Beware of the (teeny weeny) dogs: They're the cute must-have accessory for style-conscious women. But as these owners found to their cost, chihuahuas are the kings of canine carnage

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Sarah Corell lives an impossibly glamorous life. Dividing her time between a penthouse apartment in Liverpool and a luxury four-bedroom villa in the South of France, the 36-year-old housewife has all the designer handbags, shoes and jewellery she could possibly want.

Yet until a couple of years ago, there was one key fashion accessory missing from her life. ‘I’d seen photos of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan carrying little dogs around in their designer bags and I liked the fantasy of having a chihuahua that I could take everywhere with me,’ says Sarah, who is married to John, 42, a wealthy property developer.

‘Growing up, my parents always had big dogs like labradors and I adored them. But my husband and I spend a lot of time flitting between Nice, Monaco, St Tropez and Cannes. We travel to Paris six times a year to shop and visit friends, so our lifestyle is not conducive to having a big dog that needs a lot of walking.

Sarah Corell lives an impossibly glamorous life. Dividing her time between a penthouse apartment in Liverpool and a luxury four-bedroom villa in the South of France. She bought a chihuahua, Louis, because she and her husband flit between Nice, Monaco, St Tropez and Cannes, and she thought it would be easy to take him

Louis (pictured) has chewed his way through Sarah’s £600 Louis Vuitton bag, a £400 deep-pile rug, and torn the heels from a pair of her £850 Louboutin shoes

‘Naively, I believed that having a chihuahua would be easy. Unlike a large dog, it wouldn’t need much exercising and would slot neatly into my glamorous life. So, when my husband bought Louis, a chihuahua from a litter of six, for my birthday two years ago, I imagined putting him in my designer bags with his cute little head poking out, while we went shopping or for lunch.’

Yet Sarah hadn’t banked on one thing. Because although little Louis weighs a minuscule 4.5lb, he’s a heavyweight when it comes to wreaking terror.

When he’s not chewing his way through Sarah’s £600 Louis Vuitton bag or £400 deep-pile rug, he’s tearing the heels from a pair of her £850 Louboutin shoes.

He’s also smashed two Swarovski champagne flutes worth £250, and ruined her £2,500 Chanel tote bag while regularly doing his ‘business’ on the couple’s £3,000 crushed velvet sofa, which costs £200 to clean every time. ‘I think newborn babies would be easier to look after,’ sighs Sarah.

‘At least they do their business in their nappy, not in shoes, wardrobes or on expensive rugs.

‘Ironically, Louis is also obsessed with toilet paper, so we can’t leave spare rolls out or they end up like confetti. We also have to make sure we get to the post before he does otherwise it ends up chewed to pieces. He has spent the past two-and-a-half years wrecking everything he can get his tiny paws, claws and teeth on.’

Helen Turner (pictured), 43, from Simonstone, Lancashire, has five chihuahuas and admits she is partly to blame for the havoc they cause

The dogs have chewed through a £2,000 and a £1,000 sofa, and she estimates that one of them, Salvdor, has caused around £4,000 in damage since he was born in July

It sounds like every proud homeowner’s nightmare, yet if Sarah can take a crumb of comfort it’s in knowing that she’s not the only woman to live with a four-legged tiny terror.

The chihuahua may be the world’s smallest dog breed but, according to a recent report, it is the most destructive and leaves owners with bigger bills for damages than any other type.

Whether it’s ripping up carpets, tearing wallpaper or ruining bags, clothing and furniture, the chihuahua causes an average of £866 worth of damage across its lifetime, according to the study. Some owners faced bills significantly higher, with many admitting their pet had caused damage to other people’s property, too.

Sarah, who has no children and admits that she acquired Louis as a ‘baby substitute’, says she has spent close to £7,600 replacing ruined items and repairing the damage wreaked by Louis and was naive in the extreme about the breed’s reputation.

