Basic Dog Breed Information for Pet Breeders
October 13, 2007
photo courtesy of Cindy’s World
For dog breed information a little bit of digging into the past is required to know the present. The carnivores – a large group of intelligent, flesh eating backboned animals comprise of 11 families. The dog or canine is one of them.
According to the dog breed info, the canines have many wild species like wolves, foxes, wild dogs etc. The dog is the only domesticated member of this canine family. The common ancestor of the dog is a wolf like creature, Tomarctus that lived about 15 million years ago. Dogs were the first animals to be tamed by Man about 20,000 years ago.
At times the dog breed picture might be confusing because dogs range from the tiny Chihuahua to the giant Irish-wolfhound. Most dogs have double-layered coats. The front feet of dogs have five claws and the hind four. But these are not retractable like the cat. On an average the dog lives 12/13 years.
Dog breeders categorize dogs according to their size and activity – sight and scent hounds, gun dogs, terriers, arctic dogs, working dogs, guard dogs and toy dogs. There are sub categories in hunting dogs, cur dogs, companion dogs and dogs that are bullies. There are registered breeds, rare breeds or breeds still undergoing development.
Dog breed information can take up an entire library. Among sporting dogs there are 22 breeds that hunt game birds – each specializing in a particular type of bird. Pointers and Setters are for grouse, quail, and pheasant. Retrievers and Spaniels are for ducks and other waterfowl.
There are 19 different breeds of hounds, with highly developed sense of smell. They are trained to run after game like rabbits and foxes. Some of the members of the hound family are Afghan-hound, Saluki, Borzoi, Greyhound, Whippet, Bloodhound, Dachshund, Beagle, Fox-hound etc.
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The working dogs are innumerable in number. Some are eyes for the blind while others guard shops and estates. The favourite among pet breeders are the German Shepherd, Great Dane, Boxer, Doberman, Mastiff, etc. The Collie, Shetland, Border-collie, Corgi and Old English sheepdog are dogs that look after cattle and sheep. The Puli is a sheep as well as police dog. Arctic sledge dogs are not fully tamed but indispensable in the cold extremes.
The terrier group consists of a large number of breeds who make lively intelligent pets. They are Fox-terriers, Manchester-terriers, Cairn terriers, Scottish terriers and others.
The Toy dogs like the Pomeranian, Pekingese and Pug amongst many others are cozy pets as well as excellent house watchdogs.
Perhaps the best breed is the mixed one bursting with a little bit of each kind – not only guarding our cities and towns but also being our rare contact with Nature in the raw or in the curse of the urban jungle. This is the dog breed information available to man since hundreds of years!!
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