Alice White
The history of the Pekingese breed is still hidden under a veil of secrecy. The date of birth of the breed cannot be determined even approximately. Therefore, the origin of the Pekingese was overgrown with legends and myths.
One of the legends of the history of the Pekingese breed says that the prince fell in love with a simple girl. But her beauty also captivated the evil wizard. When the beauty rejected the claims of the sorcerer, he turned her into a lotus flower and the prince into a squirrel. However, their love did not disappear. The squirrel was tenderly caring for the flower. Seeing this, the Buddha took pity and blessed the lovers.
The fruit of love was the Pekingese, whose bushy tail resembles a squirrel, and whose character and physique are the tenderness and fragility of a lotus.
#1 Ancient sources contain many references to the breed.
#2 They may have a common ancestry with Tibetan spaniels.
#3 Squat long-haired creatures are known from the 5th millennium BC.
Looty, (get the spelling correct) was a Pekingese Lion dog. The little dog had been found by Captain John Hart Dunne of the 99th Regiment after the Summer Palace near Beijing (Peking, as it was then known) had been looted on 8 October 1860 during the Second Opium War. On his returned to England he presented it to Queen Victoria. She was one of the first Pekingese dogs in Britain and her name makes rather ironic reference to her origins and acquisition.