Dogs

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(Airedale, King of the Terriers, Waterside Terrier, Bingley Terrier) Airedale Terriers are the largest breed of terrier. They have a well-balanced body with straight front legs, a level topline, and a deep chest. The Airedale Terrier has a long, flat head with ears that hang forward and slightly to the side. Their large teeth close in a scissors bite and their noses are black. Typically, the Airedale Terrier’s erect, curly tail is docked. The breed has a thick coat of wiry, bristled hair that is lined with a soft, fluffy undercoat. Predominately tan in color, an Airedale Terrier’s coat also has black markings and, in some cases, bits of red.

Airedale Terriers are valiant and protective. They have a sociable, kind demeanor and they often aim to please. The breed can get distracted by small animals, other dogs, or food. In order for an Airedale Terrier to be happy, he needs to feel loved and appreciated. Also extremely intelligent, Airedale Terriers can be obedience trained at a very high echelon. As puppies, Airedale Terriers are carefree, fun-loving, and playful. For the most part, the breed is accepting of strangers, but they can become nervous if they feel threatened. Airedale Terriers frequently play too rough and rowdily for small children, but if they are raised and trained properly, they make excellent family pets. Without proper training, Airedales may become domineering or disobedient.

Airedales do fine around children when they have had sufficient training. Airedales are highly intelligent and if trained properly, will listen to every word their master commands. They are extremely loyal, patient, kind, loving and very gentle but won�t take any sort of abuse and will defend their territory. It is important to familiarize them with young children from birth and they will adopt the kids as their own and be very protective.

Affenpinscher

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ffen) The Affenpinscher is an undersized, friendly-faced relative of the terrier. The breed features a thick coat of fur that occurs in longer, beard-like tufts around the face and neck. Despite the Affenpinscher’s small stature, he is not a delicate dog. Affenpinschers boast square-shaped bodies and stout, strong limbs. They are a very well-boned breed with short, arched necks and deep chests. Affenpinschers have round, prominent eyes with a wise, owl-like expression and short, upturned noses. The breed’s tails are usually docked to about two-thirds of their natural size. Their ears are regularly cropped so that they are pointed and stand upright. The Affenpinscher’s coat is typically black or dark gray in color, but tan and red coats are also considered acceptable.

Its coat is shaggier over the head and shoulders forming a mane, with shorter coat over the back and hind quarters.

the Affenpinscher's nickname is monkey dog.

Yorkshire Terrier

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The ultra long, fine, silky coat parts along the spine and falls straight down on either side. It is steal blue on the body and tail, and tan elsewhere. Puppies are usually black & tan. The tail is usually docked to half its length. If the dogs are not for showing, the owners usually go for the shaggy look. The Yorkie has a flat head, medium-sized length muzzle, a black nose, and regular teeth. The eyes are extremely vivacious and the ears are v-shaped, erect or semi-erect. The tail is docked to medium-length and is carried level with its back. Its limbs are straight with round feet and black nails. The hair on the head is so abundant that it is almost always necessary to gather it in a band to keep from going into the dog's food bowl and to give the animal maximum visibility. Some owners choose to trim the hair on top of the head.

Miniature Schnauzer

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The Miniature Schnauzer is a small, squarely-proportioned dog with a long head, bushy beard, mustache and eyebrows. The thick, prominent eyebrows and long mustache are often trimmed to accentuate the dog's square cut shape. The front legs are very straight. The tail is usually docked. The oval eyes are dark colored, and the v-shaped ears fold forward when left natural or are cropped to a point and stand erect. It has a long head, strong muzzle, a well-developed black nose and a scissors bite. Coat colors include salt & pepper, black, white or a harsh black & silver outer coat with a soft undercoat.

