Potcakes are indigenous dogs found on several Caribbean islands, namely the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos. Potcake is a name derived from the food caked on the bottom of the pots that the Bahamians cooked in. Bahamians would feed these leftover cakes to the stray dogs of the islands, and eventually, the dogs came to [...]

The Papillon, French for “butterfly”, is a small, friendly, elegant breed of dog of the Spaniel type, distinguished from other breeds by its large butterfly-like ears. The Papillon is one of the oldest of the toy Spaniels. The history of the Papillon is traced through works of art. The earliest toy spaniels resembling the Papillon [...]

The Argentine Dogo is the result of a breeding program that was begun in 1925. Antonio Nores Martinez was not quite 18 years of age when he told his younger brother (by one year), Agustin, of his desire to create a new breed of hunting dog. A breed of dog that started with the Fighting [...]

The Dandie Dinmont Terrier was bred from selected specimens of the rough native terrier of the Border hunters in the Cheviot Hills between England and Scotland and was first recorded as a distinct type of breed about 1700. He was distinguished by his preeminence in hunting the otter and the badger. A direct line of [...]

Photo by Craig Koshyk Weimaraners were first bred by the court of Weimer in Germany during the early 19th century. While the dog’s earliest origins are something of a mystery, the historical record and various theorists have tried to fill in some of the holes. Some believe the Weimaraner is the result of albinism in [...]

The dachshund – sometimes called the “wiener dog” or “hot dog” – is among the most popular dog breeds in the U.S. and has been since the 1950s. The dachshund as we know it today originated in Germany, where it is called Teckel. It is believed that the dachshund was developed slowly, over a hundred [...]

The Shetland Sheepdog originates from the islands that lie northwest of the British Isles, between Scotland and Norway, approximately 50 miles north of Scotland and a bit south of the Arctic Circle. As can well be imagined, the climate is harsh and the terrain, rugged. The limited space of these islands has resulted in this [...]

The Origins of the Spaniel: Although most dog books insist that spaniel is a corruption “espagnol”, meaning Spanish or Spain, there are other authorities that believe the word may be a corruption of “espanir”, French for flatten out. The Italian name of the Piedmontese Spaniel is the Spinone, a continental hunter that points and retrieves. [...]