Dogs

I want to start my blog off with probably the most common house pet, and mans best friend. The dog, the canine. There are many different breeds and they come in many different shapes and sizes, which makes this animal very popular. While the most common use for dogs today is companionship and household pets, these animals were strong working machines in the past, and still so in some areas around the world.

The history of the dog is very interesting, now the basic is that the dog is a tamed wolf. But why don't all dogs look like the wolf? Well there's a genetic alteration through selective breeding, not every puppy looks the same, combining the animals with the right trait is all it takes to get your chihuahua from a wolf.

There are seven different classifications for dogs, those are Herding, hounds, sporting, non-sporting, terrier, toy, and working. The herding dogs were used to herd flocks of other animals such as sheep, this class would contain dogs such as the popular collie and border collie. The hound dogs were used in the field to help the hunters find it prey, this class contains Bassett Hounds, and the all popular Beagle. The sporting group is the most diversely talented group of dogs because there skill covers many items ranging from hunting to pulling, from guarding to capturing; this group contains your Labrador Retriever and your Cocker Spaniel. The non-sporting group contains dogs that aren't really used or designed for any particular reason but make good companions anyway such as the Dalmatian and the Chow. The terrier class are given this name because they are territorial and were bred to kill vermin that go places they do not belong. The Russell Terrier is probably the most popular of this group but just about any dog who's breed name ends in Terrier will fall into this group. The toy group is pretty self explanatory, their purpose is to bring joy to their owners in a fun sized way such as the Chihuahua and the Shih Tzu. Finally the working class, this group will be your biggest and meanest group of dogs from the Rottweilers and Doberman Pinchers used as guards to your Alaskan Malamute and Saint Bernard used to haul heavy loads.

Dogs have been used for many things in their history with us but one of the best uses and best traits they have is companionship so go get yourself a dog, sit back and relax because you are sure to find some entertainment that can't be seen on your tv screen.