Description: The Lowchen breed is also called the little lion and its coat is cut to enhance that look.
It is part of the small breed dogs and stands at 10 to 13 inches in height and weighs in at 9 to 18 pounds.
It lives to about 14 years.
The head is short but has a broad skull.
With the muzzle, the same length or a touch shorted than the rear of the skull, this is broad to look at.
The Lowchen nose is dark in colour and most commonly black.
The eyes are set well into the skull and are round and dark.
The ears are pendent with feathering and of a moderate length.
They have a short body, with a high set tail that is medium in length.
This breed has a long coat that is not curly but has a slight wavy look.
Colours we see are, black and lemon, or white we also see speckled colouring.
History: The Lowchen came from Europe from about 1610.
This breed is thought to be from Germany due to its name meaning "Little lion".
It has always been groomed to look like a little lion.
It was used as a foot warmer, by the ladies of the time.
There are pictures showing this dog, going back as far as 1500's but the breed is not clear and there can be confusion around as to whether these pictures are of the Bicon, or the Lowchen.
After the two World Wars numbers had dropped considerably and it was noted, in the Guinness book of records in the 60's, as the rarest breed.
Although more dogs are around today this is still seen as a rare breed of dog.