Is the Pomeranian one of the world's oldest dog breeds?

The statement is misleading because it treats an old ancestral lineage and a modern standardized breed as the same thing. The Pomeranian belongs to the German Spitz family, whose history is described as ancient, but that does not prove the modern Pomeranian is itself one of the world’s oldest continuously existing breeds.

The FCI’s official standard includes the Pomeranian as the German Toy Spitz and says German Spitz dogs descend from ancient European spitz-type dogs. However, the Royal Kennel Club describes the Pomeranian as a smaller dog bred down from the German Spitz and records its appearance in Britain in 1870, indicating that its recognizable modern form is substantially newer.

Archaeological research also cautions against assigning modern breed names to ancient dogs. Formal dog breeds were largely established during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, so prehistoric spitz-like ancestry cannot by itself establish the age of the modern Pomeranian breed.