Pomeranian Trivia
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38 free Pomeranian trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This Pomeranian trivia quiz follows the breed from farm-guarding German Spitz to royal lapdog. Questions cover the Baltic region behind the name, the five spitz sizes and the Zwergspitz, Queen Charlotte's Gainsborough-painted pair, Boswell's 'Pomer' of 1764, and Queen Victoria's Marco, whose 1891 debut halved the breed's size within her lifetime. The coat, colours, weights and heights all get their turn, along with the ruff and plumed tail. There are questions on the two Poms who survived the Titanic, the breed's Westminster milestones, the FCI's Keeshond connection, the meaning of Pomerania and its cities, and health matters from alopecia X and the goose-honk cough to litter sizes and life expectancy. Pop culture is covered by Boo, the Facebook Pomeranian with 16 million likes, his Kesha moment and his airline job. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one, and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its citation. If you enjoy it, try our Dogs and Chihuahua quizzes next.
30 of 38 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Pomeranian is named for Pomerania, a Baltic region now split between which two countries?
Poland and Germany
Poland and Germany. The region gave the dog its name but not its ancestors: the breed was bred down from the larger German Spitz, and Pomerania is credited only with shaping the early type.
Q 02The Pomeranian is a spitz, a dog type whose German name means what?
Pointed
Pointed. Spitzhund is German for 'pointed dog', a name usually put down to the tapering muzzle that the whole family shares.
Q 03The Pomeranian's German name is Zwergspitz; what does 'Zwerg' mean?
Dwarf
Dwarf. In Germany the Pom is simply the tiniest variety of one breed, the German Spitz; the next two up are the Kleinspitz and Mittelspitz, the small and medium spitz.
Q 04The Pomeranian is the smallest spitz; which fellow spitz is among the largest?
Alaskan Malamute
Alaskan Malamute. It was bred for strength and stamina, yet the tiny Pom is a miniaturised descendant of the same northern stock.
Q 05German Spitz dogs, the Pomeranian's ancestors, were originally kept on farms for which roles?
Herding and guarding
Herding and guarding. Over the centuries some lines were bred ever smaller for the house, and by the time the dog was small enough for a lap its main job was simply company.
Q 06What kind of coat gives the Pomeranian its puffball outline?
A double coat
A double coat. A soft, fluffy underlayer sits beneath long, straight, harsh outer hairs, which is why owners are told to brush the dog two or three times a week.
Q 07The long hair around a Pomeranian's neck and chest forms what well-known feature?
A ruff
A ruff. America's breed standard uses that word and Britain's says 'frill': the hair grows especially thick around the neck, shoulders and chest, framing the head like an Elizabethan collar.
Q 08Before red and orange came into fashion, the earliest Pomeranians were usually which colour?
White
White. Black and brown dogs turned up now and then, but the red and orange coats now thought typical caught on only after Queen Victoria came home from Italy in 1888 with a small red Pom.
Q 09Breed standards say a Pomeranian's head should resemble that of which wild animal?
A fox
A fox. Britain's standard asks for a head 'foxy in outline', and in the eighteenth century the breed's larger forerunners were commonly known simply as fox dogs.
Q 10How does a Pomeranian carry its plumed tail?
Flat over its back
Flat over its back. The standard wants the tail set high and lying straight along the spine, so that its long, spreading hair fans forward over the body.
Q 11In which Italian city did Queen Victoria fall for the small Pomeranian she took home in 1888?
Florence
Florence. The dog she brought back was far smaller than the Poms then usual in Britain, and once breeders began choosing only the smallest specimens to match it, the breed shrank fast.
Q 12Which breed belongs, like the Pomeranian, to the spitz family?
Akita
Akita. The big Japanese breed and the tiny Pom share the family's pricked ears and thick fur, which is why both are counted as spitz breeds.
Q 13Which English painter put a large Pomeranian beside the young couple in The Morning Walk of 1785?
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough. His dog is far bigger than a modern Pom, and he also painted a Pomeranian bitch and her puppy on their own, a picture now in the Tate.
Q 21What did the Carpathia's crew first do about Elizabeth Rothschild's Pomeranian?
Refused to take the dog aboard
Refused to take the dog aboard. She had kept it hidden all night in lifeboat 6 and would not leave the boat without it, so the crew gave way.