Very perky and bright-eyed. Loving and intelligent. Energetic, affectionate, and obedient. Playful, happy and alert, they like children. The Miniature Schnauzer enjoys time and companionship from its owner. Without the proper leadership, it can be feisty and fairly dog-aggressive - putting on a show of superiority without necessarily intending to fight. This can be fairly dangerous for the Miniature Schnauzer, who will challenge even large dogs, sometimes bringing more trouble on himself than he really wanted. Socialize this breed well with other dogs when it is still a puppy. If properly introduced, and if the dog does not see himself as pack leader, the Miniature Schnauzer will get along with another dog. They make good companions and family pets. Schnauzers tend to bark a lot, but it does not have a yappy bark it sounds like a low carried-out voice, howl of a voice. They make good guard dogs and mouse catchers. They are excellent watchdogs and are great to travel with. Some can be reserved with strangers, but most love everyone. Socialize well. Do not allow this little dog to developed Small Dog Syndrome, a human induced behavior where the dog feels he is pack leader to humans. This can cause a varying degree of behavior problems, including, but not limited to separation anxiety, willful, nervous, barky, guarding, bold and sometimes temperamental, not hesitating to attack much bigger dogs. A mentally stable dog, who gets enough mental and physical exercise will have a totally different personality. These are not Miniature Schnauzer traits, but rather behaviors brought on by the way the dog is treated by the people around him. It is all up to the humans. As soon as the humans start being true pack leaders, the dogs behavior will change for the better.

Dog type

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Dog types are broad categories of dogs based on function;^[1] dog types are not identical to modern dog breeds but dogs identified primarily by specific function or style of work rather than by lineage or appearance, including ancestral forms (or landraces) that arose undocumented over a long period of time.

The terms dog breed and dog type are sometimes used interchangeably, but they have different meanings. Modern dog breeds are registered with one or more kennel club, which acknowledges a particular breed standard,^{[note 1]} and keeps records of pedigree.^[2] Members of modern dog breeds share a common set of heritable characteristics^[3], determined by the kennel club that recognizes the breed. These characteristics can be functional (e.g., the characteristic folds in a bulldogs skin serve to protect it during fights), but need not be (e.g., many breed standards require particular coat colors). Although many purebred dogs also belong to one or more types, dog types are not recognized by kennel clubs. A dog type can be referred to broadly, as in Bird dog, or more specifically, as in Spaniel. Dogs raised and trained for a specific working ability rather than appearance may not closely resemble other dogs doing the same work, or any of the dogs of the analogous breed group of purebred dogs.

Dog collar

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A dog collar is a is a piece of material put around the neck of a dog. A collar might be used for control, identification, fashion, or other purposes. Identification tags and medical information is often placed on dog collars. Collars are also useful for controlling a dog manually, as they provide a handle for grabbing. Collars are often used in conjunction with a leash, and a common alternative to a dog collar is a dog harness. Dog collars are the most common form of directing and teaching dogs.^[1]

Dog collar is also an informal term for the clerical collar used by Anglican vicars and other clergy

Basic collars

Leather buckle collar with traditional buckle.

Buckle collars, also called flat collars, are usually made of nylon webbing or leather (less common materials can include polyester, hemp, or metal) with a buckle similar to a belt buckle, or a quick-release buckle, either of which holds the collar loosely around the dog's neck. Identification is commonly attached to such a collar; it also comes with a loop to which a leash can be fastened.

Nylon quick-release buckle collar with identification and medical tags.

Flea collars are impregnated with chemicals that repel fleas. They are usually a supplementary collar, worn in addition to the conventional buckle collar.
Elizabethan collars, shaped like a truncated cone, can be fitted on a dog to prevent it from scratching a wound on its head or neck or licking a wound or infection on its body.
Break-away collars look similar to buckle collars, but have a safety mechanism installed that allows the dog to break free of the collar if excessive force is applied. These collars are useful in situations where a non-quick release collar could get snagged and strangle the dog.
Stud collars are leather collars fitted with dulled points and/or metal studs that traditionally prevented another animal from biting the dog's neck. In modern societies, stud collars are more commonly considered a fashion accessory.

Training collars

Several types of collars are used for the purposes of training dogs, though sometimes a collar is not used at all (such as in the case of dog agility training, where a collar could get caught on equipment and strangle the dog). Each training collar has its own set of advantages and disadvantages (briefly outlined below) which trainers might consider before using a select one. Training collars are typically used for training only and not left on the dog's neck all the time, as some collars can be harmful or dangerous if left on a dog unsupervised.

