The posts shared here about grooming styles, contests, and “Asian Fusion” always generate interest and feedback, and sometimes the feedback expresses a point of view that finds all this “grooming stuff” a little silly, a modern day contrivance. It makes us wish we could time travel back in time to pre-Renaissance Europe with a few of these naysayers, and visit that moment when one lady of the court said to another, “I know. Let’s shave the hair off this dog’s butt and groom him to look like a lion!”

The Lowchen is the breed we have in mind when imaging this scenario, but the breed’s trademark lion cut wasn’t entirely a whimsical fancy of bored noblewomen. The dog acted as a living hot water bottle. Its trimmed bottom half was slipped under the blankets for warmth, while the hairy upper body attracted fleas out of the bed and away from the sleeper.

We love a good controversy as much as the next person, and the Lowchen has a couple of them swirling around its exact origins. One theory maintains that Lowchens originated in what is now Germany, France and Belgium with connections to breeds that may have been early progenitors of the poodle (if not an actual player in the development of the Toy Poodle).

Another theory holds that the Löwchen has its origins in the Mediterranean area and is directly related to Bichon type breeds. A third conjecture is that the Löwchen is from Russia, and even from Tibet. We’re holding out for a fourth theory that makes them extraterrestrials. If we’re to believe Lowchen owners, this would suddenly make sense of a lot of things (grin).

“Lowchen By A Fountain,” an oil painting by Jan Wyck, Dutch Baroque Era Painter