Author | Historian | Lecturer

Dr Stephanie Howard-Smith is a pet historian and a lifelong animal lover. She holds a PhD on the cultural history of lapdogs in the eighteenth century and has lectured in English and History at universities across the UK.

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Yap!

A Short History of Small Dogs

(October 2026)

Almost from humanity's very beginning, beloved small dogs have been trotting devotedly by our sides. Yap! follows in the pawprints of the breeds we have grown to love and cherish, from the small dogs touchingly memorialised in Ancient Rome through to Paris Hilton's chihuahua and the pet influencers of 21st-century, via the pug who colonised Napoleon's marital bed, King Charles II's spaniels and celebrity terriers in Victorian pubs.

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Praise for Yap! A Short History of Small Dogs

  • "YAP is a book that is every bit as charming, smart, perfect, and delightful as its subject [...] I loved it."

    — Elizabeth Gilbert, author of EAT PRAY LOVE

  • "A brilliant juicy bone of a book, with lashings of history, culture and canine chronicles."

    — Chris Packham

  • "If you love little dogs, you will love this book -- and if you don't, these delightful surprising and informative pages will change your mind!"

    — Sy Montgomery, author of How To Be A Good Creature and The Good Good Pig