The Pomeranian is Man-made Toy Dog. Man-made because:
***its size has been shrunk to be a toy dog; KC Standard(English) stipulating the show size to be 4- 4 ½ lbs for males and 4 ½- 5 ½ lbs for females; FCI (European/Asian/other countries) requires a height range from 18-22 cm from the withers…which size-wise is quite close to the KC Standard; AKC(US) relaxes the range from 3-7 lbs, ideally 4-5 lbs, but more recently I am seeing more of the heavier range in the US show ring.
***its anatomy or physical construction has also been changed significantly, making it quite different from its natural ancestors, the spitz.
From the above, you see Ch Konig of Rozelle(born 1891), an earlier Pomeranian Champion very much unchanged in body construction from its original natural ancestor. On the center, is Eng Ch Lady Fair of Hadleigh(1959) and on the right, is Am Ch Pufpride Sweet Dreams, said to be the record holder for show wins and champion producer in US history. You see a dramatic change is size and construction. The dramatic change is construction are as follows:
***from the headpiece, you see smaller ears, smaller almond shaped eyes, shorter muzzles, a more pronounced stop, a prettier and sweeter expression. The KC stardard specifices a wedge- shaped muzzle, something like a short V whilst the American Pomeranians tend to be more of a short U which they call Baby doll faces.
***the head placement of the modern Pomeranian, with its neck set up high like a cobra, what Pat Hastings term as a Ewe neck…very un-natural and weak…but so proud and beautiful!
***the body is much shorter, as termed to be a short coupled dog. The more recent American standard calls for a shorter than square construction. Personally, I believe that it should call for a square construction such that when measured the point of shoulder to the point of buttock should be equivalent to its distance to the ground; thus, square. A body shorter than square would have a tendency to ruin movement…so short a body would make the Pomeranian move like a crab. In canine anatomy and movement, crabbing is incorrect and a faulty movement. Ironically, I do not see this fault being heavily penalized by judges. Another consequence of this shorter than short requirement is for the rear legs to have less angulation, since a good angulation will tend to give the optical illusion of a longer dog. Thus, you have more patella problems; ie, patella luxation. There is also less drive on the rear.
***the original spitz had a good shapely tuck up whilst the newer poms tend to be more barrel shaped with a much lesser tuck up.
***the earlier construction had legs quite closer in the front and wider at the back whilst there is a later trend, specially in the US, which calls for the distance of the fronts and rears to be the same. As such, the movement has shifted from the original single track movement to the newer two track movement, making the modern construction in the Pomeranian a completely a different animal.
***coats today are far far more profuse. All the standards requires a harsh coat and the AKC standard specifies a soft coat as a major fault. A harsh coat is required because a soft coat would not be enough to keep them warm in their winter habitat; they will simply die otherwise….and yet, I still a lot of judges favoring(instead of penalizing)the softer coats which oftentimes are more glamorously attractive compared to their harsh coat counterpart.
***the resurrection of new colors which popularity over the ages has killed; then there is the emergence of totally new colors, said to be not in the historical gene make-up of the true Pomeranian. (More of this in the next blog or so)
***there is a growing expectation for really high tailsets today…so high, that it is unnatural and perhaps may have negative implications on reproduction….again, they look nice, so why not?
***the legs of the present Pomeranians should have that tip-toe look, like that of a ballet dancer…to be otherwise, would mean a down at the pastern, which is a major fault in the AKC Standard. How different they are from their earlier Pomeranians and their natural spitz ancestors!
All these, makes the Pomeranian today a man-made toy dog. A toy has to be beautiful, pretty and cute!...something so beautiful you would like to play with…like a toy…like a doll! It has no other reason to exist except to be a toy!
May 5, 2009