DESPITE their tiny flat nostrils and eyes that pop out like a goldfish, lightweight pedigrees like the shih tzu and white pekinese are bouncing their way inside young women's jacket pockets and designer leather shoulder bags.
The equally tiny Yorkshire terrier, pomeranian and the lhasa apso are also trailing closely behind as the most sought after canine breeds both in this city and mainland China.
As pet dealers will tell you, when it comes to choosing pedigree canine pets in Hong Kong, it is size, and not looks, that really matters.
They say that smaller breeds are easier to groom and that toy and utility dogs have won the hearts of local pet lovers because they can be taken practically anyway and everywhere.
Young Chinese women are particularly fond of small dogs because they are tiny and cute. ''After all, as the saying goes, pets tend to resemble their masters,'' one pet beauty consultant says.
So gone are the days when the rich and famous raised and trained packs of working dogs like the alsatian, dobermann, or rottweiler, in their backyards to protect their mansion at Mid-Levels or Kowloon Tong.
