A woman who adopted a one-pound Chihuahua puppy was assured the dog wouldn’t get much bigger—only to watch him grow beyond the breed’s average weight.
In an Instagram reel posted to @zeroszoomies, owner Elyssa shared just how much her dog, Zero, has grown since coming home as a tiny rescue. Speaking to Newsweek, Elyssa explained that Zero arrived at an animal shelter alongside three other puppies, where staff listed him as a Chihuahua, and a veterinarian confirmed he was deaf.
Elyssa originally took Zero in as a foster, but when no suitable adopters came forward, she quickly became what she calls a foster fail. Before she knew it, Zero’s growth skyrocketed—prompting her to joke, “They definitely lied to us.”
“He was about one pound when I adopted him, and they confirmed he was a Chihuahua,” she said. “But he’s about 18 pounds now and still growing.”
Now a year and a half old, Zero weighs about 18 pounds—roughly triple the average weight of a Chihuahua. According to the American Kennel Club (AKC), the breed typically weighs no more than 6 pounds and stands between 5 and 8 inches tall.
Those breed standards didn’t quite match the dog Elyssa was watching grow. When asked if she had confirmed Zero’s breed, she said, “No DNA test just yet, but we think he may be a corgi-heeler mix based on what his vet thinks.”
If Zero shares heritage with either breed, as her veterinarian suspects, he could weigh closer to 30 pounds. The AKC lists corgis at 28 to 30 pounds, depending on gender, and Australian cattle dogs at 35 to 50 pounds.
As for his recognizable ears, Elyssa called them adorable and said they were growing with him.
Elyssa said she ultimately stepped forward to adopt Zero because many people didn’t have the resources to care for a deaf dog. But that hasn’t slowed him down. He barks at just about everything—especially the ceiling fan—assuming anything that moves is out to get him. Still, Elyssa assured that he’s a happy boy.
Viewer Reactions
Zero’s size has only added to his charm, and viewers in the comments were quick to agree, as the Instagram clip had reached 100,000 views as of Monday.
“You’ve been bamboozled in the cutest way possible,” wrote one user, while another commented, “Oh, he is majestic.”
A third person commented: “I live for how much even HE is in disbelief in the pictures.”
Shelters Misjudge Breed and Size
Research shows that breed designations in animal shelters are often unreliable, especially when they’re based on appearance alone. A 2018 study by researchers at Arizona State University’s Canine Science Collaboratory analyzed DNA from more than 900 shelter dogs in Phoenix and San Diego and compared the genetic results with the breeds assigned by shelter staff.
The findings revealed a common challenge in labeling a dog’s breed: only about 5 percent of dogs were genetically purebred, despite many being labeled as such, and most dogs’ genetic profiles contained multiple breeds, often 3 or more. Shelter workers have correctly identified a dog’s primary breed about two-thirds of the time, but accuracy dropped to roughly 10 percent when multiple breeds were involved.
The study suggests that visual breed identification, still the norm in many shelters, can oversimplify a dog’s heritage and contribute to misconceptions about behavior and size. The authors of the study argue that shelters should focus on a dog’s temperament and personality instead of assigning a breed.
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