There was a time when, here in the UK, the Pom was THE dog to have for fashionable ladies of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Both Queens Victoria and Alexandra owned them as did movie stars, divas and the well-to-do. The original Pomeranian of the 1700s, as portrayed by artists such as Gainsborough and Lawrence, were a much more hefty, almost Samoyed-like dog, but by careful selection and breeding the size came down gradually to the breed we know today. They are the only 'Spitz' dog breed classified as being British whilst the other members of the international 'Spitz' family include the Keeshond from Holland, the Samoyed from Russia, the Schipperke from Belgium, the Elkhound from Norway, the Volpino from Italy and the Japanese, German and Finnish Spitz.

My grandparents on my father's side were London hoteliers and, whilst I never met my grandfather, I do recall meeting my Grandmother on one memorable occasion. I would have been only about 3 or 4 at the time when we went Earls Court to have tea with Grandmadear as we called her. She was a formidable lady who liked to make 'the grand entrance'. I have a strong memory of seeing her emerge from behind a velvet curtain, dressed entirely in black, eye glasses hanging from a golden chain round her neck and a tiny black ball of fluff under her arm. I didn’t know it at the time but this was a Pomeranian and I watched entranced as it was fed rich tea biscuits from the table by my Grandmother. I was not allowed to stroke it or play with it, but I couldn't take my eyes of the creature; I had never seen anything like it before!

The Toy Group is having a bit of a renaisance here in the UK right now, with breeds like the Bichon Frise, Chihuahua, Papillon and Pug all experiencing a boom in their popularity and one would think that the Pom would be perfectly placed in the marketplace. Twenty years ago in 1989, there were 1,416 Pomeranian puppies registered at the UK Kennel Club, whilst in 2008 that total had gone down to 830. Not exactly a disaster, but still a decline of over 40% for the last 20 years and against the overall trend for the toy group, confirming once again the general decline for so many of our wonderful Great British Heritage Dog Breeds within these shores.

I wonder what Grandmadear would make of it all?

© article and images strictly copyright Paul Keevil & British Heritage Dog Breeds. Exception: first image freely available from Wikipedia.