'Ducky' is world’s smallest dog
Date: Friday, June 22nd, 2007 (CST )
Topic: Animals & Cryptozoology
 Gilbert Gottfried, who supplies the voice of the frustrated duck in the AFLAC Insurance commercials, better watch his back — because Ducky, the world’s smallest dog, is gunning for his job.
“When they had the Taco Bell thing, people loved that dog,” said Ducky’s owner, Lisa D. Messier of Charlton. “And Ducky’s so much smaller and everything. I would love to do something like the AFLAC commercial with him because I think he would actually like it.”
Standing 4.9 inches tall and weighing approximately 21 ounces, Ducky, a 2-1/2-year-old short-coat Chihuahua, recently got word from Guinness World Records that he is, in fact, the smallest dog in the world.
Besides the title, Ducky has the distinction that he quacks, hence the fowl moniker.
“The name Ducky comes from
the fact that he goes quack, quack, quack,” Mrs. Messier said. “He
can’t bark. He quacks and sounds exactly like a duck.”
While some have compared
him to a wingless bat and a bulbous, bug-eyed extraterrestrial, there
is no denying that Ducky has a look that stays with you.
“The thing is, people
either think he’s adorable, or they think he’s really ugly and he looks
like an alien,” Mrs. Messier said. “So, it either goes one way or
another. There’s absolutely no middle ground with Ducky.”
After a friend of Mrs.
Messier showed her a picture of the dog (called Macho Man at the time;
no kidding), Mrs. Messier started dreaming of the dog, and knew she had
to have him.
“First of all, his eyes melt me,” Mrs. Messier said. “I think he’s so cute and so sweet and he needs me. … He’s my little man.”
Mrs. Messier has had Ducky
since he was 13 months old. He has a clean bill of health, she said.
Despite being the size of a malnourished rodent, Ducky actually eats a
lot and even has a fondness for cheese. Because of his diminutive size,
Ducky has to have food and water at least every three hours, Mrs.
Messier said.
His favorite place is
alarmingly close to his owner’s bosom, Mrs. Messier said,
unnecessarily, because it was quite obvious during the interview. She
joked that Jay Leno would have a field day with this if she ever makes
it on “The Tonight Show” as a guest.
“This is what he does,” Mrs. Messier said, a little embarrassed and looking down. “He sits there all the time.”
When Ducky sticks out his
little tongue it means he’s content, Mrs. Messier said. And when he
doesn’t, he’s nervous. Even with all the attention he’s been getting
from radio, print and television media lately, he was still sporting a
noticeable, wafer-thin pink sliver.
Ducky’s journey to twinkle,
twinkle little star-dom started when a friend of Mrs. Messier told her
about “Tiny Dancer,” a Chihuahua that appeared in a recent edition of
People magazine, vying for the smallest dog title. Tiny Dancer was
featured in a 32-ounce measuring cup in a photograph that claimed to be
“actual size.”
“So I went out and bought
the same exact size measuring cup from the exact company and put Ducky
in it and put it next to the magazine and Ducky looked a bit smaller,”
Mrs. Messier explained. “Plus, that dog wasn’t even a year old and
Ducky was two-and-a-half years old.”
Before being considered by
Guinness World Records, Mrs. Messier had the dog officially measured
(from the ground up to the front shoulder blades), filled out the
proper paperwork, and had two official witnesses’ reports.
Although he was very
well-mannered yesterday, Ducky is usually very noisy, his owner said.
And he usually quacks at everything, as was the case during a recent
visit at the Southbridge Savings Bank in Spencer. With Ducky concealed
in her pocketbook (his favorite means of travel), Mrs. Messier went
into the bank. As soon as they entered, Ducky decided that he had to
get out, so he began quacking like a duck. The dog was out of the bag,
so to speak.
“They were all looking
around and finally I took him out and I said, ‘I have a dog in my bag,’
” Mrs. Messier recalled. “And they said, ‘Is that him making that
noise? We were looking around for little kids making duck noises and
there wasn’t any little kids around.’ I said, ‘No that’s him, His name
is Ducky.’ ”
Mrs. Messier is no stranger
to the spotlight. In 2005, her master bedroom, which she shares with
her husband, Kevin, was named the messiest in the country in the
Rubbermaid Home Product’s National Closet Makeover Contest.
Hours after yesterday’s
interview, Ducky and his owner were picked up by a chauffeured car and
they were driven down to the Big Apple for a scheduled appearance this
morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Mrs. Messier said Ducky
likes to pose for pictures and has already done some “doggie modeling.”
He even has his own wardrobe of designer threads, sweaters, scarves,
necklaces and sleepwear. And, there is no denying that Ducky looks
fetching in his suede bomber jacket, which she calls his coolest outfit.
While Ducky is the Smallest
Dog in the World, he might also be one of the smartest. According to
Mrs. Messier, who currently owns five Chihuahuas and two Yorkshire
terriers, Ducky is the smartest dog she ever had.
“I like the way he needs
me. The way he looks at me. I like the way he’s so smart, like he tells
what he wants,” she said. “You never question what Ducky wants because
he’s going to let you know.”
Copyright: Worcester Telegram & Gazette News
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