Creatures great and small

A dog is a dog is a dog ... but size obviously does matter.

It was a chance meeting of the David and Goliath of the canine world, and no one could blame the diminutive chihuahua Pea Beau (alias Weed) for looking a little nervous.

At 1.4kg, her body weight was as much as hulking Irish wolfhound Jag eats daily to maintain his 76kg frame.

A national competition to uncover the smallest - and biggest - dogs in New Zealand revealed this pair as the winners in the capital city.

But although they outweighed the competition in Wellington, there were rumours afoot of a 1.1kg miniature in Hamilton and a Manawatu mastiff topping the scales at 85kg.

The Eukanuba Size Does Matter competition, which closes at the end of this month, is designed to raise awareness of feeding dogs a diet appropriate to their size, say organisers.

Pea Beau was so little when owner Ann McGallister brought her home as a pup, she fitted into the palm of her hand.

While the chihuahua cross English toy terrier nibbles delicately at cat food during the day, Jag puts away a 2kg dog-roll and 1kg of dry food every two days.

Apart from setting his owners, Stephen McGivern and Cheryl Donnelly, back almost $30 a week, the drawbacks to owning a dog this enormous include watching to see small children don't get knocked over and finding enough hands to get him into the bath at bath-time.