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SECTION IV. 

 PET AND TOY DOGS. 



CHAPTER XLVL 



THE POMERANIAN. 



BY G. M. HICKS. 



" Riiffino xms a little Pomeranian dog with a small black nose, and large black eyes, and a ruff as 

 wide and imposing as Queen Elizabeth's. He held women in profound scorn and abhorrence. . . . 

 They absorbed and monopolised his master, and he considered his master his own property. In 

 Ritffino's estimation, a man does not own a dog : the dog owns the man."— OviOA. 



10NG before the Pomeranian dog was 

 common in Great Britain, this breed 

 was to be met with in many parts of 

 Europe, especially in Germany ; and he 

 was knowTi under different names, ac- 

 cording to his size and the locality in 

 which he flourished. The title of Pome- 

 ranian is not admitted by the Germans 

 at all, who claim this as one of their 

 national breeds, and give it the general 

 name of the German Spitz. This is 

 the title assigned to it by Herr Karl 

 Wolfsholz of Elberfeld in his work " Dcr 

 deutschc Spitz in Wort nnd Bild," published 

 in 1906. In Stuttgart there is a beautiful 

 stone monument representing a vine-dresser 

 with his faithful companion the Spitz. 



In Italy this same race of the canine 

 species is called the Volpino, in France the 

 Lulu, in Belgium the Keeshond, and in 

 England the Pomeranian. 



Ludwig Beckmann, of Brunswick, who 

 in 1894 wrote a history of the races of dogs, 

 gives the following table showing the various 

 classes into which the Spitz may be divided : 



I. — Langhaarige Spitze (long-haired), 

 (a) Deutsche Spitze. 

 (6) Nordische Spitzartige Hunde. 

 (c) Siidliche Spitzartige Hunde. 



II. — Stockhaarige Spitze (wire-haired). 



{a) Sibirische Laika (Samoyede). 



{b) Elchund der Lappen (Elkhound). 

 III. — Kurzhaarige Spitze (short-haired). 



{a) Belgischer Spitze (Schipperke). 



(h) Chinesische Spitzartige Hunde 

 (Chow Chow). 



(c) Indische Spitzartige Hunde. 



Wolfsholz states that the remains of the 

 Wolfspitz have been found in great numbers 

 in caves in Germany, and in lake dwellings 

 in Switzerland and North Italy ; and this 

 statement is borne out by an article in the 

 Kleiiitier und Geffliigcl Zeitung, Stuttgart, 

 by Albert Kull, in 1898. That a variety 

 of the Pomeranian or Spitz has found a 

 habitat in Italy for many years is well 

 known to all English travellers in that 

 country. The type peculiar to Italy is of a 

 bright yellow or orange colour, and is fast 

 becoming a favourite one in England at 

 the present time. 



Ouida, in her httle book " Ruffino," says : 

 " Rome was his birthplace, but he had 

 never been able to comprehend how his 

 race, with their double coat of long hair, 

 and short hair underneath, ever became 

 natives of a hot country like Italy. Yet it 

 was quite certain that natives they had 



