3 Quirkily Cute Dog Breeds

Anyone looking to share a home with a more unusual dog would be spoilt for choice because there are quite a few to choose from whether hairless, spotted or breeds with wonderful dreadlock coats. However, there are some breeds that really stand out from other dogs thanks to their delightful faces. Below are just three breeds that have found their way into the hearts and homes of people throughout the world thanks to their weirdly cute looks.

1. The Griffon Bruxellois

Another little dog with a big personality and very unusual looks, the Griffon Bruxellois was often called a "street urchin" which suits them to a tee. Griffons are charming characters with their mischievous looks and fun-loving personalities. It would be fair to say that anyone sharing a home with a Griffon Bruxellois would always be entertained by their four-legged friend whether they have a rough or smooth coat. Smooth coated dogs are called Petit Brabançon and they are just as adorable in looks and nature as their rough coated counterparts. Griffons have Affenpinschers in their ancestry, hence their monkey-like faces and outgoing personalities, but they also have Pugs in their lineage too which explains their playful natures too. These little dogs have been around for a very long time and were a popular choice with the Old Masters who included them in many of their paintings.

Griffons are the perfect size for people who live in apartments being just 18 to 20 cm tall and weighing in at anything from 3.6 to 4.5 kg. However, they may be small, but they are busy and like nothing more than to be out and about doing things thanks to their terrier like personalities. Like the Affenpinscher, the Griffon has a slightly undershot jaw, a physical trait their inherited from the Affen and it is this that adds to their monkey-like faces. They also have quite wiry coats although smooth coated dogs have slightly softer hair and no undercoat. Griffons come in a variety of colours which includes black, red and a charming black and tan.

Sharing a home with a Griffon is a real pleasure because these little dogs like to entertain their owners and being so intelligent, they quickly learn how to please which is something they love to do. They are known to form very strong ties with the people they love and hate being left on their own for too long which means they are best suited to people who usually stay at home during the day so their four-legged companion always has company.

2. The Affenpinscher

Affens are the perfect lap dog with males and females being anything from 23 to 30 cm tall and weighing just 2.9 to 6 kg. However, although Affens love spending time being petted, they also like to be out and about doing their own thing. Affenpinschers with their monkey-like faces boast a quite unique appearance. The breed is one of the oldest on the planet when it comes toy breeds having been a popular choice since the seventeen hundreds. Native to Germany, Affens have always been able to make an impression on people all over the world not only because of their weirdly cute looks, but also because they are renowned for having fun-loving natures and a bit of a naughty streak in them which is certainly in keeping with their looks.

The monkey-like faces can be attributed to the fact that Affenpinschers have slightly undershot jaws. The other thing that adds to their adorable looks is the way the hair stands away from their faces which is nicely accentuated by their colouring. This together with their mischievous, playful natures adds to an Affens wonderful appeal. It is a well-known fact that Affenpinschers love two things in life which is being around the people they love and their food.

3. The Bedlington Terrier

When it comes to striking looks, the Bedlington Terrier has to be among the breeds that really does stand out from the crowd thanks to their adorable lamb-like appearance. Not only does a Bedlington have an extraordinary wedge-shaped head with their silky, white topknots, but they also have gorgeous woolly coats which adds to their overall charming appeal. It is all too easy to forget that Bedlingtons are indeed terriers and therefore very skilled hunters and that they have always been highly prized in the field for this reason. The breed is a very old one with their ancestry going back to 1877 when they were bred in northern England although their actual origins have been lost in the mists of time. It's thought that Bedlingtons are the result of crossing various terriers and they were given their name after the region where they were first bred.

Apart from the very unusual shape of their heads, the Bedlington also has quite a different type of coat compared to other dogs because it is soft, linty to the touch and quite dense which means their hair tends to stand well away from their bodies. Their coats also have a well-defined kink in them which adds to their overall charming appeal.