Flat collars

Some dogs are trained on leash using a buckle or quick-release collar.

Slip collars

Slip collar, showing how the chain pulls through the loop at one end.

Slip collars (also called choke chains, slip chains, or choke collars) are a length of chain or nylon rope with rings at either end such that the collar can be formed into a loop around the top of the dog's neck, just behind the ears. The ring which connects to the leash goes over the back of the dog's neck, not under.[1] When the leash is attached to the dead ring the collar does not constrict on the dog's neck. When the leash is attached to the live ring the chain slips (adjusts) tighter when pulled and slips looser when tension is released. A quick jerk with an immediate release, euphemistically called a leash pop, snap, or correction, is used to coerce the dog into a 'heel' position.

Prong collar

Prong collar; the looped chain limits how tightly the collar can pull in the same way that a Martingale functions.

Prong collars (also called pinch collars) are a series of chain links with blunted open ends turned towards the dog's neck so that, when the collar is tightened, it pinches the naturally loose skin around the dog's neck. The design of the prong collar is such that it has a limited circumference, unlike slip collars, which do not have a limit on how far they can constrict on a dog's neck. The collar is designed to prevent the dog from pulling by causing pain and/or discomfort.

Prong collars can also be turned inside out (with the prongs facing away from the dog's skin), to function like a martingale.[2] Rubber tips are occasionally placed on the ends of the prongs to protect against scratching or puncturing the skin. Like the slip collar, the prong collar is placed high on the dog's neck, just behind the ears, at the weakest point.[3]

Some dogs can free themselves from prong collars by shaking their head so that the links pop out, so some trainers have come to use a second collar (usually a flat buckle collar) in addition to the prong collar.

Martingale collar

Martingale Collar with Chain Loop; martingale collars also come with a fabric loop instead of chain as well as optional buckles on both styles.

Martingale collars are recommended for Sighthounds because their heads are smaller than their necks and they can often slip out of standard collars. They can, however, be used for any breed of dog. Their no-slip feature has made them a safety standard at many kennels and animal shelters^{[citation needed]}. A martingale collar has 2 loops; the smaller loop is the "control loop" that tightens the larger loop when pulled to prevent dogs from slipping out of the collar. Similar to a prong collar, the martingale has limited constriction on the dog's neck and applies even pressure.

Head halters

The halter-style collar controls the dog's head but does not restrict its ability to pant, drink, or grasp objects.

Head halters, sold under the brand names Halti or Gentle Leader or Snoot Loop, are similar in design to a halter for a horse. This device fastens around the back of the neck and over the top of the muzzle, giving more control over a dog's direction and the intensity of pulling on a leash than collars that fit strictly around the neck. Pressure on this type of collar pulls the dog's head towards the handler.

Controversy

Proponents of the head halter say that it mimics the way a higher-ranking wolf shows dominance by grabbing a lower-ranking pack member around the snout with his jaws^{[citation needed]}.

Opponents of the head halter say that some dogs find it unnatural and uncomfortable^{[citation needed]}. If the collar is too tight, it may dig too deeply into the skin or the strap around the muzzle may push into the dog's eyes^{[citation needed]}. Injury can result from improper use of the head halter; if a dog is jerked suddenly by the leash attached to the head halter, the dog's neck is pulled sharply to the side, which might result in neck injury.

E-Collars

Shock collars (or training collars, remote training collars, e-collars, electronic collars and hunting collars) are electronic training aids developed to deliver an electrical signal, vibration, tone, through contact points attached to a dog collar.

At best, these collars give a false sense of security due to addressing the symptoms and not the cause of the behavior. At worst, they produce dogs that are fearful and/or aggressive due to the nature of the method.

Wolf collars

Wolf collars or protection collars are metal collars fitted with large spikes radiating away from the dog, usually worn by dogs protecting livestock in case they are attacked by wolves or other predators. Such collars protect the neck of a dog from direct attack. It is rare to see these collars being used in modern societies.

] JASA Force Collar

A force collar is a leather collar with metal prongs staggered along the inside; similar to a prong collar.