‘I blame some good friends of mine entirely because they have three chihuahuas and were adamant they are low-maintenance and non-destructive,’ she says. ‘John and I don’t have children together so getting a dog would mean I had a “baby”, but we knew from the moment we got him home that he was going to be trouble.

Glamorous celebrities such as Paris Hilton (pictured) are famous for taking their chihuahuas everywhere in their handbags

‘I’d bought him a beautiful memory-foam dog bed, but he refused to sleep in it, preferring to snuggle up with us instead. He refused his food so, like an idiot, I started making him scrambled eggs every day.

‘Because he’s so small and skinny we had to buy coats and jumpers to keep him warm, plus a made-to-measure harness. Then there was the £200 Louis Vuitton collar I splashed out on which he flatly refuses to wear.

‘He’s so stubborn. I’ve sought help from my neighbour, who is a qualified dog trainer, but she thinks Louis is a lost cause.’

Yet despite its difficult nature, the chihuahua remains one of the most popular dog breeds in the United Kingdom.

With a tiny frame — most grow up to be around 10in high and weigh no more than 13lb — huge ears and eyes, they are undeniably cute and have become the handbag dog of choice for Hollywood celebrities such as Madonna, Sharon Osbourne, Britney Spears and Jamie Lee Curtis.

They boast an ancient lineage, too, tracing their roots to ninth-century Mexico, where a creature almost identical to the modern chihuahua was depicted in artwork uncovered by archaeologists.

In the UK, they were first shown at Crufts in 1936 and became increasingly popular among doting owners eager to spoil them. And it is this, say animal experts, that lies at the root of their destructive tendencies.

‘Chihuahuas are a headstrong and intelligent breed, and as such can easily train their new or naive owners rather than the other way round,’ says vet Scott Miller.

‘As one of the most diminutive of canines, the biggest mistake owners can make is thinking that they are fragile and defenceless, picking them up at every opportunity to “save them” from fear-provoking circumstances.

‘This can result in an increasingly anti-social and nervous dog, which can become fearful or aggressive.’

Dog behaviour expert Sharon Bolt agrees. She says it’s the ‘humanising’ of these breeds that is the problem. ‘The worst-behaved dogs usually belong to women who baby them,’ she says.

‘The owners see these lovely cute dogs with the big eyes and dress them up like little dolls and place them in handbags. It all comes from the nicest intentions, but what is completely lost is a healthy respect for the fact that they are dogs.

‘What’s worse is that, to start with, owners of small dogs don’t tend to take their bad behaviour very seriously, believing: “What harm can it do?” But I know of one lady who lost an eye when her chihuahua lashed out.

Helen Turner poses with her destructive chihuahuas Salvador (left) and Purdy (right)

‘Dogs don’t want to be pampered and preened. They want to be taken out for walks rather than picked up and carried around. In short, they want to be treated like dogs.’

Helen Turner, 43, from Simonstone, Lancashire, has five chihuahuas and admits she is partly to blame for the havoc they cause. ‘Any owner who allows their dog to continue to chew has to accept the blame. So, yes, it’s partly my fault . . . but I do think the puppies have a naughty gene, too,’ she says.

A dog grooming salon owner, who also has three cocker spaniels, Helen decided five years ago that she wanted a chihuahua, but says she had no idea what she was about to unleash.

‘I pored over books and websites about chihuahuas, which revealed they are notoriously difficult to house-train, but my research didn’t suggest that they’d do any more damage than any other breed,’ says Helen, who lives with husband Richard, 46, director of a pharmaceutical company, and their sons Jack, 18, and George, 16.

‘For my 40th birthday in May 2012, Richard bought me my first chihuahua, a female called Chi Chi who cost £1,000. She came home with us when she was 12 weeks old and it was like having a newborn baby again. She was so tiny and fragile and didn’t like cold or wind.’

