Portal:Dogs

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The dog (Canis familiaris or Canis lupus familiaris) is a domesticated descendant of wolves. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. Dogs and the modern gray wolf share a common ancestor. Dogs were the first species to be domesticated over 14,000 years ago, before the development of agriculture, though genetic studies suggest the domestication process may have begun over 25,000 years ago. Due to their long association with humans, dogs have gained the ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet that would be inadequate for other canids.

Dogs have been bred for desired behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes. Dog breeds vary widely in shape, size, and color. They have the same number of bones (with the exception of the tail), powerful jaws that house around 42 teeth, and well-developed senses of smell, hearing, and sight. Compared to humans, dogs possess a superior sense of smell and hearing, but inferior visual acuity. Dogs perform many roles for humans, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, companionship, therapy, aiding disabled people, and assisting police and the military.

Communication in dogs includes eye gaze, facial expression, vocalization, body posture (including movements of bodies and limbs), and chemical communication (scents, pheromones, and taste). They mark their territories by urinating on them, which is more likely when entering a new environment. Over the millennia, dogs have uniquely adapted to human behavior; this adaptation includes being able to understand and communicate with humans. As such, the human–canine bond has been a topic of frequent study, and dogs' influence on human society has given them the sobriquet of "man's best friend". (Full article...)

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Short-haired bitch, two years old

The Weimaraner is a German breed of hunting dog of medium to large size, with history going back at least to the nineteenth century.

It originated in the area of the city of Weimar (then in Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, now in the state of Thuringia), for which it is named. It was recognised as a breed in 1891. It is an all-purpose gun dog, characterised by its speed and stamina, its good nose and eye, and its courage and intelligence; in Germany it is not considered suitable for keeping as a companion dog. (Full article...)

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Komondor at the 2007 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

A Komondor during the Working Group judging at the 2007 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is a two-day benched conformation show that takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City every year. Dog owners from around the world come to show their dogs. Dogs are judged closely by eminent American Kennel Club (AKC) judges. It is considered by many to be America's most prestigious dog show.

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Montage showing the morphological variation of the dog.

A dog breed is a particular type of dog that was purposefully bred by humans to perform specific tasks, such as herding, hunting, and guarding. Dogs are the most variable mammal on Earth, with artificial selection producing upward of 360 globally recognized breeds. These breeds possess distinct traits related to morphology, which include body size and shape, tail phenotype, fur type, etc., but are only one species of dog. Their behavioral traits include guarding, herding, and hunting, and personality traits such as hypersocial behavior, boldness, and aggression. Most breeds were derived from small numbers of founders within the last 200 years. Because of their adaptability and usefulness to humans, dogs are the most abundant carnivore species worldwide.

A dog breed will consistently produce the physical traits, movement and temperament that were developed over decades of selective breeding. For each breed they recognize, kennel clubs and breed registries usually maintain and publish a breed standard which is a written description of the ideal specimen of the breed. Other uses of the term breed when referring to dogs include pure breeds, cross-breeds, mixed breeds and natural breeds. (Full article...)

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General images -

The following are images from various dog-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Bison surrounded by grey wolf pack (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 2Two Shih Tzu puppies (from Puppy)
Image 3Sled dog types, sketched in 1833 (from Dog breed)
Image 4NASA astronaut Leland D. Melvin with his dogs Jake and Scout (from Dog behavior)
Image 5Basenji puppy (from Puppy)
Image 6Cave wolf skull, Natural History Museum, Berlin (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 7Ancient Hawaiian petroglyphic depiction of an ʻīlio (Hawaiian Poi Dog) (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 8A wolf mandible diagram showing the names and positions of the teeth (from Dog anatomy)
Image 9Mammoth bone dwelling, Mezhirich site, Ukraine (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 10St. Bernard puppy (from Puppy)
Image 11Frontal view of a dog skull (from Dog anatomy)
Image 12Chihuahua mix and purebred Great Dane (from Dog breed)
Image 13Sled dog types, sketched in 1833 (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 14A little mongrel puppy on the shore, on Halong Bay (from Puppy)
Image 15The dog's retina shows the optic disc and the eye's vasculature. (from Dog anatomy)
Image 16Dog knee (from Dog anatomy)
Image 17Boxer and Labrador Mix (from Dog breed)
Image 18Cart dogs, c. 1900; different in appearance but doing the same work (from Dog type)
Image 19The dog diverged from a now-extinct population of wolves 27,000–40,000 years ago, before or during the Last Glacial Maximum, when much of the mammoth steppe was cold and dry. (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 20External anatomy (topography) of a typical dog: 1. Head 2. Muzzle 3. Dewlap (throat, neck skin) 4. Shoulder 5. Elbow 6. Forefeet 7. Croup (rump) 8. Leg (thigh and hip) 9. Hock 10. Hind feet 11. Withers 12. Stifle 13. Paws 14. Tail (from Dog anatomy)
Image 21The Greenland Dog carries 3.5% genetic material inherited from a 35,000-year-old wolf from the Taymyr Peninsula, Arctic Siberia. (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 22A dog's whiskers (from Dog anatomy)
Image 23Montage showing the morphological variation of the dog. (from Dog breed)
Image 24Lateral view of a dog skull, jaw closed (from Dog anatomy)
Image 25"Five different types of dogs", c. 1547. (from Dog breed)
Image 26Sled dogs, 1833 (from Dog type)
Image 27Australian Cattle Dog puppy (from Puppy)
Image 28A labradoodle puppy and a Golden Retriever puppy playing together (from Puppy)
Image 29Cavapoo puppy (from Puppy)
Image 30The difference in overall body size between a Cane Corso (Italian mastiff) and a Yorkshire Terrier is over 30-fold, yet both are members of the same species. (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 31Puggle puppy (from Puppy)
Image 32Map depicting possible phylogeographic origins of dingoes, New Guinea singing dogs, and Island Southeast Asian and Oceanian dogs, based on recent genetic evidence (Fillios & Taçon, 2016) (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 33Example of a dog making prolonged eye contact with a human (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 34The nose of a dog (from Dog anatomy)
Image 35A dog's teeth (from Dog anatomy)
Image 36Reduction in size under selective breeding – grey wolf and chihuahua skulls (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 37Petroglyph depicting two dogs hunting – Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 38Newborn Basenji puppies (from Puppy)
Image 39Tesem, an ancient Egyptian sight-hound (from Dog breed)
Image 40Basset Hound (from Puppy)
Image 41Mandible of the Bonn–Oberkassel dog from the oldest dog-human co-burial dated 14,200 years old (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 42Golden Retriever puppy (from Puppy)
Image 43A drawing by Konrad Lorenz showing facial expressions of a dog - a communication behavior. X-axis is aggression, y-axis is fear. (from Dog behavior)
Image 44Bloodhound puppy (from Puppy)
Image 45West Highland White Terrier puppies (from Puppy)
Image 46Schematic anatomy of the ear. In dogs, the ear canal has a "L" shape, with the vertical canal (first half) and the horizontal canal (deeper half, ending with the eardrum) (from Dog anatomy)
Image 47A cavapoo and maltipoo running back while playing fetch (from Dog behavior)
Image 48President Lyndon B. Johnson with a basket of puppies in 1966 (from Puppy)
Image 49Watercolor tracing made by archaeologist Henri Breuil from a cave painting of a wolf-like canid, Font-de-Gaume, France, dated 19,000 years ago (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 50Chihuahua puppy (from Puppy)