Dog training

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Dog training: the process of teaching a dog (Canis lupus familiaris) to perform certain actions in response to certain commands which the dog is trained to understand. It is a general term which does not, by itself, describe what or how the dog is taught.

There are many methods and objectives of training. Dogs may be trained to:

follow obedience commands (part of obedience training)
perform tricks casually or for circus acts
be a guide dog to lead the blind
be a rescue dog to find victims of a disaster
be a hunting dog to aid in hunting
aid in herding, tracking, and retrieving
follow agility commands
serve as a guard animal

As pack animals, wild dogs have natural instincts that favor cooperation with their fellow dogs. Many domestic dogs, either through instinct or breeding, can correctly interpret and respond to signals given by a human handler.

Pug

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For other uses, see Pug (disambiguation).

Pug

[[Image:

|250px]]
A black Pug

Other names

Chinese Pug
Mops
Puggu
Carlin
Dutch Bulldog
Mini Mastiff

Country of origin

China^[1]

[hide]Traits

[show]Classification & standards
FCI	Group 9 Section 11 #253	standard
AKC	Toy	standard
ANKC	Group 1 (Toys)	standard
CKC	Group 5 - Toys	standard
KC (UK)	Toy	standard
NZKC	Toy	standard
UKC	Companion breeds	standard

The Pug is a small breed of dog with a wrinkly, short muzzled face . The word "pug" may have come from the Old English pugg or "puge", which were affectionate terms for a playful little devil or monkey. ^[2] Pug puppies are often called puglets.^[3] The breed is often summarized as multum in parvo ("much in little"), describing the Pug's remarkable personality despite its small size

Beagle

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The Beagle is a breed of small to medium-sized dog. A member of the Hound Group, it is similar in appearance to the Foxhound but smaller, with shorter legs and longer, softer ears. Beagles are scent hounds, developed primarily for tracking hare, rabbit, and other game. They have a keen sense of smell and tracking instinct that sees them employed as detection dogs for prohibited agricultural imports and foodstuffs in quarantine around the world. They are popular as pets because of their size, even temper, and lack of inherited health problems. These characteristics also make them the dog of choice for animal testing.

Although beagle-type dogs have existed for over 2,000 years, the modern breed was developed in Great Britain around the 1830s from several breeds, including the Talbot Hound, the North Country Beagle, the Southern Hound, and possibly the Harrier.

Beagles have been depicted in popular culture since Elizabethan times in literature and paintings, and latterly in film, television and comic books. Snoopy of the comic strip Peanuts has been promoted as "the world's most famous beagle".

