Jump to content

Portal:Dogs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Portal:Dog)

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 domesticated from an extinct population of Pleistocene wolves over 14,000 years ago. The dog was the first species to be domesticated by humans. Experts estimate that hunter-gatherers domesticated dogs more than 15,000 years ago, which was before the development of agriculture. Due to their long association with humans, dogs have expanded to a large number of domestic individuals and gained the ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet that would be inadequate for other canids.

The dog has been selectively bred over millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes. Dog breeds vary widely in shape, size, and color. They perform many roles for humans, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and the military, companionship, therapy, and aiding disabled people. Over the millennia, dogs became uniquely adapted to human behavior, and the human–canine bond has been a topic of frequent study. This influence on human society has given them the sobriquet of "man's best friend". (Full article...)

The Czechoslovakian Wolfdog (Czech: Československý vlčák, Slovak: Československý vlčiak, German: Tschechoslowakischer Wolfhund) is a breed of wolfdog that began as an experiment conducted in Czechoslovakia in 1955. The breed was known as Czech Wolfdog (Czech: Český vlčák, Slovak: Český vlčiak) until 1982.

After initially breeding working line German Shepherds with Carpathian grey wolves, a plan was worked out to create a breed that would have the temperament, pack mentality, and trainability of the German Shepherd and the strength, physical build and stamina of the Carpathian wolf. The breed were originally used as Border patrol dogs but were later also used in search and rescue, Schutzhund sport, tracking, herding, agility, obedience, hunting, and drafting in Europe and the United States. (Full article...)
List of selected breeds

Selected image

A standard poodle retrieving a mallard
A standard poodle retrieving a mallard
Credit: Sally Eller

A Standard Poodle in "working clip" retrieving a mallard. Retrievers were bred primarily to retrieve birds or other prey and return them to the hunter without damage. Although spaniels and some pointing breeds routinely retrieve game, and many retrievers are skilled in finding game, retrievers are distinguished in that non-slip retrieval is their primary function. As a result, retriever breeds are bred for soft mouths and a great willingness to please, learn, and obey. Poodles, though developed as hunting dogs, are most commonly used as companions.

Gallery

Topics

Selected article - show another

The Indian pariah dog, also known as the Indian native dog, INDog, Nadan, South Asian pye dog, Desi Kutta, and Neri Kutta, is a landrace of dog native to the Indian subcontinent. They have erect ears, a wedge-shaped head, and a curved tail. It is easily trainable and often used as a guard dog and police dog. This dog is an example of an ancient group of dog known as pye-dogs. There is archaeological evidence that the dog was present in Indian villages as early as 4,500 years ago.

Though most street dogs in the Indian subcontinent are in fact Indian pye-dogs, the names for this breed are often erroneously used to refer to all urban South Asian stray dogs despite the fact that some free-ranging dogs in the Indian subcontinent do not match the "pariah type" and may not be pure indigenous dogs but mixed breeds, especially around locations where European colonists historically settled in India, due to admixtures with European dog breeds. (Full article...)
List of selected articles

General images - load new batch

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

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

More did you know... - show different entries

Rex, presidential dog, and friends

List articles

Subcategories

Category puzzle
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories

Things you can do


Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Recognized content

Good articles

WikiProject

For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's dog-related articles, see WikiProject Dogs.

Need assistance?

Do you have a question about dogs that you can't find the answer to? Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Discover Wikipedia using portals