World’s smallest dog died a natural death

PRAGUE - Named the world's smallest dog in 1999, a chihuahua just 15 cm tall, died of natural causes and not medical malpractice as its owner claimed, a Czech court has ruled.

CTK news agency said the court in the eastern city of Olomouc on Thursday dismissed a one million crown ($60,000) damages claim by the dog's owner against a veterinarian who, she said, gave her pet an injection that left it paralysed.

The chihuahua, listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's smallest dog in 1999, had to be put down in 2000. It was not clear how old the dog was.

The owner claimed the damages as a loss of earnings for the deals that had been set up for the dog, called Ondra.

The judge, citing expert testimony, ruled that death was the result of a birth defect, hydrocephalus, or water in the head.

Guinness World Records said on its website that the world's smallest living dog according to height was Whitney, a Yorkshire terrier who measured 7.3 cm in 2002.

- REUTERS