Perform a Google search on “overweight Pomeranian,” and one will get pages and pages of diet tips for a Pom.  Add the word, “Keeshond” to the search, however, and one will get a very different result.

The Keeshond was once known as the “Overweight Pomeranian” (which breed, one wonders, should be more insulted by this?) and, in fact, the Kees was exhibited in England in 1870 by that name. Mercifully, it was later renamed the “Dutch Barge Dog,” and later still, officially changed to Keeshond in 1925. The Kees, however, was never a Pomeranian.

Meanwhile in Spain, the “Pomeranian Sheepdog,” according to author, Beverly Pisano, was the name by which the Great Pyrenees was sometimes known.

Oddly enough, the breed we know as the “real” Pomeranian was also known as the Zwergspitz in some countries, and was first recognized by England’s Kennel Club as the “Spitzdog,” a name not that far afield since the Pomeranian is a miniaturized relation of the powerful spitz-type sled dogs of the Arctic. In fact, Poms originally weighed an average of 30 pounds until the 19th century when they were bred down to become companion animals (thank you, Queen Victoria).  Some breeders report that the gene for bigger dogs is still present in the breed because every so often, a larger “throwback” Pom that resembles its larger ancestors will pop up in a litter here and there.

As for the origins of the breed name, it appears to be still a subject of debate. Most think the breed was named for an area of northeastern Europe (now part of Poland and western Germany) that was once called Pomerania. Others think the breed originated in Iceland, but didn’t begin to resemble the Pom we know today until it reached Germany, the region’s name coming from the Slavic, “po more, “or “land by the sea,” in reference to its geographic nearness to the Baltic Shore.

Image: Pomeranian Portrait by Jai Johnson is available for purchase as wall art, home decor, and lifestyle items here.