| Pomeranian | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||||
| Other names | Pom Dwarf Spitz German Toy Spitz | ||||||||||||||||
| Common nicknames | Pom Dog, Pom-Pom, Pom, Zwers | ||||||||||||||||
| Origin | Pomerania: Germany and Poland | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Dog (domestic dog) | |||||||||||||||||
The Pomeranian (also known as a Pom, Pommy or Pome) is a breed of dog of the Spitz type that is named for the Pomerania region in north-west Poland and north-east Germany in Central Europe. Classed as a toy dog breed because of its small size, the Pomeranian is descended from larger Spitz-type dogs, specifically the German Spitz.
The breed has been made popular by a number of royal owners since the 18th century. Queen Victoria owned a particularly small Pomeranian, and consequently, the smaller variety became universally popular. During Queen Victoria's lifetime alone, the size of the breed decreased by half. As of 2017, in terms of registration figures, since at least 1998, the breed has ranked among the top fifty most popular breeds in the United States, and the current fashion for small dogs has increased their popularity worldwide.