Meet Sylvia...

Sylvia passed away in 1945, aged less than 2 years old. But Sylvia was very special, for she is, alledgely, the World's Smallest Dog.

She was a Yorkshire Terrier and measured 2.5 inches high at the shoulder, and 3.5 inches from nose to tailtip. She weighed a mere 4 ounces.

The Yorkshire breed have constantly fought for the rank of "smallest living dog", a title that is forever changing because of course, the smaller the dog, the more susceptible it is to injury, cold or over-eating. Most owners seem to delight in dressing them up in little coats, as depicted here.

Although this picture is pretty much to scale (it's 4x4 inches in size) - it is unlikely that Sylvia looked anything like the Yorkie depicted here. No photographic evidence was forthcoming - although I did find pictures of Pinocchio (she appeared on Oprah and alledgely died from eating too much), she has a website here. Note that it says nothing about her death.

And the colours in this piece are exaggerated to give a whimsical air. I just thought it rather nifty that the World's Smallest dog was the same size as my favourite artistic hobby.