@lemondog  

 
There is still a possibility that the diamond dogs are both Ogre and dwarf, for it has been shown that these anthropomorphous dogs are of very many different breeds, and only the royals had communicated with the ponies, the only one who was a common diamond dog, was unusually concise in his use of language, which indicates very limited knowledge of the language of the ponies. Garcia in very stark contrast to Andyprice has used original written language as seen on page 11, although only three letters are visible. And these are not close to what the ponies use. Since the royal heirs to rule the great kingdom are actually more stewards than rulers, they must be knowledgeable and educated to fulfill their duties. Among other things, one must master equestrian, which can be the language of commerce in the well-known part of Equus.
 
There are diamond dog pirates, which meant there are overseas colonies or coastal colonies from which they can sail out to sea and hunt for merchant vessels. This may prove my argument that Caninia is a loose federation with very many enclaves and colonies with extensive autonomy. As with Diamondia / Dimondia. And it seems that the rulers of Caninia have little power to determine the details of these enclaves, only when key interests are involved for contemporary diamond dogs. Again, this is not surprising from Norse Scandinavia where violence and arbitrariness were widespread.
 
A little known breed of the diamond dogs is probably the Anuegyptian jackals that have disappeared in Southern Equestria after their land was annexed into the pony empire. Maybe they still exist somewhere out there in the very large desert landscapes, possibly as Equestria’s answer to the Bedouins (who may be sphinxes).
 
All indications are that both the Abyssinians and the diamond dogs had a bad relationship with the ponies in the past, and this had persisted until the Storm King’s conquests in the south, even though it had been peaceful for a long time. Abyssinians were primarily traders, while the diamond dogs may have been responsible for raw material extraction from mining and shipping of these. But the two peoples disliked each other very intensely, and it had probably been going on for two thousand years or more. Ever since Baast`s revolt against King Anubis in Anugypt and possibly when the diamond dog pirates began attacking abyssinian merchant ships. There is certainly a sea of ​​historical conflict between the cats and the dogs. So much so, that Spike struggles a lot to settle the conflict between them.

@Phoenixflambe  

 
Spike is still working on it in the last episode of S9 - twenty years later. The abyssinians, who we know are magical cats with shape-changing abilities that give them anthro bodies, and the diamond dogs that are as diverse as the ordinary dogs in our own world, can form individual bonds of friendship - but definitely not between people.
 
When I had my brainstorm on how to place Caninia which must be inside the very large Equestria, two important placements were used; Diamondia and the lost city in the Appaloosan Mountains seen in the first arc of the IDW comics, when the Mane 6 had to save CMC from the changelings. Diamondia is isolated in the northwest of Canterlot / Ponyville, not far from Seaddle (Seattle). The Appaloosan Mountains are located either as part of the Macintosh hills or south of it, and were abandoned as an ancient dwarf city, with ruins, statues and everything, even with a monster as well. There are many indications that the diamond dogs south of Ponyville that Rarity and later the Mane 6 came across were little more than bandits and uncultured vagabonds, in being in abandoned lands that they had dominated in the past. Diamondia cannot be judged as a kingdom, it is too small, something that Rainbow had noticed when she saw little else but a village with a small castle.
 
As the Doghead mountain is located in a mountainous landscape from which there is a ravine with an opening into the subsoil, I had decided to place it in the Unicorn range which is definitely a new name for the mountain range. We know that the ponies expanded west from the east after the middle Equestria with the Canter Mountain, and thus arrived on the west coast many centuries later, often by getting around the mountains or through mountain passes, and thus can easily avoid the diamond dogs. The “capital” of Caninia cannot be compared to Canterlot because it is actually a place of residence rather than a city, with large castles with educational centers, administrative functions and accommodation. It is located in an inaccessible valley with mountains in all directions, and the “go carts” were necessary to be able to travel around the kingdom, which meant that the valley itself is not Caninia.
 
