The Pomerat is a combination of a Rat Terrier and a Pomeranian, the smallest member of the Spitz family of dogs. Martin Luther, Michelangelo and Mozart were among owners of Pomeranians which are also known as Zwergspitz, Dwarf Spitz, and Loulou. They are descended from the Spitz family of dogs, the sled dogs of Iceland and Lapland, and take their name from the province of Pomerania, in Germany where they were reportedly bred down to size. Originally they were much bigger weighing up to 30 pounds but were bred to be smaller. The English Kennel Club recognized the Pomeranian in 1870. They became more popular when Queen Victoria, who bred more than 15 dog breeds, saw the breed while in Italy in 1888 and brought one home. He was named Marco and weighed 12 pounds. That same year a Pomeranian was entered into the American Kennel Club stud book. The American Kennel Club recognized the breed in 1900. The Rat Terrier was bred in the United States as an all-purpose farm dog to kill rats and and hunt small game. Among its ancestors are the Old English White Terrier, Manchester Terrier, and Bull Terrier which were likely crossed with Beagles, Whippets, and Italian Greyhounds. President Theodore Roosevelt reportedly gave the breed its name after his own terrier sorted out the rat problem at the White House. Most farms had a Rat Terrier between the 1910s and 1940s but the breed declined when farmers started using poison to kill off rats and other vermin. A few breeders kept the breed going and today they are still popular as family pets and working dogs used by the police as contraband search dogs and providing comfort to those in hospices or in Assisted Living.
