The dog or domestic dog originating from colder climates, made up of a coarse guard hair and a soft down hair, or "single", with the topcoat only. Breeds may have an occasional "blaze", stripe, or "star" of white fur on their chest or underside. Premature graying can occur in dogs from as early as one year of age; this is associated with impulsive behaviors, anxiety behaviors, fear of noise, and fear of unfamiliar people or animals.
Tail
There are many different shapes for dog tails: straight, straight up, sickle, curled, or corkscrew. As with many canids, one of the primary functions of a dog's tail is to communicate their emotional state, which can be crucial in getting along with others. In some hunting dogs the tail is traditionally docked to avoid injuries.
Health
Some breeds of dogs are prone to specific genetic ailments such as elbow and hip dysplasia, blindness, deafness, pulmonic stenosis, cleft palate, and trick knees. Two severe medical conditions significantly affecting dogs are pyometra, affecting unspayed females of all breeds and ages, and Gastric dilatation volvulus, which affects larger breeds or deep-chested dogs. Both of these are acute conditions and can kill rapidly. Dogs are also susceptible to parasites such as fleas, ticks, mites, hookworms, tapeworms, roundworms, and heartworms, which is a roundworm species that lives in the hearts of dogs.
Several human foods and household ingestibles are toxic to dogs, including chocolate solids, causing theobromine poisoning, onions and garlic, causing thiosulphate, sulfoxide or disulfide poisoning, grapes and raisins, macadamia nuts, and xylitol. The nicotine in tobacco can also be dangerous to dogs. Signs of ingestion can include copious vomiting or diarrhea. Some other symptoms are abdominal pain, loss of coordination, collapse, or death.
Dogs are also vulnerable to some of the same health conditions as humans, including diabetes, dental and heart disease, epilepsy, cancer, hypothyroidism, and arthritis.
Lifespan
The typical lifespan of dogs varies widely among breeds, but for most, the median longevity ranges from 10 to 13 years. The median longevity of mixed-breed dogs, taken as an average of all sizes, is one or more years longer than that of purebred dogs when all breeds are averaged. For dogs in England, increased body weight has been found to be negatively correlated with longevity, and mixed-breed dogs live on average 1.2 years longer than purebred dogs.
Dogs bear their litters roughly 58 to 68 days after fertilization, with an average of 63 days, although the length of gestation can vary. An average litter consists of about six puppies.
Neutering
Neutering refers to the sterilization of animals, usually by removing the male's testicles or the female's ovaries and uterus, to eliminate the ability to procreate and reduce sex drive. Because of dogs' overpopulation in some countries, many animal control agencies, such as the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, advise that dogs not intended for further breeding should be neutered, so that they do not have undesired puppies that may later be euthanized.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, three to four million dogs and cats are euthanized each year. Many more are confined to cages in shelters because there are many more animals than there are homes. Spaying or castrating dogs helps keep overpopulation down.
Neutering reduces problems caused by hypersexuality, especially in male dogs. Spayed female dogs are less likely to develop cancers affecting the mammary glands, ovaries, and other reproductive organs. However, neutering increases the risk of urinary incontinence in female dogs and prostate cancer in males and osteosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, cruciate ligament rupture, obesity, and diabetes mellitus in either sex.
Inbreeding depression
A common breeding practice for pet dogs is mating between close relatives. Inbreeding depression is considered to be due mainly to the expression of homozygous deleterious recessive mutations. Outcrossing between unrelated individuals, including dogs of different breeds, results in the beneficial masking of deleterious recessive mutations in progeny.
In a study of seven dog breeds, it was found that inbreeding decreases litter size and survival. Another analysis of data on 42,855 Dachshund litters found that as the inbreeding coefficient increased, litter size decreased and the percentage of stillborn puppies increased, thus indicating inbreeding depression. In a study of Boxer litters, 22% of puppies died before reaching 7 weeks of age. Stillbirth was the most frequent cause of death, followed by infection. Mortality due to infection increased significantly with increases in inbreeding.
Behavior
Dog behavior is the internally coordinated responses of the domestic dog to internal and external stimuli. and emotional processing. Some of these genes have been associated with aggression in some dog breeds, indicating their importance in both the initial domestication and later in breed formation. Traits of high sociability and lack of fear in dogs may include genetic modifications related to Williams-Beuren syndrome in humans, which cause hypersociability at the expense of problem-solving ability.