The story of how the kingdom “divided” with two queens is very interesting; since the older one did not try to stop the younger one from moving out and building up her own place of residence, it meant that the diamond dogs do not have a concept for the formation of states, they are significantly more attached to mid-term or permanent flocks that one can join or voluntarily leave. The story of how Trixie became queen of Diamondia suggests that the diamond dogs are very concerned about merits in being able to find “suitable” queens and kings for their own herd, and the use of titles seems to be important for a hierarchy that concerns more than just the single herd, when larger societies need to be built. Since the two queens and four princesses - who have the same father - decided to have queen titles for everyone, it meant that the diamond dogs have very few authoritative titles in their hierarchy. This suggests a very loose federal model for the diamond dogs`s kingdom which may thus consist of very many self-governing enclaves, colonies and lands. For me, who is from Scandinavia, it is not so strange, in Denmark a thousand years ago the Danes could then have very many “little kings” who accepted the authority from a “great king”, this is almost unheard of in British tradition.
 
Caninia and Equestria probably did not have a good relationship with each other for a very long time, after all the ponies had invaded the eastern part of Equestria, we do not know how the lost city originated in the Appaloosan Mountains. During the conference on Mount Metazoa, a mysterious diamond was seen in the registration room where everyone who came to visit had to register and thus get in touch with each other. There, the mysterious diamond dog and Princess Celestia exchanged angry glances. Celestia does not like him, and it was mutual. I think it’s the previous king, the father of the six dog princesses before he retired. For a statue from the Appaloosan Mountains shows just such a diamond dog with his appearance, “Zaggy Stardust” - and at the paws of him, lies a female diamond dog who is very similar to Queen Katherina Proudpaws.
 
This suggests that the diamond dogs have a clear distinction between “little” queens based on merit and queens as stewards of the great kingdom, based on their blood ties. And that is what many of the obligations for the royals were about, as the six sisters are divided in two between a tradition-bound queen and a progressive queen. The mysterious diamond dog from Mount Metazoa may have made her eldest daughter queen while he was still king, to guarantee the succession and the royal duties, which Katherina took very seriously, this is not unusual from Scandinavia in the past. There were succession conflicts so common between 800 and 1500, that many kings often let their older hereditary princes be hailed as king, even though they were kings only in name.
 
In contrast to the mysterious king who may be their father, the six daughters had decided to be open to meeting the ponies, possibly because they were “fresh” in the game of power and want to explore the possibilities with the new reigning princess in Canterlot. We know that Celestia was very busy in her last years as the reigning princess, maintaining a diplomatic network inside and outside Equestria, and may have left the reason why Twilight could send out a request that she wish to send envoys to Caninia. As a result of the visit, the diamond dogs have received more than they had previously imagined.

@Phoenixflambe  
Thank you. Though I’m not sure I might become one, for all I know I’m probably overthinking everything I detailed. If I did want to do an editorial of sorts it would be how Twilight Sparkle’s movie foil wasn’t really Tempest Shadow (or only just), but the Storm King, because both hero and villain desired one thing and saw friendship as a liability (before the former realized she abandoned friendship).

@AndoAnimalia  
Well said, maybe you could also become a reviewer like him. :)

@Phoenixflambe  
These two did look different from the classic Diamond Dogs, but they weren’t wearing gem studded collars and/or have the distinctive gorilla-like arms.
 
A part of me thinks they’re like all the different creatures from Klugetown, having no ties to or coming from other societies, but were put in the story to represent the situation; the Klugetowners were meant to be as strange and scary-looking to contrast Equestria, while the dogs who saved Chummer were meant to serve as entities who prove to him that we can choose to be friends but at the same time hold little to no resemblance to possibly even the Diamond Dogs. I mean, the Klugetowners are all made up of different creatures that don’t come from any particular society, there are even fish and shark inhabitants living in this desert town (and they can breathe without something like water headphones, from another cartoon).
 
All in all, Salty and Pepper may be Diamond Dogs, or they might just be like the inhabitants of the unhinged free market settlement of Klugetown or the impoverished, royal and elite-hating dwellers of Drungar (from The Stormy Road to Canterlot). They are not part of a race and are just put in there to serve as symbolic entities that contrast the characters’ world and viewpoint; the big, scary, and mean Klugetowners are the opposite of the small, cute, and friendly ponies, while the dogs (the worst enemy of cats) compassionately nursed Chummer back to health, despite his initial viewpoint that all creatures are out for their own benefit. Creative license doesn’t always work with reality and science.

