The Internet's Most Famous Dog, Actually Measured
Boo the Dog went completely viral around 2011 and stayed popular for years. People always want to know how big the dog actually was, probably because every photo made Boo look like a teacup-sized miracle. The short answer is that Boo was a small dog, but not tiny. Boo was a Shih Tzu, and this breed has a specific size range that most people don't realize. Boo weighed roughly 13 to 16 pounds at full maturity and stood about 9 to 10 inches tall at the shoulder. The breed standard for Shih Tzus lists an ideal weight between 9 and 16 pounds and a height of 9 to 10.5 inches. Boo sat comfortably within the normal range, maybe on the heavier side but nothing unusual for a well-fed show-line Shih Tzu. The reason Boo looked impossibly small in pictures is mostly genetics mixed with professional photography. Kimmer Strouse, Boo's owner, worked with photographers who used wide-angle lenses from close distance. That lens distortion shrinks the body and enlarges the face, making any dog look cuter and smaller than it actually is. I remember seeing someone try to recreate Boo's viral photos with their own Shih Tzu and getting confused when their dog looked nothing like Boo. The issue was never the dog size. It was the lens choice and the posing angle. A 50mm or longer lens flattens features and shows the real proportions of a dog. Anything under 35mm starts warping the frame. If you want an accurate sense of Boo's actual size, you have to ignore the official photos and look at Boo standing next to a human or other reference object, which appeared rarely in Strouse's social media posts.
The Breed Context Most People Miss
Shih Tzus are not naturally small dogs the way Chihuahuas or Maltese are. They are sturdy little dogs with a thick double coat that adds visual bulk. A groomed Shih Tzu in a show cut looks significantly larger than the same dog in a puppy trim. Boo was maintained in a style that fluffed out the body, which further distorted size perception. The fur alone could add two to three pounds of visual weight without any actual mass. There is a common misconception that Boo was a Pekingese. Boo was listed as a Pekingese in some early articles but was always a Shih Tzu. The two breeds look similar at a glance but differ in body structure. Pekingeses have a broader skull, shorter muzzle, and typically weigh slightly more. This mix-up happens frequently because viral content gets reposted without proper breed verification. When fact-checking size questions about famous internet animals, always trace back to the original source before trusting secondary articles. One thing beginners often overlook when researching a dog's size from photos is the camera angle. Low-angle shots make any dog look larger and more imposing. High-angle shots do the opposite. Boo's most iconic images were taken from above and slightly in front, which compressed the body and emphasized the head. This is a standard technique in pet photography, not a trick unique to Boo, but the combination of wide lens plus high angle plus show grooming created the illusion of a much smaller dog than Boo actually was.
What This Means If You Are Trying to Gauge Size
If you are looking at Boo-sized references because you want a dog of similar proportions, expect a adult Shih Tzu in the 10 to 16 pound range. Do not expect the dog to stay puppy-like forever. Shih Tzus reach full size by about 12 months, and they fill out slightly after that. The viral photos captured Boo at peak adult condition, which is already near the upper end of the breed standard. Boo passed away in 2022 at age 14, which is a normal lifespan for the breed. The original viral content still circulates constantly, and the size question keeps coming up in comments and forums. The answer is straightforward once you account for photography tricks and grooming choices. Boo was a perfectly average Shih Tzu in terms of size, just exceptionally well presented.
Get the Full Details
