Course Web Site:
www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ans105/
DOGS
20.3 billion spent on pets care
11 billion spent of vet care
9 billion on food
Close to 1 billion spent on toys & treats
Over 65% talk to their pet as if it were a
human
Over 50% greet their pet before they great
their “human family”
Etc.
At least 38% of all American households have one
(or more) dog.
46,000 veterinarians in the US (28,000 clinics)
Dogs are fully integrated in the American society. They are
part of the family and evidence has shown that they make
people healthier and happier.
Why are dogs so integrated into our society?
(This is what today’s lecture will discuss)
The origin of the dog:
TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia (cats and dogs both)
Phylum:
Cordata (cats and dogs both)
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class :
Mammalia (cats and dogs both)
Order :
Carnivora (cats and dogs both)
Family:
Canidae (this is where cats & dogs have split)
Genus:
Canis (Genus includes coyotes, jackals,
and wolves)
Species:
Familiaris
Therefore, commonly referred to as Canis familiaris!
What is a Carnivore (basically
speaking)?
Although animals in this order
[canids, felids, ursids (bears), procyonidae
(raccoons, pandas), mustelids (weasel,
ferret), viverrids (meerkat, mongoose) &
finally hyenids (hyena)]
have a varied diet … their specialty is eating meat
(and enjoying catching it!)
They have enlarged carnassial teeth (Upper 4th
premolar & the bottom 1st molar) ----These teeth
are used to shear and tear meat.
They also have small, sharp incisors to hold prey
& Canine teeth for stabbing and tearing.
What is the history behind the dog?
Miacids --- these are the first know canine ancestor,
they lived 62 Million years ago and were tree
dwellers; they were the first known animals w/
carnassial teeth; and they were plantigrade
(therefore they walked on their palms and soles of
their feet) --- much slower than the current dog!
Viveravines --- branched off from the Miacids around
60mil years ago; became the first cat ancestors
The Canidae (family) of today: This includes 10 genera
and 35 species
One of these genera is canis.
The genus canis includes the following species:
grey wolf, red wolf, coyote, jackal and domestic dog.
(Therefore these are the dog’s closest relatives)
Foxes, African wild dogs, dholes, maned wolves, raccoon
& bush dogs all belong to separate genera from the
common dog
(they are not as related to dogs as many people believe)
The immediate dog ancestor is not 100% certain … however
popular thought and scientific evidence strongly points to the
canis lupus (grey wolf) and it’s 32 different subspecies.
Some of these subspecies are now extinct.
The grey wolf subspecies range from the extremely small
arabian desert wolf to the extremely large artic tundra wolf.
What is the evidence that makes us believe our dog came from the
grey wolf?
The grey wolf is morphologically (how?), genetically (how?),
and behaviorally (how?) similar to the domestic dog.
The domestic dog has 39 pairs of chromosomes just like
wolves (grey & red), coyotes, & jackals. Therefore
these species can freely interbreed.
The social nature of the wolf (primarily grey wolf) is very
similar to dogs. They both form social packs from
which they live and hunt.
In contrast, coyotes commonly live and hunt in pairs and
jackals primarily hunt alone.
Communication:
The body posture (during dominance, aggression, and
fear) is very similar between dogs & wolves.
Facial expressions are similar
Vocalizations are very similar (especially wolf pups to
adult dogs)
To wake you back up!
To wake you back up!
To wake you back up!
To wake you back up!
To wake you back up!
How did the wolf become domesticated
and lead to the development of the
domestic dog?
First of all, what does domestication
mean?
It is the breeding & containment of a
species under human control. This
involves animal changes (including
genetic structure).
Taming is not domestication. Know the
difference between the two!
The primary theory is the one of:
Neoteny (persistent infantile characteristics). That
an animal is permanently immature in
characteristics of importance.
Physical features that are examples of neoteny
include: decreased overall size, altered
(decreased) jaw size & strength, decreased size
and number of teeth, prominent foreheads,
shorter limbs, & diminished (smaller) secondary
sexual characteristics (in males)
Behavioral examples of neoteny include: dog being
highly curious like wolf pups, and the common
easily subordinate nature of dogs to humans
(much like a wolf pup to its pack members)
So … when did man meet the dog? Or when did
all this happen?
Although it is believed that man and dog’s lived
together in a symbiotic relationship (helped each
other) for around 100,000 years;
The first fossil evidence of a pet dog comes from
Israel around 12,000 years ago. (See the National
Geographic article). Scientist do believe that
people were starting to collect pets before this …
around 15,000 years ago.
In addition, some pet dogs remains were actually
dated back 11,000 years from Idaho, USA!
The dog’s early role was to help man by hunting
together. Sometimes man would eat wolf leftovers
and vice versa. (Of course if the man got hungry
enough he ate the dog!)
Later---Pleistocene humans started “collecting” wild
animals as trophies or as gifts. They quickly realized
Grey wolves were the easiest to train and that once
tamed they were good to have around.
Wolves quickly were trained to guard children,
homes, and food. As people began to breed different
size wolves and different tempered animals --people realized the value of herding animals and
hunting animals. Gradually the wolf traits started
changing and a whole new species was made that
existed primarily under human control!
Wolf to Dog (Domestication)
• Canis lupus is a widely diverse species;
the size, environment, behavior &
communication widely differs b/w
subspecies of this group!
• The large amount of genetic plasticity of
the canis lupus gave humans a large
“playing field” to develop different dog
breeds.
Fertility & Sexual Maturity
• Wolf females have 1 estrus cycle per year…dog
females have 2
• Wolf males are fertile seasonally; dog males
are fertile all year
• The dog has social maturity later in life than
sexual maturity; equal in the wolf
• Wolf pups develop physically sooner than dog
pups
Why all these changes?
• Elimination of natural pressures
• Breed to be easily kept as pets (whining, etc.)
• Dog puppies have a longer socialization period
than wolf pups… Why important? Survival!
Agnostic Behavior
• Dominance is usually settled w/o a lot of trouble w/i
wolves … harder w/ dogs sometimes!
• Wolves do not want to fight … they need their energy
simply to survive … dogs don’t!
•
The good thing is that most dogs are less dominant by
nature compared to wolves and problems easier to
handle!
• Dogs do not have the full array of predatory behavior
shown by wolves (not true w/ all breeds!)
Breeds of Dogs
Spread of human population and
increased numbers lead to a change
in the demands for companion
animals…People needed further
selection and refinement of dog
traits to meet their needs.
Selective Breeding

Definition: Discriminative selection
based on presence of desired
structural or behavioral
characteristics

Used to weed out undesirable traits
or to breed in desired traits
Selective Breeding
Actually began at least 5,000 years ago
but the extremes we see today did not
occur until the last 200 years.
Subspecies v/s Breeds
Subspecies: natural selection; differ
morphologically (form/structure) from
original; & geographically (example?)
Breed: based on artificial selection by
humans – common species – usually not
isolated geographically (example?)
Dog Shows
There are 370 – 400 dog breeds globally and over
1,000 recorded in history.
 Presently, the Crufts (largest dog show in
England) has over 18,000 dog entries
Dog Shows
o The AKC currently has 7 breed groups that
we will discuss: sporting, hounds, working,
terrier, toys, herding, & non-sporting (153
breeds). A miscellaneous class also exists …
but not with full recognition & not discussed in
105.
In this course … we are only going to talk about
the AKC breeds since they are the most popular
US dog breed organization