Object of Dogged Pursuit

It is a Thursday in Irvine, corporate headquarters of Taco Bell’s Top Dog, the Humphrey Bogart of Chihuahuas. And it is exactly one week since 10 million plush-toy replicas of the pooch have gone into the firm’s eateries around the Southland. Chaos has already broken loose. “People are lined up out the doors, and cars are wrapped around the buildings,” with everyone trying to get complete sets of the little guys, says Laurie Gannon, spokeswoman for the firm.

“We thought we made enough to last through Christmas, but we may be sold out within another week,” she adds. And why not? At $2.99 and $3.99, these little toy doggies (in four poses, each saying a different thing) prove that size does not matter. Look into his limpid eyes, as his come-hither voice (delivered by pressing the voice chip in his chest) murmurs that classic canine come-on line: “Here, lizard, lizard.”

Gannon says one hustler has already offered the four-dog set on the Internet for $59.99.