Dog names

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Alice, daughter of Ginger, in E. L. Konigsburg's The View from Saturday. She belongs to Julian Singh and is named after Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
Argos, the faithful dog of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey.
Baree, son of Gray Wolf and Kazan, in James Curwood's 1917 novel Baree, Son of Kazan.
Barnabas, the talking canine companion of first Destruction and later Delirium in The Sandman.
Blanche, one of King Lear's dogs
Blood, the main character's dog in the book A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison.
Bob, the title character in Agatha Christie's Dumb Witness
Boots, narrator of Thy Servant a Dog by Rudyard Kipling
Buck, the main character in Jack London's Call of the Wild
Bulls-eye, Bill Sikes' dog in Oliver Twist
Buster, Scottish Terrier belonging to Frederick Algernon Trotteville ("Fatty") in Enid Blyton's "Five Find-Outers" series of children's mystery novels
Cafall, a dog belonging to King Arthur (occasionally spelled "Cabal")
Cerberus from Greek Mythology, the three-headed hellhound of Hades.
Ceril, the hellhound from Eva Ibbotson's The Haunting of Hiram.
Chief from The Fox and the Hound
Copper from The Fox and the Hound
Cujo the St. Bernard in the novel by Stephen King (later a movie)
Dingo, in Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen by Jules Verne
Dingus, in Dingus Dreaming and The Canine Condition by Alex A. Vardamis
Dog, the hellhound from Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Dog that did nothing in the night-time, unnamed, this "curious incident" providing a clue in the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of Silver Blaze by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Duchess, the dog who thought she swallowed a patty pan, in Beatrix Potter's The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan
Effdee, the protagonist on the fantasy webcomic Anema: Age of the Robots
Einstein, the golden retriever in Dean Koontz's book Watchers
Fang, Grip and Wolf. Farmer Maggot's guard dogs in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
Fang, Hagrid's dog, a boar-hound (a Mastiff) in the Harry Potter books: (in the movies, Fang is a Neapolitan Mastiff)
Fidele in Gogol's Diary of a Madman
Fluke, the title character in Fluke by James Herbert
Fluffy, the three-headed dog (similar to Cerberus) in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Fly, the collie that befriends Babe the piglet in Dick King-Smith's The Sheep-Pig, the basis for the film Babe
Garm, in J.R.R. Tolkien's Farmer Giles of Ham
Gaspode, an unusually clever dog that talks, in various Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett
Ginger, the dog of Nadia Diamondstien in E. L. Konigsburg's The View from Saturday.
Ginger Pye, the dog of the Pyes in the book Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes.
Gnaish, the wild dog in Thunder Oak.
Go Go Girl, from Weetzie Bat by "Francesca Lia Block".
Hank, a cowdog in the Hank the Cowdog series by John R. Erickson
Harold, Howie, Dawg, Hamlet, Georgia, Linda and Bob, dogs that appear in theBunnicula books by James Howe.
Hound, the Penderwicks dog in The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall.
"Hound of the Baskervilles (The)", a Sherlock Holmes tale by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with the famous line, "They were the footprints of a gigantic hound!"
Huan, The great wolfhound of Valinor, friend and helper of Beren and Lúthien, in J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Silmarillion
Hundred and One Dalmatians (The) by Dodie Smith, subsequently made into a movie by Walt Disney
Jack from Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Jack from The Last Dog on Earth
Jasper, Max de Winter's spaniel at Manderley in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (novel)
Jenny, the star of Maurice Sendak's Higglety-Pigglety Pop, or, There Must Be More To Life
Jerry, eponymous hero of Jack London's Jerry, Dog of the Islands
Jerry, a.k.a. "Thorpe", of Gay Wines of Raleigh
Jip, the lapdog of Dora Spenlow, David Copperfield's first wife (Charles Dickens).
Jess,Border Collie belonging to Jenny Miles and hero of the 'Jess the Border Collie' series by Lucy Daniels
Jip, one of Doctor Doolittle's animal companions in the books by Hugh Lofting
John, a bulldog, "Mike's inseparable companion" in P.G. Wodehouse's Psmith in the City
John Joiner, the terrier who rescued Tom Kitten from being made into a pudding by rats in Beatrix Potter's The Roly-Poly Pudding
Kashtanka, the main character in Anton Chekhov's short story of the same name (full text)
Kazak, the hound of space, from The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut.
Kazakh, Selena Macintosh's seeing eye dog in Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut.
Kazan, the wolf dog in James Oliver Curwood's 1914 novel "Kazan the Wolfdog".
Kep, the Collie, from Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Jemima Puddle-duck and other books
Kiche, mother of White Fang, see below
Krypto, a white dog from the planet Krypton that was shot to Earth in a test rocket by Jor-El and subsequently found by young Clark Kent, his original owner on Krypton.
Laddie (a send-up of Lassie (qv)) who stars in Discworld alongside Gaspode
Laska in Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina
Lassie, a collie, from Eric Knight's novel Lassie Come Home upon which the movie was very loosely based
The Learned English Dog (LED) in Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon
Loony, the mischievous black spaniel belonging to Snubby in Enid Blyton's Barney Mystery series of mystery novels
Luath, the Labrador Retriever from The Incredible Journey
Luther, the dog that could smell heaven, from Matt Ruff's Fool on the Hill
Madgie in Gogol's Diary of a Madman
The "mastiff bitch" in Coleridge's Christabel that howls as Geraldine enters the castle.
Missis, a Dalmatian in Dodie Smith's novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians
Montmorency from Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat.
Mouse, Harry's dog in The Dresden Files
Mr. Bones, stray dog and narrator of Paul Auster's Timbuktu, later renamed Sparky/Sparkatus.
Nana, the Newfoundland dog in Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
Nero, the St. Bernard who comes to live with the Wilders in Laura Ingalls Wilder's The First Four Years
O'Connor in Watt by Samuel Beckett
Old Dan and Little Ann are Red Tick Hounds from Where the Red Fern Grows
Olive, the Other Reindeer, from the book by Vivian Walsh and J. Otto Siebold, subsequently in the television special produced by Matt Groening
Orson, the black Labrador retriever of Chris Snow in Dean Koontz's novels Seize the Night and Fear Nothing
"Padfoot", or the nickname commonly referring to Sirius Black's animagus dog form in the Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling.
Perezvon, another name for Zhucka (see below)
Petula, the pug from the Molly Moon series.
Pickles, the terrier that kept shop with Ginger the cat in Beatrix Potter's Ginger and Pickles
Piggy in Gone to the Dogs
Pilot, Mr. Rochester's dog from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre
The Poky Little Puppy of the children's book written by Janette Sebring Lowry and illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren
Pippin, from the Pippin and Mabel series of picture books by K.V. Johansen
Pongo, a Dalmatian in Dodie Smith's novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians
Prince Terrien, Leslie Burke's (and the Burke parents') dog in the novel and 2007 movie, Bridge to Terabithia.
Pugnax, a literate mutt that is the associate of the Chums of Chance in Thomas Pynchon's "Against the Day"
Ralph the famous blue dog living in North Tonawanda, NY
Ribsy, companion of Henry Huggins and character in numerous novels for young readers by Beverly Cleary
Rowf, a black mongrel, one of the heroes of The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams
Roy, Professor Presbury's wolfhound, attacks the professor at intervals thus providing a clue in the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Creeping Man by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Rover Rob *"The Life of a Pirate Dog with young Grace O'Malley - Juvenile Historical Fiction"
Roverandom
Rumbo, a man reincarnated as a red setter (and subsequently as a red squirrel) in Fluke by James Herbert
Sammy (Samson), a dog belonging to Downer, one of the house masters in P.G. Wodehouse's Mike and Psmith
Scamper, golden spaniel belonging to Peter and Janet in Enid Blyton's Secret Seven series of young children's mystery novels
Searchlight, the heroic sled-dog that pulled Little Willy's sled in the short novel Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner.
Sharik, the stray dog in Mikhail Bulgakov's novel Heart of a Dog who takes human form after a human pituitary gland and testicles were implanted into his body
Slinkster Dog, from Weetzie Bat by "Francesca Lia Block".
Sirius, eponymous hero of the science fiction novel by Olaf Stapleton, the result of an experiment to produce a dog with something like human intelligence.
Snitter, a fox terrier one of the heroes of The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams
Snowy, Tintin's Wire Fox Terrier in Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin.
Sweetheart, one of King Lear's dogs
The dogs of The Tale of Little Pig Robinson by Beatrix Potter: Bob the Retriever;

