MEXICO CITY, MEXICO–Before GTA was even a sparkle in the eyes of DMA founder David Jones, his team was involved in a much different project of passion–Grand Theft Chihuahua–that only recently has been resurrected from the dust bin of history. New project lead, Anson McPlibberty, has spent the past 14 months working with a Mexican development team and dozens of actual Chihuahuas.

“It’s been quite an experience,” admitted McPlibberty, “what with the smell, the poo and the constant yapping; and don’t even let me get started about the dogs!”

The game as Jones originally envisioned it was to be centered on a Chihuahua-napping gang called Los Peritos, and that the player–as a new recruit–would be tasked with nabbing Chihuahuas from the richest of Mexico City’s elite haciendas.

“But we’ve changed a few things,” McPlibberty confided to IGNN. “We’re really concentrating on the action elements: getaway cars, feeding the dogs, battling drug lords with laser pistols and that sort of thing.”

David Jones was not available for comment, but other members of the original team claimed ignorance of the project.

McPlibberty wasn’t surprised. “I think they were all sort of embarrassed about how obsessed they became during the original development cycle. GTC predated Lemmings, as you may recall, and in fact the obsessive development schedule of GTC became the basis for the game play in Lemmings. They used to follow David all over the moors to build camaraderie and to look for Jones’ stray dog. You see, that’s really what it was all about. DJ had this thing about Chihuahuas. He didn’t actually have one, mind you, but he really wanted one. And you can probably imagine how hard it is to find a bloody Chihuahua in Scotland. I don’t think any of those lads want to recall that ‘dark’ period.”

As for the new Grand Theft Chihuahua, McPlibberty says that progress is good and that the title should be ready for its release on a new dog fancier social media site called WagTales next October.