Q 22What do vets advise walking a Pomeranian on, to protect its delicate windpipe?
A harness
A harness. The breed is prone to a collapsing trachea, in which the windpipe loses its tubular shape, so a harness moves the pull of the lead from the throat to the chest.
Q 23In 1988 Great Elms Prince Charming II became the first Pomeranian to win which top prize?
Best in Show at Westminster
Q 14Which coat colouring, linked to deafness and eye defects, does Britain's Kennel Club reject in Pomeranians?
Merle
Merle. The mottled pattern carries a risk of deafness and eye defects, worst in pups bred from two merle parents, and the British standard singles it out as unacceptable.
Q 15At which royal residence did Queen Victoria, owner of the Pomeranian Turi, die in 1901?
Osborne House
Osborne House. The Queen is reported to have asked for Turi, her favourite Pom, to be brought to her bed in her last hours at her seaside home on the Isle of Wight.
Q 16Which breed with a misleading name is really a German Spitz, a close cousin of the Pomeranian?
American Eskimo Dog
American Eskimo Dog. German immigrants brought their spitz farm dogs to the United States, where the breed took a new name and went on to star as a circus performer.
Q 17James Boswell's 1764 Grand Tour diary records a Frenchman's beloved Pom with what name?
Pomer
Pomer. Boswell rode to Mannheim with the pair and was harder on the owner, a Lyons merchant he called 'a great lubberly dog with a head like a British tar'.
Q 18Thomas Pennant's 1769 A Tour in Scotland discusses the offspring of a Pomeranian and which animal, bred by a Londoner?
A wolf
A wolf. Pennant reported the litter bred by a London animal merchant; a Pomeranian of his day was a sturdy 20 or 30 pounds, so the match was less far-fetched than it sounds now.
Q 19Which New York hotel hosted America's first Pomeranian specialty show, in 1911?
The Waldorf-Astoria
The Waldorf-Astoria. Queen Victoria's kennels had made the little dog the rage among the rich, and American high society took it up in the same style.
Q 20Two Pomeranians survived the Titanic; what breed was the third surviving dog?
Pekingese
Pekingese. The dog, Sun Yat Sen, left in lifeboat 3 with his owners, the Harpers; a French Bulldog, a Chow Chow and two Airedales were among the dogs that went down with the ship.
Best in Show at Westminster. The bright orange champion weighed only four and a half pounds, yet judge Michele Billings ranked him above every other group winner in the final.
Q 24Which grey spitz, once a rebel party's mascot, shares the Pomeranian's FCI breed standard?
The Keeshond
The Keeshond. Its name is usually traced to 'Kees', the Dutch Patriot leader Cornelis de Gyselaer, whose dog became his party's emblem; when the party was crushed in 1787 the breed fell from fashion.
Q 25Which much larger breed is crossed with the Pomeranian to make a fashionable designer hybrid?
Siberian Husky
Siberian Husky. The result, the Pomsky, is not a recognised breed, so no standard fixes its looks: many pups pair a husky's markings with a Pom's fluffy coat, but nothing is guaranteed.
Q 26The name Pomerania comes from Slavic roots meaning what?
Along the sea
Along the sea. Dictionaries trace the name to the Slavic po morze, 'by the sea', taken from a tribe who lived on the Baltic shore; it reached English by way of medieval Latin.
Q 27The rings that hold a Pomeranian's windpipe open are made of what, which weakens in a collapsing trachea?
Cartilage
Cartilage. When the rings turn too flexible, the windpipe narrows or even closes as the dog breathes in, a problem that mostly strikes small breeds.
Q 28Why are Pomeranians especially prone to dental disease?
Crowded teeth in a small mouth
Crowded teeth in a small mouth. In so small a jaw the teeth overlap or grow in at odd angles and trap food, which builds into tartar, so daily brushing is the standard advice.
Q 29Alopecia X, seen in Pomeranians, long went by which nickname?
Black skin disease
Black skin disease. As the hair thins over the trunk, the bare skin underneath often darkens; the cause is unknown, which is where the 'X' comes from.
Q 30Collapsed trachea, common in Pomeranians, produces what distinctive symptom?
A honking cough
A honking cough. Vets liken the sound to a goose's honk; it tends to flare up when the dog gets excited, which is why owners are told to keep an affected Pom calm.