California animal shelters' plague: Not a rain of frogs, but a rain of Chihuahuas »

Another reason to adopt rather than buy a dog:

“According to the group , the Chihuahua conundrum — a shocking surplus of them flooding the state’s stretched-thin shelters — has gotten out of control.  They place the blame, or at least a large part of it, on the breed’s strange status as a pop-culture icon. Famous Chihuahuas — from Paris Hilton’s Tinkerbell to Bruiser, the pink-clad accessory of Reese Witherspoon’s “Legally Blonde” character, from the recently departed Taco Bell Mascot, Gidget, to Chloe, the star of last year’s “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” — are everywhere.  And their high profile means an increase in the number of puppies being bred for the pet market, many by breeders either unscrupulous or simply ill-prepared.”