Hope, an adorable 4-month-old toy poodle, broke the Guinness Book of World Records for being the smallest dog. The previous record holder weighed 2.2 pounds, but Hope beat that record by weighing only a mere 11 ounces.
She was born with dwarfism, and while most dogs born with the mutation typically do not live past 24 to 48 hours, Hope surpassed the odds. She was only 31 grams at birth, while her siblings weighed 3 to 4 pounds.
Rodney Mclean, one of the co-founders of K911 Animal Ambulance in Montreal, Canada, showed off the playful puppy as she fit comfortably in his hands. Hope lived in a rabbit cage because she was too small to run around without being stepped on. For the first 5 weeks of her life, she was tube fed because she could not eat like her siblings.
Dwarfism affects one in a billion, and while her brothers and sisters will eventually weigh around 7 to 12 pounds, the vet said Hope would never grow past 11 ounces. Rodney took the black and white poodle under his care, and she played like her size wasn’t a factor at all. Unfortunately, Hope passed away at 5 months old on August 23, 2013. Even though her life was short, the adorable poodle held on long past expectations.