A lapdog or lap dog is a dog that is both small enough to be held in the arms or lie comfortably on a person's lap and temperamentally predisposed to do so. Lapdogs are not a specific breed, but is a generic term for a type of dog of small size and friendly disposition.
Lapdogs historically were kept in many societies around the world by individuals with leisure time, as docile companion animals with no working function. Genetic analysis reveals that lapdogs are among the earliest specific types of dogs to live with people. Today, most lapdog breeds fall into the Toy breed group.
Read more about Lap Dog: Appearance, History and Breeds, Extinct Lapdog Breeds, Idiomatic Use
Famous quotes containing the words lap and/or dog:
“Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth
A Youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown,
Fair Science frown’d not on his humble birth,
And Melancholy mark’d him for her own.”
—Thomas Gray (1716–1771)
“He reproduced himself with so much humble objectivity, with the unquestioning, matter of fact interest of a dog who sees himself in a mirror and thinks: there’s another dog.”
—Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926)