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' Encyclopedia, published in 1816, a good picture 

 of a white Pomeranian is given with a fairly truthful des- 

 cription. In this work he is said to be " larger than the 

 common sheep dog." Rees gives his name as Canis Pomer- 

 anius, from Linnaeus, and Chien Loup, from Buffon. From 

 these examples, therefore, we may infer that the large Pomer- 

 anian, or Wolf Spitz, was already known in England towards 

 the end of the eighteenth century at least. There are, how- 

 ever, 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 exhi- 

 bited. 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 1890 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 1890 and 1905 is 

 unprecedented in the history of dog shows, although it is 

 right to add that this extraordinarily rapid rise into popularity 