Violet Fenn with her dog Mort, who she thinks has caused around £1,000 of damage to her home

Helen also knew that they were pack animals — they like being with other chihuahuas — so seven months later in December 2012, she bought Pebbles, a 12-week-old chihuahua pup, for £1,800. It was then that Helen’s troubles began.

‘Pebbles was so naughty, chewing the screen of my mobile phone within days and using my children’s school bags as her toilet,’ she says.

‘Suddenly, wherever I went in the house there would be a trail of destruction.

‘She especially loved chewing shoes, including a pair of my husband’s handmade Loake brogues that had cost £230.

‘Still, it didn’t put me off and a year later in December 2013, I spent £2,100 on Chicabella, a 13-week-old chihuahua puppy. I loved the idea of having a little gang of chihuahuas, and however naughty Pebbles was, she was exceptionally cute.’

Even this damage paled into insignificance when Chicabella had puppies, Salvador and Purdy, in July.

‘They were just six weeks old when they managed to nibble at a tiny corner of wallpaper in the lounge and within minutes they had ripped great chunks out of it as well as the plaster underneath,’ says Helen. ‘It cost £600 to get it re-plastered and papered. Even Pebbles flashes disapproving looks at them as they tear around the house like a destructive double-act.

‘Two months ago, they chewed off the buckle on my £995 Jimmy Choo bag in the 30 minutes it took me to drive from home to work with them on the back seat of the car.

‘They’ve chewed the bathroom door, the side of the bath and even munched at the pink, pure wool carpet in my bedroom one evening when I was cooking dinner.’

But she adds: ‘It’s our two leather sofas, which cost £1,000 and £2,000, which have taken the biggest battering from the two of them, to such an extent that the seating is now held together with tape. I estimate that the damage Salvador alone has caused since he was born in July is around £4,000.

‘The damage they cause is one of those things that we’ve all learned to live with and we do find some of their antics quite endearing. It’s like having mischievous toddlers in the house again. I think we just have to ride out the storm and hope the two puppies calm down as they get older.’

However, chihuahuas have one of the longest lifespans among dogs — averaging 18 years — so the family may have an expensive couple of decades ahead. That’s something another chihuahua owner, Violet Fenn, is coming to terms with right now. She’s had her dog, Mort, for only six months and already he has caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage.

But Mort's behaviour is not unusual. The chihuahua may be the world’s smallest dog breed but, according to a recent report, it is the most destructive and leaves owners with bigger bills for damages than any other type

She says: ‘It’s the first time I’ve owned a toy dog and he’s a bit of an indulgence because I thought he’d be cute and I could stick him in my handbag when I went out.’

Violet, 46, a writer who lives in Shrewsbury with sons Jaime, 19, and Oscar, 11, adds: ‘Everyone told me chihuahuas can’t be housebroken, but I thought no, I’m very capable and I’ve owned dogs before and it will be fine.

‘But Mort is a demon. He’s peed in my Osprey handbag, which cost £300, and I had to spend £75 getting it cleaned. He’s torn the heels off my Kurt Geiger heels which, thankfully, I bought in a sale for only £30, and he’s done his business all over my £80 goosedown duvet, which I’ve now had to throw away.

‘I’ve had to replace my floor-length curtains at a cost of £300 and had to have my car valeted several times at £30 a time because he pees on the back seat. I’ve had my carpets cleaned, which cost £150, and I’ve even caught him eating £20 notes.

‘He’s cost me nearly £950 in damage and he’s literally eating my money. What worries me is that he’s only eight months old and chihuahuas can live until they’re about 20!’

Staggeringly, despite the chaos wreaked on their homes, Sarah, Helen and Violet insist they have no regrets about their choice of pet. To keep Louis company, Sarah has since bought another chihuahua called Coco, while Violet says Mort is a calming influence on her youngest son, Oscar, who is autistic.

‘It’s my New Year’s resolution to get some proper dog training,’ concedes Violet. ‘Otherwise I’ll be broke.’