By Samantha Grillo @_samanthagrillo
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Videographer / Director: Ruaridh Connellan
Producer: Samantha Grillo, Chloe Browne
Editor: Sonia Estal
Mervin, the six-year-old rescue is taking the internet by storm with his comically lengthy licker.
Owner Joey Teixeira adopted Mervin last year and posted pictures of the pooch online dressed in sweaters and little hats.
Now Mervin has almost 30,000 Instagram followers and 9,000 Facebook fans.
Joey, 27, said: “I was not expecting him to blow up the way he has, but I think it’s really great.
“People say he looks like Miley Cyrus because of that performance she did when she was sticking her tongue out and looking all crazy.
“I think they look similar, but I think Mervin’s a lot cuter.”
Joey, from New York, adopted Mervin last year from the shelter he works in.
He said: “Mervin was brought in to the shelter as a stray, and was there about three months before I brought him home.
“While he was in the shelter he had to have both of his knees repaired and all of his teeth removed because he had a very severe dental disease.
“His tongue sticks out because he has no teeth to hold it back anymore, so it’s always to the side.
“It’s the first thing that everybody notices about him.”
Because Mervin has no teeth he requires special attention at home.
Joey said: “He needs to eat a special food because he can’t have the hard food that the rest of our dogs eat, and he eats it on a flat plate because the bowls are hard for him to get the food out of.
“If he hadn’t been brought into my shelter, he probably would have ended up on the street, in another shelter, or potentially euthanized since chihuahuas are the most euthanised dog breed in the country.”
Joey started posting pictures of Mervin to Instagram last April, and instantly saw a following.
He said: “He sat in the shelter for three months, then we brought him home, now he has almost 30,000 followers on Instagram, and 9,000 Facebook fans.
“He probably has around 100 different outfits - hoodies, tank tops, sweaters, hats, coats, scarves.
“I think looking cute is Mervin’s main special talent.”
Joey hopes that Mervin’s rise to fame will also lead to a rise in animal adoptions.
He said: “I would love to see him follow in the footsteps of Little Bub, Tuna Melts My Heart, Boo, and the rest of the famous animals.
“I would love to use that sort of platform to really promote adoption in shelter animals.”
For more photos of Mervin, check out his Instagram account at https://instagram.com/mervinthechihuahua