In the course of my work I am often asked what the largest or smallest breed of dog in the world is, or which dog is the fastest or smartest, etc. So this week I thought I would do my best to set the record as straight as I could.

Answering the largest breed of dog question (and the smallest for that matter) depends on how you define largest. Rather than doing that, I will simply delineate my terms in an effort to eliminate confusion.

Gibson is owned by Sandy Hall and lives in Grass Valley, Calif.

The heaviest living dog is a male English mastiff named Hercules that weighs 282 pounds. Hercules is owned by J. Flynn and lives in Peabody, Mass.

The smallest living dog is a female chihuahua named Heaven Sent Brandy who is only 6 inches long from the tip of her tail to the tip of her nose. Brandy is owned by Paulette Keller and lives in Largo, Fla.

The lightest living dog is a long-haired chihuahua named Danka from Slovakia that weighs 1 pound, 11 ounces.

Those are the statistics on the animals that are living but may or may not be the world record. For example, in 1989 an English mastiff named Zorba set the world record for the heaviest dog, weighing in at 343 pounds. Also the statistics above are for single animals rather than an entire breed.

It is generally accepted that the largest dog breed, as calculated by weight, is the English mastiff. However, there are many other breeds that are impressively large such as the Neapolitan mastiff, St. Bernard, Newfoundland and Caucasian Ovcharka, to name just a few.

The tallest breed of dog has been the issue of debate for some time. Many experts name the Great Dane as the tallest dog; however, I think it is more commonly accepted that the Irish wolfhound, as a breed, is a taller dog.

The breed standard for the Irish wolfhound is taller by a few inches than that of the Great Dane.

Most people can identify the fastest dog breed simply because it is the breed that is most often raced at the race track. The greyhound, which can reach speeds up to 45 mph, has held the title of fastest dog for some time but there are many other breeds that can impress you with their velocity.

The sight hounds as a group are the speedsters and include such dogs as whippets, Afghan hounds, borzois, salukis and Italian greyhounds.

The smallest dog breed is, you guessed it, the chihuahua. These little guys stay under 6 pounds. Other tiny canines include the pomeranians, Yorkshire terriers and teacup poodles.

The smartest dog, well I could open up a huge debate with this one. All dogs have the potential to be intelligent, loyal pets. Some breeds, however, have been intelligence tested and the breeds that usually end up at the top of the list include the border collie, German shepherd and golden retriever.

As for which dog is the absolute best dog, I think I'll leave that one up to you.