Intelligence
Dog intelligence is the dog's ability to perceive information and retain it as knowledge for applying to solve problems. Studies of two dogs suggest that dogs can learn by inference and have advanced memory skills. A study with Rico, a Border Collie, showed that he knew the labels of over 200 different items. He inferred the names of novel things by exclusion learning and correctly retrieved those new items immediately and four weeks after the initial exposure. A study of another Border Collie, Chaser, documented his learning and memory capabilities. He had learned the names and could associate by verbal command over 1,000 words. Dogs can read and react appropriately to human body language such as gesturing and pointing and human voice commands.
One study of canine cognitive abilities found that dogs' capabilities are no more exceptional than those of other animals, such as horses, chimpanzees, or cats. An experimental study showed compelling evidence that Australian dingos can outperform domestic dogs in non-social problem-solving, indicating that domestic dogs may have lost much of their original problem-solving abilities once they joined humans. Another study revealed that after undergoing training to solve a simple manipulation task, dogs faced with an unsolvable version of the same problem look at the human, while socialized wolves do not.
Communication
Dog communication is how dogs convey information to other dogs, understand messages from humans and translate the information that dogs are transmitting. Communication behaviors of dogs include eye gaze, facial expression, vocalization, body posture, and gustatory communication. Humans communicate to dogs by using vocalization, hand signals, and body posture.
Ecology
Population
The dog is probably the most widely abundant large carnivoran living in the human environment.
In 2013, the estimated global dog population was between 700 million and 987 million. About 20% of dogs live as pets in developed countries. Little is known about these dogs, or the dogs in developed countries that are feral, strays, or are in shelters because the great majority of modern research on dog cognition has focused on pet dogs living in human homes.
Competitors and predators
Although dogs are the most abundant and widely distributed terrestrial carnivores, feral and free-ranging dogs' potential to compete with other large carnivores is limited by their strong association with humans. Although the numbers of dogs killed each year are relatively low, it induces a fear of wolves entering villages and farmyards to take dogs and losses of dogs to wolves have led to demands for more liberal wolf hunting regulations. Siberian tigers in the Amur River region have killed dogs in the middle of villages. This indicates that the dogs were targeted. Amur tigers will not tolerate wolves as competitors within their territories, and the tigers could be considering dogs in the same way.
Diet
Dogs have been described as omnivores. Compared to wolves, dogs from agricultural societies have extra copies of amylase and other genes involved in starch digestion that contribute to an increased ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet. However, more like cats and less like other omnivores, dogs can only produce bile acid with taurine and they cannot produce vitamin D, which they obtain from animal flesh. Also, more like cats, dogs require arginine to maintain its nitrogen balance. These nutritional requirements place dogs halfway between carnivores and omnivores.
Range
As a domesticated or semi-domesticated animal, the dog is nearly universal among human societies. Notable exceptions once included:
The Aboriginal Tasmanians, who were separated from Australia before the arrival of dingos on that continent
The Andamanese peoples, who were isolated when rising sea levels covered the land bridge to Myanmar
The Fuegians, who instead domesticated the Fuegian dog, a different canid species
Individual Pacific islands whose maritime settlers did not bring dogs, or where dogs died out after original settlement, notably the Mariana Islands, Palau and most of the Caroline Islands with exceptions such as Fais Island and Nukuoro, the Marshall Islands, the Gilbert Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, and Pitcairn Island.
Dogs were introduced to Antarctica as sled dogs, but were later outlawed by international agreement due to the possible risk of spreading infections.
Roles with humans
Domestic dogs inherited complex behaviors, such as bite inhibition, from their wolf ancestors, which would have been pack hunters with a complex body language. These sophisticated forms of social cognition and communication may account for their trainability, playfulness and ability to fit into human households and social situations. These attributes have given dogs a relationship with humans that has enabled them to become one of the most successful animals today.
The dogs' value to early human hunter-gatherers led to them quickly becoming ubiquitous across world cultures. Dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and the military, companionship and aiding disabled individuals. This influence on human society has given them the nickname "man's best friend" in the Western world. In some cultures, however, dogs are also a source of meat.
"The most widespread form of interspecies bonding occurs between humans and dogs" and the keeping of dogs as companions, particularly by elites, has a long history. Pet dog populations grew significantly after World War II as suburbanization increased. and were still primarily functional, acting as a guard, children's playmate, or walking companion. From the 1980s, there have been changes in the pet dog's role, such as the increased role of dogs in the emotional support of their human guardians. People and their dogs have become increasingly integrated and implicated in each other's lives to the point where pet dogs actively shape how a family and home are experienced.