Gypsy; Pirate and Postboy the Greyhounds; Stumpy; Timothy Gyp the Sheepdog; and Tipkins

The unnamed narrator of Franz Kafka's short story, Investigations of a Dog (1922)
Thor, German Shepherd in the horror novel of the same name. It was eventually made into a film called Bad Moon
Tiger, the dog belonging to the title character in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe and its sequel, An Antarctic Mystery by Jules Verne
Tim Johnson, the rabid dog shot by Atticus Finch in the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Timoleon Vieta, from Dan Rhodes' Timoleon Vieta Come Home
Timothy / Timmy / Tim (all three names are found interchangeably), George Kirrin's mongrel in Enid Blyton's Famous Five series of children's adventure novels
Toby, the dog used by Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Top, the dog of Cyrus Smith in Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island
Toto in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Trey, one of King Lear's dogs
Tricki Woo, Mrs. Pumphrey's pekingese in If only they could talk (Book title in UK. All creatures great and small in the U.S.) by James Herriot
Ugolina, malevolent and spooky prowler of pre-War Lisbon, in Jose Saramago's novel The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
Valetka, in Turgenev's story "Yermolay and the Miller's Wife"
What-a-Mess, Afghan Hound puppy in the Frank Muir stories
White Fang, the main character in Jack London's book of the same name
Weenie, from the "Eloise" books.
Wiggins, the heroine Maria's dog in The Little White Horse
Winn-Dixie, from the book Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo and the 2005 film of the same name
Yellow Dog Dingo, dog in Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories
Zelda Van Gutters, the "roving reporter" of Nickelodeon Magazine
Zhucka in Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karam

