[Quiet Man Cometh]

I have a breed book from Europe and I go leafing through the thing and wonder what the heck things are part of the time.

Doesn't help that my most active "dog study" was in elementary school and half of those breeds either don't exist anymore, exist in more forms, or carry more politically correct names. Took me a bit to learn that not only is the "Mexican Hairless" properly called the Xoloitzcuintli, but that it comes in different sizes.

I find it interesting when I see new "designer dogs" come out that are really recreations of old ideas. Take the "Pugalier." It's a small English spaniel bred with a pug. In other words, it's a newer version of the English Toy Spaniel. Somewhere a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel breeder is very angry about this development, as the Cavalier breed used in the mix was devoted to removing the pug influence from the breed after there were no traditional English style toy spaniels left. (The history of the English Toy Spaniel and the King Charles Spaniel is something of a semantic mess. Fun!)