There have been two significant trends occurring within the second half of the 20th century in pet dogs' changing status. The first has been "commodification", shaping it to conform to social expectations of personality and behavior. The list of goods, services, and places available is enormous: from dog perfumes, couture, furniture and housing to dog groomers, therapists, trainers and caretakers, dog cafes, spas, parks and beaches and dog hotels, airlines and cemeteries.
The majority of contemporary dog owners describe their pet as part of the family, although some ambivalence about the relationship is evident in the popular reconceptualization of the dog-human family as a pack. The idea of the "alpha dog" trying to be dominant is based on a disproved theory about wolf packs. Pet dogs play an active role in family life; for example, a study of conversations in dog-human families showed how family members use the dog as a resource, talking to the dog, or talking through the dog; to mediate their interactions with each other.
Increasingly, human family-members engage in activities centered on the dog's perceived needs and interests, or in which the dog is an integral partner, such as dog dancing and dog yoga. The same source shows that nearly 40% of American households own at least one dog, of which 67% own just one dog, 25% two dogs and nearly 9% more than two dogs. There does not seem to be any gender preference among dogs as pets, as the statistical data reveal an equal number of male and female pet dogs. Although several programs promote pet adoption, less than one-fifth of the owned dogs come from shelters. hunting and rodent control. detection dogs trained to detect illicit drugs or chemical weapons; guard dogs; dogs who assist fishermen with the use of nets; and dogs that pull loads.
Various kinds of service dogs and assistance dogs, including guide dogs, hearing dogs, mobility assistance dogs and psychiatric service dogs, assist individuals with disabilities. Some dogs owned by people with epilepsy have been shown to alert their handler when the handler shows signs of an impending seizure, sometimes well in advance of onset, allowing the guardian to seek safety, medication, or medical care.
Athletes and models
People often enter their dogs in competitions, such as breed-conformation shows or sports, including racing, sledding and agility competitions. 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 dog's externally observable qualities, separately tested qualities are not part of the judging in conformation shows.
Food
Dog meat is consumed in some East Asian countries, including Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines, which dates back to antiquity. Based on limited data, it is estimated that 13–16 million dogs are killed and consumed in Asia every year. In China, debates have ensued over banning the consumption of dog meat. Following the Sui and Tang dynasties of the first millennium, however, people living on northern China's plains began to eschew eating dogs, which is likely due to Buddhism and Islam's spread, two religions that forbade the consumption of certain animals, including the dog. As members of the upper classes shunned dog meat, it gradually became a social taboo to eat it, even though the general population continued to consume it for centuries afterward. Dog meat is also consumed in some parts of Switzerland. Other cultures, such as Polynesia and pre-Columbian Mexico, also consumed dog meat in their history. Dog fat is also reportedly believed to be beneficial for the lungs in some parts of Poland and Central Asia. Proponents of eating dog meat have argued that placing a distinction between livestock and dogs is Western hypocrisy and that there is no difference in eating different animals' meat.
In Korea, the primary dog breed raised for meat, the Nureongi, differs from those breeds raised for pets that Koreans may keep in their homes.
The most popular Korean dog dish is called bosintang, a spicy stew meant to balance the body's heat during the summer months. Followers of the custom claim this is done to ensure good health by balancing one's gi, or the body's vital energy. A 19th-century version of bosintang explains that the dish is prepared by boiling dog meat with scallions and chili powder. Variations of the dish contain chicken and bamboo shoots. While the dishes are still prevalent in Korea with a segment of the population, dog is not as widely consumed as beef, pork and chicken. Significant dog bites affect tens of millions of people globally each year. Children in mid-to-late childhood are the largest percentage bitten by dogs, with a greater risk of injury to the head and neck. They are more likely to need medical treatment and have the highest death rate. Sharp claws with powerful muscles behind them can lacerate flesh in a scratch that can lead to serious infections.
In the U.S., cats and dogs are a factor in more than 86,000 falls each year. It has been estimated that around 2% of dog-related injuries treated in U.K. hospitals are domestic accidents. The same study found that while dog involvement in road traffic accidents was difficult to quantify, dog-associated road accidents involving injury more commonly involved two-wheeled vehicles.
