Fairfield-Echo.com

A handful of breeds were named for people. Ludwig Dobermann, a German tax collector in the mid-19th century, developed the elegant and protective breed that bears his name to, in the words of Britain's Kennel Club, "protect him and ... 'encourage' slow payers." In the United Kingdom, the second "n" is retained in the name of the breed, but it's missing in the American name of the dog -- as are part of the breed's ears, since ear cropping is common in the United States but illegal in England.

The Parson Russell Terrier -- more commonly known as the Jack Russell -- was named after the Rev. John Russell, a Victorian-era clergyman with a fondness for hunting terriers. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was named after King Charles II -- although the breed was named centuries after his death because the dog was redeveloped by fanciers in England after World War II, separating it from the King Charles Spaniel, which is known in the United States as the English Toy Spaniel, a favorite dog of the British gentry for centuries. There's also the Gordon Setter, named after the Duke of Gordon.

Arguably, you can say that the Saint Bernard was named after a person. But the breed was more likely named after the monastery where the dogs became famous for their heroic rescue efforts. (This is no longer practiced, by the way. The monastery now "borrows" Saint Bernards from nearby towns for tourist season but doesn't keep any otherwise.)

Then there's the Dandie Dinmont Terrier, who isn't named for a real person at all, but after a character in Sir Walter Scott's "Guy Mannering." There's something else fairly unusual about the long-bodied, short-legged dog with a puff of fur on his head and whiskers on his muzzle: Dandies are so rare that the breed is considered on the verge of extinction. Every year, more pandas are born than Dandies.