Did you know (auto-generated) -

... that a Hot Dog Bean screenprint from Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans II sold for $258,046 in 2013?
... that Eagle-Dogtooth Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, contains part of the Experimental Lakes Area, a controlled area for conducting scientific experiments in lakes?
... that Stan Brakhage's film Sirius Remembered shows the decomposition of the corpse of his family's dog?
... that a dog chasing its master and a crab sidestepping an intruder can both be modeled mathematically by motion along a Tschirnhausen cubic?
... that the route of the Bergebyløpet N70 long-distance sled dog race is entirely north of the 70th parallel north?
... that when Wilson Starbuck's play Sea Dogs was staged in 1939 it "contained some of the foulest language heard on Broadway" at that point in history?

More did you know... -

...that Tillamook Cheddar (pictured), a Jack Russell Terrier from Brooklyn, New York, is the world's most successful and widely shown animal artist?
...that grape and raisin toxicity is a potential cause of acute renal failure in dogs?
...that Able Seaman Just Nuisance is the only dog to have been officially enlisted in the Royal Navy?
...that the Moscow Water Dog, developed as a water rescue dog, preferred to bite drowning people instead of saving them?

...that Fred Gipson was an American author best remembered for creating a fictional dog featured in a book and the classic 1957 movie Old Yeller?
...that Pal, owned by animal trainers Frank and Rudd Weatherwax, was the name of the first dog to portray Lassie?
...that fans in the Dawg Pound at Cleveland Browns Stadium used to throw dog food at opposing players?
...that the sled dog Togo is considered one of the heroes commemorated by the Iditarod dog sled race which is currently running across the U.S. state of Alaska?

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Stubs : Aksaray Malaklisi, Alopekis, Argentine pila dog, Armant (dog), Banjara Hound, Barbado da Terceira, Braque Dupuy, Bruno Jura Hound, Bulgarian Scenthound, Cane Lupino del Gigante, Cane Paratore, Cantabrian Water Dog, Barrocal Algarvio, Český Fousek, Faroese Sheepdog, Georgian Shepherd, German Spitz Mittel, Gończy Polski, Grand Griffon Vendéen, Himalayan Sheepdog, Hygen Hound, Indian Spitz, Japanese Terrier, Kaikadi (dog), Koyun dog, Kumaon Mastiff, Levriero Italiano, Mahratta Hound, Majorca Ratter, Montenegrin Mountain Hound, Northern Inuit Dog, Phu Quoc Ridgeback, Plummer Terrier, Porcelaine, Pyrenean Mastiff, Rampur Greyhound, Romanian Mioritic Shepherd Dog, Romanian Raven Shepherd Dog, Saint Miguel Cattle Dog, Sapsali, Sarabi dog, Sardinian Shepherd Dog, Schweizer Laufhund, Segugio Italiano, Segugio Maremmano, Segugio dell'Appennino, Sinhala Hound, Slovak Cuvac, South Russian Ovcharka, St. Hubert Jura Hound, Stichelhaar, Taigan, Tazy, Telomian, Treeing Cur, Vikhan, Villano de las Encartaciones, Villanuco de Las Encartaciones, White Shepherd, White Swiss Shepherd Dog, Xiasi Dog More stubs...
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