The Dogs Portal

The dog (Canis familiaris or Canis lupus familiaris) is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from extinct gray wolves, and the gray wolf is the dog's closest living relative. 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...)

"Water Spaniel"
(most widely accepted image of a Tweed Spaniel)
The Tweed Water Spaniel, or Tweed Spaniel, is a breed of dog extinct since the 19th century. It is best known for being involved in the early development of the modern Curly Coated Retriever and Golden Retriever breeds of dogs. They were described as generally brown, athletic dogs from the area around Berwick-upon-Tweed near the River Tweed and close to the Scottish Borders. A type of water dog, the breed was not well known outside the local area. This breed may have been created by crossing local water dogs with imported St. John's water dog, another breed which is also now extinct. (Full article...)
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A dachshund dressed in homage to the legend of the naming of the hot dog.
A dachshund dressed in homage to the legend of the naming of the hot dog.
Credit: Jessadactyl

The naming of the modern American hot dog is supposedly influenced by the dachshund. In 1852, the butcher's guild in Frankfurt am Main created a smoked, spiced sausage in a thin casing, dubbed a "little-dog" or "dachshund sausage" for its obvious resemblance to the low-riding German dog. The popular legend on the etymology of hot dog holds that a cartoonist named Tad Dorgan attended a polo match in New York in 1901 where vendors roamed the aisles imploring patrons to "get your red-hot dachshund sausages." Enchanted, Dorgan drew a smiling dachshund nestled in a long bun, but couldn't spell dachshund, so he captioned it "hot dog!" and thus the food got its name.

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Dog intelligence or dog cognition is the process in dogs of acquiring information and conceptual skills, and storing them in memory, retrieving, combining and comparing them, and using them in new situations.

Studies have shown that dogs display many behaviors associated with intelligence. They have advanced memory skills, and are able to read and react appropriately to human body language such as gesturing and pointing, and to understand human voice commands. Dogs demonstrate a theory of mind by engaging in deception, and self-awareness by detecting their own smell during the "sniff test," a proposed olfactory equivalent to the mirror test. (Full article...)
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The following are images from various dog-related articles on Wikipedia.

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  • ... that after decades of being a central hub for river dredging operations, Stony Island's population was reduced to a caretaker and his two dogs?
  • ... that a flat on London's Cadogan Lane has been described as "one of the happiest turn-on centres there's ever been" due to experiments with LSD done there?
  • ... that the parasitic fly Hippobosca longipennis has been found inside dog corpses from ancient Greece and on an ancient Egyptian mummified dog?
  • ... that Pep the dog was falsely accused of murdering a cat and sent to Eastern State Penitentiary?
  • ... that French designer Martine Bedin compared her Super Lamp design to "a small dog that I could carry with me"?
  • ... that beavers, mules, and dogs have been parachuted from airplanes?

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

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