I was reading a book recently called the The summoner and the protagonist has a salamander pet who has a potential to become a dragon.
Dragons might actually exist, they may have lived during the period of dinosaurs or even before that and then most likely salamanders came and newts could maybe belong that family. You see myths have a certain degree of truth (even if it's all fake) therefore there could be possibility, after all what's not possible?
There were creatures with many similarities to dragons, but there have been no fire-breathing reptiles, lol. There were small-ish dinosaurs that flew, and in fact, birds are their most direct descendant.
Hmm, sausages. :D