Portal:Dogs

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The Dogs Portal

The dog (Canis familiaris or Canis lupus familiaris) is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from an extinct population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. The dog was the first species to be domesticated by humans, over 14,000 years ago and before the development of agriculture. Experts estimate that 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 have an inferior visual acuity, a superior sense of smell, and a relatively large olfactory cortex. They 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 gustatory 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 became 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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected breed - show another

Tornjak

The Tornjak (pronounced [torɲâk]), also known as the Bosnian-Herzegovinian sheepdog, is a recreated breed of livestock guardian dog native to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. They are molosser-type mountain dogs, similar to other livestock guardian breeds of the region, the Šarplaninac, Bucovina Shepherd Dog, and the Greek Shepherd. (Full article...)

List of selected breeds

Selected image

Credit: Robert Southworth
A Featured picture of the day.

The American Eskimo Dog is a breed of companion dog originating in the United States (probably in New York City) in the twentieth century. It is derived from the German Spitz, the Finnish Spitz, and almost certainly the Pomeranian and Keeshond. The spitz family of Nordic dogs is one of the least altered by human husbandry and reflects most nearly the prototypical dog, from which stock all others have been derived. Archeology suggests that Neolithic dogs living with humans would today pass for spitzes.

More selected pictures

Gallery

Read more...

Topics

Selected article - show another

The Royal Kennel Club (KC) is the official kennel club of the United Kingdom. It is the oldest recognised kennel club in the world. Its role is to oversee various canine activities including dog shows, dog agility and working trials. It also operates the national register of pedigree dogs in the United Kingdom and acts as a lobby group on issues involving dogs in the UK. To celebrate its 150th anniversary on 5 April 2023, King Charles III confirmed the club with a 'royal' prefix.

The Kennel Club has four principal physical locations. Its headquarters are on Clarges Street in Mayfair, London, incorporating a private members' club (with bar, lounge, and dining facilities), meeting and conference rooms, art gallery, library, picture library, and a residential apartment for the use of the Chairman. A second site at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, houses the administrative offices, and charitable trust headquarters. The third site is Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire, where the Kennel Club Building consists of a restaurant, an educational centre, and showground facilities. The fourth location is near Hexham, Northumberland, and is named the Emblehope and Burngrange Estate. It is the KC's centre of excellence for working dogs, and consists of 7,550 acres of assorted terrains including farmland (with a working farm), moorland, and woodland. A gamekeeper is employed, enabling gun dogs to engage in shooting parties, whilst the farm has a population of sheep, enabling sheepdog breeds to be trained and demonstrated. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

