Are teacups breeds a recognized breed or is just a naem breeders give to dogs so they can charge more?

Question

My friend just got a maltese and she says it's teacup. I've never heard of that before.

Answer 1

It's a name invented by bad breeders so that they can sell sickly puppies to undereducated people.

The term is actually prohibited by the Maltese breed club, so your friend supported a puppy mill or a backyard breeder.

"The Maltese is NOT a terrier! The plural of Maltese is still Maltese - not Malteses. There is no such thing as a "teacup" or "pocket" Maltese. The Maltese is a TOY breed. Our Standard calls for the Maltese to be "under 7 lbs. with 4-6 lbs. preferred". Some Maltese do mature at under 4 lbs. while others mature at over 7 lbs."

http://www.americanmaltese.org/ama_breeder_questions.htm

Answer 2

I agree with most of the other answers - there is no such thing as a Teacup Maltese, or a Teacup Poodle, or a Teacup Chihuahua, or anything like that. So it's okay you've never heard of them, because they aren't a proper breed. They are just very small examples of a breed of dog, and most of the time are too small (if it's a Chihuahua or Maltese or other toy dog) to be completely healthy. In fact, reputable breeders rarely even call runts 'teacup'.

Answer 3

It's a way to get extra money.
My sister just answered an ad for someone selling 3 teacup chihuahua pups. these pups are 4 mnths old and already weigh 4 pounds. If you check a chihuahua weight chart they will grow to be about 6 pounds. If you look up the standard for chihuahuas first you will find htey only come in short and long hair. Second a chihuahua is a dog that should not get over 6 pounds so a 2 pound and a 6 pound are all withing the standard just one is smaller. just like people there are average size but some are smaller and some are bigger.
Sorry but a maltese only comes in one size and if it is actually very small they are usually very small runts that end up having a lot of additional mediacal issues and often only live about 1/2 the life span.
I wish your friend a lot of luck.
If the pup is over 6 weeks it should have had it's firt vaccine followed by 9 and 12 weeks if not please tell her to get it done NOw

Answer 4

Teacup is not a breed. It's a size comparison. Same as toy, or miniature, or standard. It isn't recognized by AKC, but certain breeds sizes as defined by AKC meet the standard for teacup. For example, Maltese, as defined by AKC are to be 4 to 6 lbs full grown. Anything under 5 lbs is considered teacup. So if you have a grown maltese that weighs 4 lbs, it is not only to AKC's standard, but can also be considered a teacup.

The use of the term teacup is contraversial. Some hate it, others look for it. All it really means is that the dog is going to be small.

The term teacup in no way means runt, or sickly. If that was the case, then how could AKC promote 4 lb dogs? Does AKC promote sickly runts? I don't think so. Watch the dog shows, there are tiny Maltese and chihuahuas on there that way under 5 lbs, are champion bred, meet the standard for their breed, and... they are teacups!

Answer 5

BAsically, there is no breed that has a recognized "teacup" version. Many breeders will use this term to indicate a smaller than normal dog, and yes, it is also a way to charge more, as it is a "special" breed, a "designer" dog.

Answer 6

I feel that the dogs that are called "teacup" is the runt of the litter. The breeder doesn't like to use that word so they call it a "Teacup" and charge more money for it. Or the breeder is breeding 2 runts together to produce a more small breed standard.

Answer 7

They are not a recognized in any breed. Unscrupulous folks advertise them as "teacup" (any Toy breed)
OR "apple head" (Chihuahuas), OR "Deer" (again, Chihuahuas) so innocent, ignorant people think they must be special somehow and will pay tons of money for them when they are actually just runts or Toy breeds on the small side.

For another perspective, let me talk about another animal. I raise/show Jersey Woolies (dwarf-sized rabbits) and have smaller than usual rabbits show up in my lines quite often. I would NEVER sell them for more than one of my other rabbits that are closer to the Standard of Perfection ideal weight than my tiny ones are. That would be ridiculous and unethical. Their prices are determined by how close they are to the Standard and how many Grand Champion legs they have earned.

It's just a fluke that I have tiny rabbits show up. I don't breed for them. It's just in my lines. It's a throw back to the Netherland I am told. Yes, they have been healthy. Dwarf rabbits naturally eliminate the super tiny baby rabbits we call "Peanuts". They carry double dwarf genes and those ALWAYS die. There is something wrong with them. I don't think that's the way it is with dogs, though. Anyway my teeny rabbits apparently still have the single dwarf gene but they are still smaller than normal.

Anyway all but one of my tiny ones have happened to have conformation that I loved so I took them to shows and they've done very well but I have to admit that, as an exhibitor, it is a little embarrassing when they turn senior and they are still the size of juniors. My exhibitor friends laugh and ask me "What are you feeding them?!". lol. I AM proud of their conformation and what they have contributed to my herd. THAT has nothing to do with their smaller size.

Well, the point I'm trying to make is that these smaller than usual, so-called "teacup" dogs might show up in litters and they might even be bred to be smaller than usual but they are just normal runt dogs. There is nothing special about them. They may in fact be less healthy and have horrible conformation. If a dog breeder is heavily focusing on breeding for smaller size then they are likely ignoring the other, more important Standards set by the AKC.

If anyone advertises these runts as something other than what they are (Toy breeds) they are liars and trying to pull one over on you. Sadly this trend is rampant as these advertisements are all too easy to find - and so are they buyers.

Note to Ista: Chihuahuas are one of those dogs that are normally found at 4lbs. AKC standard calls for under 6lbs. Chihuahuas were NEVER bred "down" to that size but is a "natural" Toy breed. The AKC does not promote sickly dogs and so does not recognize super small dogs as being anything special. They encourage healthy dogs and ethical breeding and selling practices. I seriously doubt any of these "teacup" dog sellers are showing their dogs in the ring. They'd likely be laughed out the door for their poor breeding practices that would be obvious in the conformation of their dogs.

Answer 8

There is no such thing as teacup anything. Just a way of getting more money for a dog that is going to have alot of health problems

Answer 9

Teacups are not recognized as anything. They are a selling scam and most would not qualify in their breed for AKC at their size because it is not in the breed standards.

Answer 10

You got it = just a con job by unscrupulous breeders to sell their undersize, sickly runts for a lot of money. Many breed them using terrible inbreeding (mother to son, father to daughter, etc.) to get them as small as possible - very dangerous to the breed just because they are a fashion accessory rather than a real dog to silly people.


There are toy breeds = they are small by nature, but no such thing as "teacup" anything.

Glad you're smarter than your friend and I hope the little guy she's got is relatively healthy, the little ones have a lot of problems often.