At last and a tiny tiny dog.

Barney has managed to get down our stairs at last, they are very steep and narrow, even I sometimes go up on my hands and feet, when my heels are hurting. He did it for the first time yesterday, though he still needs watching, if he tries to go to fast he will fall.

Took him for a nice walk yesterday and we saw a blen. She was gorgeous but.... so very, very tiny. She was maybe just over half the size of Barney, who is 7.5 months old and she is 7yrs old, I couldn't believe it. Never seen one that small.

How big is Barney? My 15-month-old Cav is just 11 lbs, and we sometimes run into Cavs that are twice her size.

Speaking of stairs, Maggie will go up and down ones that are carpeted or a short set of stairs outside...but she refuses to navigate the hardwood ones that lead up to our bedroom. Just sits at the bottom or top, waiting to be picked up and carried. LOL - what a princess!

Dogs are very brave for going downstairs. Just lie on the landing and look down at their level.

Barney is about 13lb.

That's what he did, laid on the top step with his head hanging over but wouldn't try it, even when we got to his level. He wanted to be carried.

freesia said:

Barney is about 13lb.

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So the cavalier you saw was 7-9 lbs? Wow! That is really small. Never seen one that tiny.

A dog that small would be pretty unusual though sadly some breeders are actually breeding for tiny cavaliers, a 'goal' that would raise many worrying health issues, not least because the smallest in the litter tends to be runts, and runts are more disposed to having a number of serious health problems -- often these very issues are what cause them to be small in the frist place.

I would guess she isn't really as low in weight as that, though -- looks can be deceptive and so many cavaliers I see are over breed standard and/or overweight that a dog that is lean and at the bottom of the breed standard (give or take a lb or two) can look much smaller than it actually is :lol:. I just had a rescue dog through that I would have sworn was maybe 7-9 lbs myself and I told several people I thought this was her weight as she was the smallest cavalier I've ever seen. She looks really tiny. But when I actually weighed her at the vets on their sensitive scales, she was actually 11.5 lbs. At that weight, she was also a bit underweight for her build. I figure when her new owner has fed her up a bit more she will come right in at the bottom of the UK breed standard at about 12lbs -- and be the same as Lily (though Lily is so shaggy she looks a few lbs heavier than she actually is!). I was really surprised as I thought I was pretty good at estimating weight!

Wish I had taken a photo, had my camera in my bag, I was just gobsmacked when she said she was 7yrs old. I've noticed some breeders of different dogs are breeding teacup puppies which are very tiny.