Toxocara canis eggs in dog feces can cause toxocariasis. In the United States, about 10,000 cases of Toxocara infection are reported in humans each year, and almost 14% of the U.S. population is infected. Untreated toxocariasis can cause retinal damage and decreased vision. Dog feces can also contain hookworms that cause cutaneous larva migrans in humans.
Health benefits
Dogs suffer from the same common disorders as humans; these include cancer, diabetes, heart disease and neurologic disorders. Their pathology is similar to humans, as is their response to treatment and their outcomes. Researchers are identifying the genes associated with dog diseases similar to human disorders, but lack mouse models to find cures for both dogs and humans. The genes involved in canine obsessive-compulsive disorders led to the detection of four genes in humans' related pathways. Studies suggesting that there are benefits to physical health and psychological well-being have been criticized for being poorly controlled. It found that "the health of elderly people is related to their health habits and social supports but not to their ownership of, or attachment to, a companion animal." Earlier studies have shown that people who keep pet dogs or cats exhibit better mental and physical health than those who do not, making fewer visits to the doctor and being less likely to be on medication than non-guardians.
A 2005 paper states "recent research has failed to support earlier findings that pet ownership is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, a reduced use of general practitioner services, or any psychological or physical benefits on health for community dwelling older people. Research has, however, pointed to significantly less absenteeism from school through sickness among children who live with pets."
People with pet dogs took considerably more physical exercise than those with cats and those without pets. The results provide evidence that keeping pets may have positive effects on human health and behavior and that for guardians of dogs, these effects are relatively long-term. The association between dog ownership and adult physical activity levels has been reviewed by several authors.
The health benefits of dogs can result from contact with dogs in general, not solely from having dogs as pets. For example, when in a pet dog's presence, people show reductions in cardiovascular, behavioral and psychological indicators of anxiety. Other health benefits are gained from exposure to immune-stimulating microorganisms, which can protect against allergies and autoimmune diseases according to the hygiene hypothesis. The benefits of contact with a dog also include social support, as dogs cannot only provide companionship and social support themselves but also act as facilitators of social interactions between humans. One study indicated that wheelchair users experience more positive social interactions with strangers when accompanied by a dog than when they are not. In 2015, a study found that pet owners were significantly more likely to get to know people in their neighborhood than non-pet owners.
Using dogs and other animals as a part of therapy dates back to the late 18th century, when animals were introduced into mental institutions to help socialize patients with mental disorders. Animal-assisted intervention research has shown that animal-assisted therapy with a dog can increase social behaviors, such as smiling and laughing, among people with Alzheimer's disease. One study demonstrated that children with ADHD and conduct disorders who participated in an education program with dogs and other animals showed increased attendance, increased knowledge and skill objectives and decreased antisocial and violent behavior compared with those not in an animal-assisted program.
Cultural importance
Dogs were depicted to symbolize guidance, protection, loyalty, fidelity, faithfulness, alertness, and love. In ancient Mesopotamia, from the Old Babylonian period until the Neo-Babylonian, dogs were the symbol of Ninisina, the goddess of healing and medicine, and her worshippers frequently dedicated small models of seated dogs to her. Stories of dogs guarding the gates of the underworld recur throughout Indo-European mythologies and may originate from Proto-Indo-European religion. In Norse mythology, a bloody, four-eyed dog called Garmr guards Helheim. A black dog is also considered to be the vahana of Bhairava.
In Christianity, dogs represent faithfulness. As such, the Dominican Order means "dog of the Lord" or "hound of the Lord". Jewish law does not prohibit keeping dogs and other pets. Jewish law requires Jews to feed dogs before themselves and make arrangements for feeding them before obtaining them. Therefore, Sunni Malaki and Hanafi jurists permit the trade of and keeping of dogs as pets.
Terminology
Dog – the species as a whole, also any male member of the same.
Bitch – any female member of the species.
Puppy or pup – a young member of the species under 12 months old.
Sire – the male parent of a litter.
Dam – the female parent of a litter.
Litter – all of the puppies resulting from a single whelping.
Whelping – the act of a bitch giving birth.
Whelps – puppies still dependent upon their dam.
See also
Lists of dogs
Cat–dog relationship
Dognapping
Cynanthropy
Domesticated silver fox
Miller's Anatomy of the Dog
Dogs portal
Mammals portal
References
Bibliography
External links
for Canis lupus familiaris
, an article on the history of dogs
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