Didn't inspect the statues closely, and I'm no expert on sculpting, but the walrus like ones are seals or sea lions. My first guess is Australian Fur Seals, but would have to look them up in one of my seal books.
Since these have the external ear flaps, they are not "true seals". Sea Lions, Australian Fur Seals, and a few others have external ear flaps, so it's definitely possible that's what these are.
The Japanese Spitz is *very* similar to our eskies, but the JS is limited in size. If you recall our discussion on the three sizes for eskies: toy, miniature, standard, the JS would be basically comparable to the miniature variety of eskies. So, our medium size. But they are only a bit smaller than some our standards as well, so not that far off from them either. I really think that if someone snuck a JS into one of our shows over here that no one would blink an eye. And likewise in return if the miniature size eskie was used. Many of us think they have a common history, just that they separated at some point (like less than 100 years ago) and are really the same basic dog, just somewhat removed from each other for the past years. Sort of parallel development to some degree.
Anyway, yes, it's all been very interesting so far, and we're both anxiously awaiting the puppies. Signs are showing up and we'll hopefully be getting into that within hours.
And pics to follow soon...
