THE LATEST CRAZE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 60, 12 March 1913, Page 3

THE LATEST CRAZE.

Down in successive steps from the Newfoundlands, Great Danes, and St. Bernards, Dame Fashion has fixed her favour upon the house dog, the Jap dog, the sleeve dog, the toy dog, and now is looking for a favourite more diminutive than ever (says New York World). He has to be f. liliputian creature no bigger than a pantry mouse. He is to be so tiny that ho can bo carried in a man'. 1 waistcoat pocket or hop nimbly into a woman’s powder puff case. Ho wil stand no more than 2in. high, bo nol more than 4in. long, and will weigl not pounds but ounces. The smallest dog in the world to-day is President Diaz, Chihuahua. He weighs exactly 11b. Beside President Diaz the mouse dog will appear like a

puppy, unbelievably small. Breeders of dogs have long puzzled over the problem of producing the “ultimate midget.” There have been many ob stacles in the way of its solution. Some have.said that the present “toy dog” is the limit to which desizing can be caricd. The Mouse Dog. . But this was Oerore l' asiiion demanded tne vest pocket edition, i\oa cue ureeders are straining tlieir efforts

co satisfy tlio demand. li it can nt clone they will do it. iiiey expect to produce tne mouse dog. Already some dog fanciers at tiie Court oi Italy are experimenting with a new breed of dog in the hoj)o of being first to give fanciers the “midget." The new dog is called the Lupeto. In form and style the Lupetos resemble the Pomeranians, but have finer, silkier coats, light and dark brown in colour. The present generation oi these dogs, which are being desized by inbreeding, weigh from 2lb t*r Hlb .each, 'Tne breeder’s aims is to reduce them until they shall weigh less than 11b. This will take about eight or ten more generations. Unfortunately, the few near midgets thus far produced do not live, or lack vitality. Inbreeding, if uninterrupted, always results in imbeciles and weaklings. Now and then another strain must be added to restore vitality and virility. When the Italian breeders shall have hit upon the happy combination they hope to produce a breed called the Lupeto Midget that shall bo at once healthy and amazingly small. If the breeders have the success for which they are looking, these will be the smallest dogs in the world—about the size of a chipmunk.

An Expert’s Views,

That the mouse dog is really coming within a few years is predicted by no less an authority than B. Wolfram, president of the New York Dog Exchange. Mr Wolfram's chief mission is to supply society with any kind of a “fad dog’’ it may desire—that is, provided that dog can bo procured either by -breeding or by “discovery'.” “The 21b Pomeranian,” he says, “or the IJlb black-and-tan, or the lib Chihuahua, no longer suffices to satisfy the over-growing demand for toy dogs. The moment we produce the ‘tiniest dog’ some one demands ‘Show us something smaller.’ So breeders will keep on trying ami trying until at last they turn out a dog so small that all their science will not avail to produce anything smaller. He will be much smaller than the toy dog of to-day. Ho probably will ho no larger than a and much more delicately formed. I cannot promise you this mouse dog, but I can predict him as a possibility. Ho may come through skilful breeding, or he may appear merely as a ‘freak,’ hut however he comes lie will be the most astonishing marvel of the age in the dog world.”