272 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM

But in any case the Pomeranian dog, so called, has been a native of various parts of Europe from very early times. His advent into England has been of comparatively recent date, at least in any great numbers, so far as can be ascertained, since no ancient records exist on this question. Gainsborough, however, painted the famous actress, Mrs. Robinson, with a large white Pomeranian sitting by her side.

In Rees' Encyclopcrdia, published in 1816, a good picture of a white Pomeranian is given with a fairly truthful description. In this work he is said to be " larger than the common sheep dog." Rees gives his name as Canis Pomeranius, from Linnxus, and Chien Loup, from Buffon. From these examples, therefore, we may infer that the large Pomeranian, or Wolf Spitz, was already known in England towards the end of the eighteenth century at least. There are, however, no systematic registers of Pomeranians prior to the year 1870.

Even ten years later than this last date, so little was the breed appreciated that a well-known writer on dogs began an article on the Pomeranian with the words " The Pomeranian is admittedly one of the least interesting dogs in existence, and consequently his supporters are few and far between."

The founders of the Kennel Club held their first dog show in 1870, and in that year only three Pomeranians were exhibited. For the next twenty years little or no permanent increase occurred in the numbers of Pomeranians entered at the chief dog show in England. The largest entry took place in 1881, when there were fifteen ; but in 189o there was not a single Pomeranian shown. From this time, however, the numbers rapidly increased. Commencing in 1891 with fourteen, increasing in 1901 to sixty, it culminated in 1905 with the record number of one hundred and twenty-five. Such a rapid advance between the years 189o and 1905 is unprecedented in the history of dog shows, although it is right to add that this extraordinarily rapid rise into popularity

has since been equalled in the case of the now fashionable Pekinese.

This tendency to advancement in public favour was contemporaneous with the formation of the Pomeranian Club of England, which was founded in 1891, and through its fostering care the Pomeranian has reached a height of popularity far in advance of that attained by any other breed of toy dog. One of the first acts of the club was to draw up a standard of points as follows :

Appearance-The Pomeranian should be a compact, short coupled dog, well knit in frame. He should exhibit great intelligence in his expression, and activity and buoyancy in his deportment. Head and Nose-Should be foxy in outline or wedge-shaped, the skull being slightly flat, large in proportion to the muzzle, which should finish rather fine and free from lippiness. The teeth should be level, and should on no account be undershot. The hair on the head and face should be smooth and short-coated. The nose should be black in white, orange and sable dogs ; but in other colours may be self, but never parti-colour or white. Ears-Should be small, not set too far apart, nor too low down, but carried perfectly erect like those of a fox, and, like the head, should be covered with short, soft hair. EyesShould be medium in size, not full, nor set too wide apart, bright and dark in colour, showing great intelligence ; in white, shaded sable, or orange dogs the rims round the eyes should be black. Neck and Body -The neck should be rather short, well set in. The back must be short and the body compact, being well ribbed up and the barrel well rounded. The chest must be fairly deep and not too wide, but in proportion to the size of the dog. Legs-The fore-legs must be well feathered, perfectly straight, of medium length, and not such as would be termed " leggy " or " low " on leg, but in due proportion in length and strength to a well-balanced frame. Must be fine in bone and free in action. The hind-legs and thighs must be well feathered, neither contracted nor wide behind ; the feet small and compact in shape. Shoulders should be clean, and well laid back. Tail-The tail is one of the characteristics of the breed, and should be turned over the back and carried flat and straight, being profusely covered with long, harsh, spreading hair. Coat-There should be two coats, an undercoat and an overcoat ; the one a soft fluffy undercoat, the other a long, perfectly straight coat, harsh in texture, covering the whole of the body, being very abundant round the neck and fore part of the shoulders and chest where it should form a frill of profuse standing off straight hair, extending over the shoulders. The hind-quarters should be clad with long hair or feathering, from the top of the rump to the hock. Colour-All whole colours are admissible, but they should be free from white or shadings, and the whites must be quite free from lemon or any other colour. A few white hairs in any of the self colours shall not necessarily disqualify. At present the whole coloured dogs are :-White, black, brown (light

THE POMERANIAN

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