Lap Dog

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:

    Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own;
    William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

    This dog and man at first were friends;
    But when a pique began,
    The dog, to gain some private ends,
    Went mad and bit the man.
    Oliver Goldsmith (1730?–1774)