@AndoAnimalia  
Mmhm, they must be Caninia and I’m highly certain they weren’t exiled. It is as Silver-Quill said, they look different from the classic ones we knew.

@Phoenixflambe  
Did you see the flashback where Chummer was rescued by two Diamond Dogs?

@AndoAnimalia  
Part 2 of the abyssinian arc? Yeah I have. I suspect its possible he may be reserving half of the season 10 arc for different stories. Maybe Abyssinian-Diamond Dog peace treaty?

@Phoenixflambe  
Well I’m not really sure if Diamondia is still canon.
 
Hey did you see the latest My Little Pony issue? More Diamond Dogs, or at least I think they are.

@AndoAnimalia  
Is that so? Then Diamondia is still canon? The seasonwunners can now rejoice! And no, I’m not one, but I get their point.

@Phoenixflambe  
Ambrosia Muffinbuns did mention that the ones that appeared in season 1 are distant cousins.

@lemondog  
If those Caninian dogs are more dignified then the ones we’re used to are different. So yes to some extent there are two kinds.

@Phoenixflambe  
I myself am curious. The Shiba-inu diamond dog( here ) who escorted Rarara’s party do have a cartoony tusk on its jaw, but most of the other diamond dogs( here ) have their lower tusks clearly located inside their lower lips. So its a 50/50 on which style they’ll draw Fido, Spot and Rover. Still, I do hope that the OG cousins retain the ogre and monstrous like appearance and mannerisms that made the Diamond dog race very unique compared to the more civil and girly ponies.
 
My expectations might’ve been too much, but I always imagined the diamond dog race to be a combination of ogre and dwarf, specially once this panel(upper left) showed up in the comics. Lost kingdoms underground, magnificent carved stone works and the capability of fashioning items of beauty(diamond studded collars) along with weapons and armor, as well as appreciating beauty(Fido did call Rarara ‘beautiful’ and they like gems) really screams of Dorf. However them being the slacker asshats, kidnapping and enslaving plus the fact that they really look monstrous and are larger than ponies really do scream Ogre to me. Lets not forget greed too since they all share that trait all in all.
 
PS: The six sister dogs are cute designs still and I am happy that they retain a lot of Diamond dog traits like studded collars, large fore-arms and more importantly, top-heavy bodies compared to the sleek bodies the Abyssinians have. The story was super rushed however and is.. well, kind of a head scratcher and a let down. >_>

@lemondog  
I don’t think Diamondia has been retconned in anyway to remove it from existence but I am curious how would this artist draw the show diamond dogs if not like ogres

Honestly, the story is incredibly super rushed. That and these Diamond dogs feels so far removed to their OG ‘cousins’ in the first season of MLP:FIM. The sisters didn’t even evoked any hint of monstrous inspiration to them unlike the OG ‘cousins’ who are surely inspired by ogres, goblins and more importantly, Gollum of LotR fame. All of the sisters and those who are under them are very civilized and (more damning in my eyes) incredibly elegant compared to the uncouth, monstrous and nasty ‘cousins’ that ponynapped the main six. They might as well be a different species rather than be in the same family as the trio ‘cousins’ and their goonsquads.
 
Yeah. I find the six sisters cute and pat-worthy. But yeah, they just dont feel like Lauren Faust Diamond dogs at all. Lol, they even speak fluent Equestrian compared to the OG ‘cousin’ diamond dogs. The Diamond dogs in Queen Trixie comics feels more Diamond dog than the six sisters if you ask me.

@AndoAnimalia  
It’s over 9,000!

Indiana Embereyes (my favorite for now) looks like a husky; Jennino Lanterlight looks like a cocker spaniel; Moonbeam Twinkletail may look like a cairn terrier; both Ambrosia Muffinbuns and Fiona Floppyears might be retrievers; and Katherina Proudpaws could be a saluki (a dog I used to have as a pet when I was a child).
 
These are all guesses.

@Alphamon_Ouryuken  
Sadly, it appears they have to rush this.

Indiana doge could be a husky?

Seeing stuff like this makes me somewhat disappointed than that the series ended after Season 9, I feel like we could have gotten at least two more seasons out of these concepts alone!

@DTLA  

 
Also Super Powers.

It’s over 9000!

Let me guess, they can summon the Power of the Elements too.