Pomeranian

The Pomeranian is the size of a teapot and has the confidence of a general. It marches into any room, fluffs itself to full height, and expects applause.

The surprise is its ancestry. The Pomeranian descends from large Spitz dogs of Pomerania, a Baltic region of Europe, that herded sheep and pulled sleds. Those dogs weighed up to thirty pounds. Over generations, breeders shrank them to fit in a lap.

Royalty did the rest. Queen Charlotte brought Pomeranians to Britain in the 1700s. Queen Victoria fell for the breed in 1888, when she acquired a small one in Florence, and she bred them smaller still. Fashion followed the Queen.

Fame found small dogs in odd places. Two of the three dogs that survived the Titanic were Pomeranians.

The attitude has never shrunk. A Pomeranian barks at mail carriers, nods at snowflakes, and guards the sofa from anything larger than a cushion. The fluff is real. Under the double coat, the dog is mostly confidence.

Brush it often and handle it gently. In return you get a loyal shadow who thinks you are the most important person in the house, and is usually right.