World’s Tallest and Shortest Dogs Meet

Idaho Falls, Idaho —(Map)

Last month, the world’s shortest dog and the world’s tallest dog had a chance to meet. Reggie the Great Dane and Pearl the Chihuahua got along great. Their meeting was a fun reminder that friendship doesn’t depend on size.

Reggie (short for Reginald) is a Great Dane who lives in Idaho. He’s 3 feet 3 inches (99 centimeters) tall. That makes him the world’s tallest living male dog. Reggie weighs 145 pounds (66 kilograms).

Pearl is a Chihuahua who lives in Florida. She’s the world’s shortest living dog, measuring just 3.59 inches (9.14 centimeters) tall. Pearl weighs about a pound (0.45 kilograms).

The meeting was set up by Guinness World Records as a special event to celebrate the company’s 70th year in business. Rather than try to get giant-sized Reggie onto a plane, Pearl’s owner Vanesa Semler brought the tiny dog to Reggie’s house in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Sam Johnson Reiss, who owns Reggie, said she was a little bit worried at first because of the size difference. But she said that Reggie was “very gentle, very, very kind to Pearl, as best as he could be.”

Once they got to know each other, the dogs seemed to hit it off. The two walked around the house and went out to play in the backyard. Ms. Semler says, “When Pearl meets bigger dogs, she is really friendly. I think she has no idea she is a small dog.”

The size difference between the two dogs is incredible. Reggie is tall enough to eat food off of the counter (though he’s been trained not to do this). He drinks water straight out of the bathroom sink. Pearl, on the other hand, …well, Pearl actually fits in the other hand! When she was born in 2020, Pearl could fit in a spoon.

Reggie and Pearl may seem very different, but their owners soon realized that they have a lot in common. Both dogs are very demanding. Pearl “can tell you what she wants,” says Ms. Semler. Ms. Johnson Reiss says Reggie is just the same. The dogs are similar in other ways, too. Both are big snorers, and big fans of eating chicken.

Pearl has lots of clothes because she gets cold very easily. Reggie has sweaters for the winter. Because of their extreme sizes, the owners of both dogs struggled to find clothes that would fit.

Pearl isn’t Ms. Semler’s first Guinness World Record dog. She used to own a Chihuahua named Milly, who was Pearl’s aunt. Before Pearl came along, Milly was the world’s shortest dog.

Believe it or not, Reggie was also small when he was born. At least he was smaller than all of his brothers and sisters. But he grew quickly. When he was 7 years old, he set the record as the world’s tallest living male dog. Even so, Reggie isn’t quite as tall as the tallest male dog ever – a Great Dane named Zeus, who died in 2014.

Despite the size difference, Ms. Semler thinks Pearl is quite fond of Reggie. “I think she found a good friend,” she said.