Dog breed

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Dog breeds are groups of closely related and visibly similar domestic dogs, which are all of the subspecies Canis lupus familiaris, having characteristic traits that are selected and maintained by humans, bred from a known foundation stock.^[1]

The term dog breed may also be used to refer to natural breeds or landraces, which arose through time in response to a particular environment which included humans, with little or no selective breeding by humans.^[2] Such breeds are undocumented, and are identified by their appearance and often by a style of working. Ancient dog breeds are some of the modern (documented) descendants of such natural breeds.

Dog breeds are not scientifically defined biological classifications, but rather are groupings defined by clubs of hobbyists called breed clubs.

A dog breed is represented by a sufficient number of individuals to stably transfer its specific characteristics over generations. Dogs of same breed have similar characteristics of appearance and behavior, primarily because they come from a select set of ancestors who had the same characteristics.^[3] Dogs of a specific breed breed true, producing young closely similar to the parents. An individual dog is identified as a member of a breed through proof of ancestry, using genetic analysis or written records of ancestry. Without such proof , identification of a specific breed is not reliable.^[4] Such records, called stud books, may be maintained by individuals, clubs, or other organizations.

Behavior

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Although dogs have been the subject of a great deal of behaviorist psychology (e.g. Pavlov's dog), they do not enter the world with a psychological "blank slate".^[48] Rather, dog behavior is affected by genetic factors as well as environmental factors.^[48] Domestic dogs exhibit a number of behaviors and predispositions that were inherited from wolves.^[48] The Gray Wolf is a social animal that has evolved a sophisticated means of communication and social structure. The domestic dog has inherited some of these predispositions, but many of the salient characteristics in dog behavior have been largely shaped by selective breeding by humans. Thus some of these characteristics, such as the dog's highly developed social cognition, are found only in primitive forms in grey wolves.

Intelligence

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The domestic dog has a predisposition to exhibit a social intelligence that is uncommon in the animal world.^[48] Dogs are capable of learning in a number of ways, such as through simple reinforcement (e.g. classical or operant conditioning) and by observation.^[48]

Dogs go through a series of stages of cognitive development. They are not born with the understanding that objects which are not being actively perceived still remain in existence, called object permanence. This occurs as the infant learns to interact intentionally with objects around it. For dogs, this occurs at roughly 8 weeks of age.^[48]

Puppies learn behaviors quickly by following examples set by experienced dogs.^[48] This form of intelligence is not peculiar to those tasks dogs have been bred to perform, but can be generalized to myriad abstract problems. For example, Dachshund puppies who watched an experienced dog pull a cart by tugging on an attached piece of ribbon in order to get a reward from inside the cart learned the task fifteen times faster than those who were left to solve the problem on their own.^[48]^[88] Dogs can also learn by mimicking human behaviors. In one study, puppies were presented with a box, and shown that when a handler pressed a lever, a ball would roll out of the box. The handler then allowed the puppy to play with the ball, making it an intrinsic reward. The pups were then allowed to interact with the box. Roughly three-quarters of the puppies subsequently touched the lever, and over half successfully released the ball, compared to only 6 percent in a control group that did not watch the human manipulate the lever.^[89] Another study found that handing an object between experimenters who then used the object's name in a sentence successfully taught an observing dog each object's name, allowing the dog to subsequently retrieve the item.^[90]

