The use of the term toy to refer to dogs is based on tradition, and is not a precise classification. Dogs traditionally referred to as toy dogs are usually the very smallest dogs. Toy dogs can be one of several dog types. Some are of ancient lap dog types, and some are small versions of hunting dog, spitz, or terrier types, bred down in size for a particular kind of work or to create a pet of convenient size. The very smallest dogs are sometimes called Teacup, although no major dog registry recognizes that term.
Read more about this topic: Toy Group
Famous quotes containing the words toy and/or dogs:
“In the great department store of life, baseball is the toy department.”
—Los Angeles Sportscaster. quoted in Independent Magazine (London, Sept. 28, 1991)
“We recognize caste in dogs because we rank ourselves by the familiar dog system, a ladderlike social arrangement wherein one individual outranks all others, the next outranks all but the first, and so on down the hierarchy. But the cat system is more like a wheel, with a high-ranking cat at the hub and the others arranged around the rim, all reluctantly acknowledging the superiority of the despot but not necessarily measuring themselves against one another.”
—Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. “Strong and Sensitive Cats,” Atlantic Monthly (July 1994)