General images - load new batch

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

Image 1A little mongrel puppy on the shore, on Halong Bay (from Puppy)
Image 2President Lyndon B. Johnson with a basket of puppies in 1966 (from Puppy)
Image 3An 1897 illustration showing a range of European dog breeds (from Dog breed)
Image 4A dog's whiskers (from Dog anatomy)
Image 5The 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 6Two Shih Tzu puppies (from Puppy)
Image 7A mongrel puppy (from Puppy)
Image 8Mandible of the oldest recognised dog discovered in Bonn-Oberkassel, Germany, and dated 14,200 years old (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 9Bison surrounded by grey wolf pack (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 10Newborn Welsh Springer Spaniels (from Puppy)
Image 11Mammoth bone dwelling, Mezhirich site, Ukraine (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 12The 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 13Frontal view of a dog skull (from Dog anatomy)
Image 14Puggle puppy (from Puppy)
Image 15Basenji puppy (from Puppy)
Image 16The nose of a dog (from Dog anatomy)
Image 17West Highland White Terrier puppies (from Puppy)
Image 18Montage showing the coat variation of dogs. (from Dog anatomy)
Image 19External 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 20A labradoodle puppy and a Golden Retriever puppy playing together (from Puppy)
Image 21A cavapoo and maltipoo running back while playing fetch (from Dog behavior)
Image 22Montage showing the morphological variation of the dog. (from Dog breed)
Image 23Reduction in size under selective breeding – grey wolf and chihuahua skulls (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 24Australian Cattle Dog puppy (from Puppy)
Image 25Jack Russell Terrier puppy (from Puppy)
Image 26Newborn Basenji puppies (from Puppy)
Image 27Sled dogs, 1833 (from Dog type)
Image 28Diagram of a wolf skull with key features labelled (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 29St. Bernard puppy (from Puppy)
Image 30A dog's teeth (from Dog anatomy)
Image 31A 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 32Ancient Hawaiian petroglyphic depiction of an ʻīlio (Hawaiian Poi Dog) (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 33Watercolor 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 34Example of a dog making prolonged eye contact with a human (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 35Schematic 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 36Lateral view of a dog skull, jaw opened (from Dog anatomy)
Image 37Basset Hound (from Puppy)
Image 38Cart dogs, c. 1900; different in appearance but doing the same work (from Dog type)
Image 39Petroglyph depicting two dogs hunting – Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 40"Five different types of dogs", c. 1547. (from Dog breed)
Image 41Bloodhound puppy (from Puppy)
Image 42Lateral view of a dog skull, jaw closed (from Dog anatomy)
Image 43The difference in body size between a Cane Corso (Italian mastiff) and a Yorkshire Terrier is over 30-fold; both are members of the same species. (from Dog anatomy)
Image 44Sled dog types, sketched in 1833 (from Dog breed)
Image 45Golden Retriever puppy (from Puppy)
Image 46Sled dog types, sketched in 1833 (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 47Cavapoo puppy (from Puppy)
Image 48Dog knee (from Dog anatomy)
Image 49Lateral view of a dog skeleton (from Dog anatomy)
Image 50Chihuahua puppy (from Puppy)
Image 51The dog diverged from a now-extinct population of wolves 27,000–40,000 years ago immediately before the Last Glacial Maximum, when much of the mammoth steppe was cold and dry. (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 52Skeleton of a dog:
1. Cranium
2. Maxilla
3. Mandible
4. Atlas
5. Axis
6. Scapula
7. Spine of scapula
8. Humerus
9. Radius
10. Ulna
11. Phalanges
12. Metacarpal bones
13. Carpal bones
14. Sternum
15. Cartilaginous part of the rib
16. Ribs
17. Phalanges
18. Metatarsal bones
19. Tarsal Bones
20. Calcaneus
21. Fibula
22. Tibia
23. Patella
24. Femur
25. Ischium
26. Pelvis
(from Dog anatomy)
Image 53Map 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 54Chihuahua mix and purebred Great Dane (from Dog breed)
Image 55German Spitz puppy (from Puppy)
Image 56Tesem, an ancient Egyptian sight-hound (from Dog breed)
Image 57The dog's retina shows the optic disc and the eye's vasculature. (from Dog anatomy)
Image 58NASA astronaut Leland D. Melvin with his dogs Jake and Scout (from Dog behavior)
Image 59An extinct Turnspit dog, 1800 (from Dog type)
Image 60A wolf mandible diagram showing the names and positions of the teeth (from Dog anatomy)
Image 61Cave wolf skull, Natural History Museum, Berlin (from Domestication of the dog)

Did you know (auto-generated) - show different entries

... that the poor of ancient Rome were compared to dogs by the Roman writer Martial?
... that children's author Mary Chalmers owned ten cats and a Pomeranian dog, whose poses helped her draw illustrations for her books?
... that the Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard is the only U.S. cemetery reserved exclusively for coon dog burials?
... that Pulaski's Masterpiece, billed as the "world's most valuable dog", disappeared without a trace in 1953?
... that after the 2023 New York City parking garage collapse, a robotic dog named Digidog was deployed by the New York City Fire Department?
... that Sput played with Puppy and Dogg?

More did you know... - show different entries

...that the stray dogs Bummer and Lazarus (pictured) were so popular with the people of San Francisco in the 1860s that they were given special exemption from the leash laws?
...that Manuel Benito de Castro assumed the Presidency of Cundinamarca, with the condition that he would be allowed to leave Congress at a certain time to feed his dog?
...that the namesake for Hondo Dog Park in Hillsboro, Oregon, won an award for valor just weeks before being killed in the line of duty?
...that most of the dogs seen in the 2007 Thai film, Ma-Mha, were strays rescued from shelters and trained specifically for the film?

...that Snuppy the Afghan Hound is the world's first cloned dog?
...that 217 Dalmatians were used in the filming of 101 Dalmatians?
...that former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King owned several Irish Terriers (all named Pat), and had séances to "communicate" with the dogs after their death?
...that the Labrador Retriever is the most popular dog breed in the USA, with the Yorkshire Terrier and German Shepherd Dog being second and third?

More did you know facts

List articles

Subcategories

Category puzzle

Select [►] to view subcategories

Related portals

edit

Things you can do

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

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, 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, 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 Sheepdog, Villano de las Encartaciones, Villanuco de Las Encartaciones, White Shepherd, White Swiss Shepherd Dog, Xiasi Dog More stubs...
Other : Tag and assess "dog" articles with {{WikiProject Dogs}} banner. See also Dog breeds WikiProject to do list.

edit

Recognized content

This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject Dogs}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.