30+ Facts About Pomeranians That You May Not Know

The American Kennel Club lists 23 accepted colors and combinations, including beaver, black, black and tan, blue, blue and tan, blue merle, blue sable, chocolate, chocolate and tan, cream, cream sable, orange, orange sable, red, red sable, tri-colored, white, wolf sable, beaver sable, black and brindle, blue brindle, chocolate merle and chocolate sable.

The area known as Pomerania, from which the Pomeranian gets its name, is found on the south shore of the Baltic Sea, and spreads over part of Germany and part of Poland.

Before 1888, Pomeranians were an obscure breed. But that was the year Queen Victoria took a fateful trip to Italy, where she saw her first Pomeranian, named Marco, and fell in love with the breed. When the Queen of England becomes an advocate for a particular dog breed, people notice, and so the breed's popularity exploded.

They're currently ranked 19th, which shows a drop from 13th place between 2008 and 2012. Still, out of 177 recognized and registered breeds, being 19th most popular is nothing to sneeze at.

The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show has awarded the Best in Show title to 107 dogs over its long history. Eleven of those winners have been from the toy group, but only one of those was a Pomeranian. Ch. Great Elms Prince Charming II was "the smallest dog in the ring" at 4.5 pounds. According to the New York Times, the Pom "was the choice of not only the judge but also of the majority of the 7,500 spectators. Every time he was gaited ... the crowd roared its approval."