What breed of dog is Mr. Winkle? What exactly is that thing? I’m inclined to think that it’s just a garden variety Pomeranian, albeit an extremely unusual one. He looks like he’s been groomed by a top-notch professional, using entirely hand scissoring techniques, so I’m guessing that his strange appearance is partly a result of being his deliberately coiffured in such a way as to accentuate his eyes and give his ears an odd shape. I’m guessing that his tongue is a result of poor dentition and an abnormally short lower jaw. Is this a pretty fair assessment? Or his he genetically defective in some way? He seems to have unusually long front legs—is this a trait common in Pomeranians? Or is he some other breed altogether?
From that site’s FAQ:
I stopped calling him Mr. Winkle a long time ago. For a while I was calling him John Henry, but now, I’ve decided to simplify things, and just refer to him as my penis.
…what?
Well, I read that too, but rather than accepting it at face value, I interpreted it to mean “we’re addressing the question because everybody’s so curious and it would look as if we were being evasive if we didn’t, but if we sought out a professional’s opinion and revealed it to everybody, then little Mr. Winkle would lose his magical mojo.”
“Moreover, we encourage people to think that he’s the reincarnation of a 10th century Buddhist monk, because it helps sell more T-shirts, calendars, and coffee mugs. So don’t try to tell us that it’s just a weird looking dog, because he’s paying for my beach house in Malibu, and I’d like to keep it that way”
If I was forced to guess, I would offer: Pomeranian mix.
Pom/Chihuahua/Poodle would be my guess. The head shape and eyes look halfway between Pom & Chi, but the coat looks like a poodle-cross.
No telling really, though.
He looks more Photoshopped than anything else… 
Actually, my first thought was that he was a posed toy. After looking at the pix again, I’m not sure he’s not. The photos that caught my eye as being a Real Dog the first time I flipped through seem like they may be different dogs after a closer look.
It’s a real dog. I’ve seen an interview with his owner which involved her dressing him up for the calendar shoots while he just panted and posed.
My guess is a Pom/Chi cross.
Oh yeah—he’s real. The little bugger is HUGE. His web site has had over 40 million hits since its inception, his calendars sell at Border’s, and he was just on the Jane Pauley Show yesterday morning. This dog is definitely going places.
I’d say that there’s virtually no question that his primary lineage is Pomeranian, but he is just so damnably strange looking. There’s no question about one thing, though—he definitely gives me the creeps. :eek:
OK but… WHO is Mr. Winkle? Meaning, I’ve never heard of him before; is he recently famous? For being a funky looking dog? Or did he save Timmy from a well or something?
Inquiring minds wanna know.
Basically, he’s just this really creepy looking dog that is owned by a professional photographer named Lara Jo Regan. She claims that she found the dog wandering in an unincorporated area near Bakersfield, CA, while returning home from a photo shoot late one night. She has capitalized on the dog’s unusual appearance by posing him in cute outfits and marketing these images in the form of T-shirts, calendars, etc.