The Pekingese dog originated in China and was highly regarded by the Chinese Imperial Court, who call them the Dog of Foo or Fu. They have been around for over 2000 years and are very sacred to the Emperors of China even today. They were so loved by the ancient Chinese that they were carried in the sleeves of their robes.

There are different accounts of how the Pekingese originally came to be. They both are very entertaining theories.

One story tells about a lion and marmoset that fell in love. To the lion's dismay, he was too large for the marmoset so they went to see the Buddha for help. The Buddha helped to shrink the lion to the marmoset's size and the result is the Pekingese.

The other story is called The Butterfly Lions. Again, a lion fell in love only this time with a butterfly. They both knew their size difference was an obstacle, so they went to see the Buddha who allowed their size to both change so they could meet halfway. The result of this match was the Pekingese.

Legend says that the Pekingese came from the Buddha and as such was a temple dog. He was made a small dog so he would be able to chase and destroy little demons that may be in the temple. Story has it that the Peke's heart was so big, that he was unable to hurt anything.

Did you know that the famous Pekingese was owned by many famous people? There are greats such as Shirley Temple, Loretta Swit (Hot Lips from MASH), Elizabeth Taylor, Betty White, and Princess Diana's grandmother Barbara Cartland, which all were proud owners of Pekingese dogs. Unfortunately, Barbara's Peke was killed by an automobile.

When the famous ship Titanic went down, only two dogs actually survived and one of them was a Pekingese owned by Henry Sleeper Harper. The other was a Pomeranian owned by Miss Margaret Hays.

In James Herriot's book, "Mrs. Pumphrey and Triki Woo", the dog was played by 'Bambi', a Pekingese owned by Miss Marjory Warner.

Mickey Mouse's pet, Pluto, had a girlfriend named Fifi the Peke, which was a Pekingese.

Theodore Roosevelt's daughter, Alice Lee, had a Pekingese pet named Manchu.

Author Stephen King makes reference to the Pekingese dog in his book "It" as well as his short story titled "The Body".

Did you know you can purchase dozens of different merchandise with the Pekingese on it? If you are a Pekingese owner, you can have merchandise custom-made for you. If you spend a lot of time on the computer, wouldn't you love to have a photo of your Pekingese on your mouse pad? This is just one of many Pekingese related products available in many of the stores that sell animal products.