubs around the world have an official group called 'Toy' to includes these breeds.

There's no hard and fast rule, though. The list of dog breeds below comes from the registered breeds in the Toy group of the American Kennel Council, the Australian National Kennel Council and The Kennel Club (UK).

The different councils and clubs mostly include the same breeds in the Toy group but there are differences. For example, the Shih Tzu is a Toy breed in America but falls into the Non-Sporting group in Australia and the Utility group in the UK! Toy dog breeds - chihuahua

Many Toy dogs were bred for no other purpose than to be companions. They are often lap dogs - quite literally, they can curl up on your lap - and they love being inside with their human companions.

But some are simply smaller breeds of hunting or sporting dogs and retain many of those characteristics.

Although these little dogs are called 'toys', that does not mean they are playthings! Some can be particularly delicate and children should be supervised when with them as the dogs can be injured in rough play. But other 'toy' dogs can be quite feisty and capable of standing up for themselves!

Health issues

Some toy dog breeds can have health problems associated with their tiny size. For example, the tinier types of Yorkshire Terriers can suffer tracheal collapse (collapse of the windpipe), chronic diarrhoea and vomiting - all due to their tiny size. Yorkies and other tiny dogs also often have a poor tolerance to anaesthestics.

Buying a puppy? Other useful pages

Teacup dogs

A word of warning about so-called 'teacup' dog breeds!

Different types of 'teacup' breeds have become popular over the last few years (for example, teacup Chihuahuas and teacup Yorkshire Terriers).

There is no such breed as a Teacup Yorkshire Terrier! Or any other sort of 'teacup' breed.

The word 'teacup' when applied to dogs generally means one of three things:

the seller wants to cash in on a popular name and hopes to charge more for a perfectly ordinary Chihuahua or other breed by calling it a 'Teacup Chihuahua'
the seller is trying to sell the runt of the litter (the smallest puppy) and is giving it a cute name to charge more for it
the seller is deliberately breeding dogs that are already very small to be even smaller, to the detriment of the dog's health.

If you are looking for a very small dog, many of the dogs listed here are already very tiny: Chihuahuas weigh only around 2.5 kg (6 pounds) - if you want anything smaller, try a hamster or guinea pig!

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