Could it be the smarties are trying to read too much into the oversize dog-pot? Perhaps it’s a growler for taking home one’s beer ration, and who’d want a small one of those? OTOH, if chihuahuas were raised as food items, it would explain their universally nervous behavior...
There’s nothing to be read into the firsthand first contact accounts which describe the dogs. The “smarties” generally claim that the Euros were unable to distinguish a breed of dog from an opossum.