Dogs also demonstrate sophisticated social cognition by associating behavioral cues with abstract meanings.^[48] One such class of social cognition involves the understanding that others are conscious agents. Research has shown that dogs are capable of interpreting subtle social cues, and appear to recognize when a human or dog's attention is focused on them. To test this, researchers devised a task in which a reward was hidden underneath one of two buckets. The experimenter then attempted to communicate with the dog to indicate the location of the reward by using a wide range of signals: tapping the bucket, pointing to the bucket, nodding to the bucket, or simply looking at the bucket.^[91] The results showed that domestic dogs were better than chimpanzees, wolves, and human infants at this task, and even young puppies with limited exposure to humans performed well.^[48] Dr. Stanley Coren, an expert on dog psychology, states that these results demonstrated the social cognition of dogs can exceed that of even our closest genetic relatives, and that this capacity is a recent genetic acquisition which distinguishes the dog from its ancestor, the wolf.^[48] Studies have also investigated whether dogs engaged in partnered play change their behavior depending on the attention-state of their partner.^[92] Those studies showed that play signals were only sent when the dog was holding the attention of its partner. If the partner was distracted, the dog instead engaged in attention-getting behavior before sending a play signal.^[92]

Dr. Coren has also argued that dogs demonstrate a sophisticated theory of mind by engaging in deception, which he supports with a number of anecdotes, including one example where a dog hid a stolen treat by sitting on it until the rightful owner of the treat left the room.^[48] Although this could have been accidental, Coren suggests that the thief understood that the treat's owner would be unable to find the treat if it were out of view. Together, the empirical data and anecdotal evidence points to dogs possessing at least a limited form of theory of mind.

Roles with humans

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Work

Dogs have lived and worked with humans in so many roles that they have earned the unique nickname, "man's best friend",^[26] a phrase which is used in other languages as well. They have been bred for herding livestock,^[27] hunting (e.g. pointers and hounds),^[28] rodent control,^[2] guarding, helping fishermen with nets, and pulling loads, in addition to their roles as companions.^[2]

Service dogs such as guide dogs, utility dogs, assistance dogs, hearing dogs, and psychological therapy dogs provide assistance to individuals with physical or mental disabilities.^[29]^[30] Some dogs owned by epileptics have been shown to alert their handler when the handler shows signs of an impending seizure, sometimes well in advance of onset, allowing the owner to seek safety, medication, or medical care.^[31]

Sports and shows

Owners of dogs often enter them in competitions^[32] such as breed conformation shows or sports, including racing and sledding.

In conformation shows, also referred to as breed shows, a judge familiar with the specific dog breed evaluates individual purebred dogs for conformity with their established breed type as described in the breed standard. As the breed standard only deals with the externally observable qualities of the dog (such as appearance, movement, and temperament), separately tested qualities (such as ability or health) are not part of the judging in conformation shows.

Dog

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The dog (Canis lupus familiaris, pronounced /ˈkeɪ.nis ˈluːpəs fʌˈmɪliɛəris/, nicknamed: Man's Best Friend) is a domesticated subspecies of the Gray Wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The domestic dog has been one of the most widely kept working and companion animals in human history. Amongst canine enthusiasts, the word "dog" may also mean the male of a canine species, as opposed to the word "bitch" (the female of the species).

The dog quickly became ubiquitous across culture in all parts of the world, and was extremely valuable to early human settlements. For instance, it is believed that the successful emigration across the Bering Strait might not have been possible without sled dogs.^[3] Dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, protection, and, more recently, assisting handicapped individuals. Currently, there are estimated to be 400 million dogs in the world.^[4]

Over the 15,000 year span that the dog had been domesticated, it diverged into only a handful of landraces, groups of similar animals whose morphology and behavior have been shaped by environmental factors and functional roles. As the modern understanding of genetics developed, humans began to intentionally breed dogs for a wide range of specific traits. Through this process, the dog has developed into hundreds of varied breeds, and shows more behavioral and morphological variation than any other land mammal.^[5] For example, height measured to the withers ranges from a few inches in the Chihuahua to a few feet in the Irish Wolfhound; color varies from white through grays (usually called "blue'") to black, and browns from light (tan) to dark ("red" or "chocolate") in a wide variation of patterns; coats can be short or long, coarse-haired to wool-like, straight, curly, or smooth.^[6] It is common for most breeds to shed this coat, but non-shedding breeds are also popular.

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