Domestication

The dog is known as the first animal in the world to be domesticated in prehistoric times. Sheep were domesticated later than the dog. Indeed, the only animal, until the last few centuries, domesticated by Indians in North America was a dog (Altuğ 1978). In ancient Egypt the dog was regarded as holy. Graveyards were constructed for dogs, and such places were considered sacred.
According to recent studies the domestication of the dog dates back 15,000 years before Christ (Savolainen 2002). Ancient paintings dated from 3000 or 2000 BC in Egypt show gazehounds or sighthounds (the Saluki Hound), powerful shepherd dogs (Mastiff), and even small house dogs. In addition, the skeletons of Greyhounds, base dogs and some hybrid minor dog breeds have been found in the holy graveyards for dogs of ancient Egypt. Ancient Romans hung notices on their main gates, having the same meaning (cave canem in Latin) as the notices such as ‘Beware of the dog!’ being used today (Clutton, 1996).

Beware of the dog (Cave Canem in Latin)

Description

The word dog refers to a domesticated mammal of the Canidae family of the Carnivora (carnivores) group, having a number of breeds according to their length and shape, with a very strong sense of smell, faithful, and used in tasks such as guarding, hunting and flock protection. Although dogs have been classified as carnivores, in most countries they have become omnivorous, eating whatever they can find. The dog, which is a most familiar animal to human beings, is also one of the cleverest
 

Some dog lovers decorate their cars with stickers. Photo by Orhan Yılmaz.

Classification

The first classification was made by Buffon according to the ear shapes of dogs. He divided dogs into 3 classes, namely those with upright ears, semi-upright ears, and lop-ears (erect or pricked ear, semi-drop or semi-prick ear, and drop, pendent or pendulous ear respectively, according to Harold H. Spira - Canine Terminology, 1982). Later some scientists took the structure of the head as the basis of classification. However, recent classifications separate dogs into groups according to the work they perform.

1. Hunting and Sporting Dogs. These are classified as dogs detecting and showing the location of prey, dogs detecting and retrieving the prey shot, and flushing and tracking dogs. Terriers and Greyhounds are included in this class. They are generally moderately sized and fast running dogs.
2. House Dogs and Fancy Dogs. Breeds with a small structure such as the Barbet, spaniel, terrier, poodle, Chow Chow and Pekingese are included in this class.
3. Working Dogs. In this class are the watchdogs, shepherd dogs, rescue dogs, eye dogs, guardian dogs, fighting dogs and the northern breeds. They are large, heavy-built dogs ( Meydan Larousse 1992).
 

Some dog lovers decorate their cars with stickers. Photo by Orhan Yılmaz.

Status in zoological systematics

The status of the dog in zoological systematics is shown below. 

Table-1 Status of dog in zoological systematics     

(Akçapınar 1999)

The well-known Turkish Kangal (Karabash) Dog trainer and expert, with one of his dogs. Engin Kırmızı worked for the Kangal Dog breed for 13 years. Photo by Engin Kırmızı.

Some characteristics of the species

In general, the jaws of dogs are long. Dogs have 42 teeth. The canines (cuspids) are large and used for biting and tearing meat and sinews of prey. The molars are used for chewing bones. The premolars, used for catching prey, are long and sharp.
Since dogs have no sudoriferous glands they do not sweat. When running or if they are overheated they cool off by hanging their tongues out and panting. As they pant the evaporation of sweat from their tongues cools the animal. Dogs also sweat through their pads. The normal body temperature, pulse, and respiration are 38.4ºC (101.12ºF), 70-100 times/min, and 15-30 times, respectively.
The sense of smell is the dog's best developed, most acute sense. Its nose has about 125 to 200 million olfactory cells.
A dog's toenails or claws emerge from the end of each toe. They are non-retractable. The fore legs have four toes and five claws each. The fifth claw, the dewclaw, on the back of the leg, is too high to be of any use. The hind legs have four toes, and may have five, six, or seven claws. Only the African Greyhound has four toes and four claws on all its limbs.

The well-known Turkish Kangal (Karabash) Dog breeder, Doğan Kartay, with one his puppies. Photo by Orhan Yılmaz.

Barking

Dogs are normally able to bark, apart from a few barkless breeds such as the Basenji and the Malamute. The sound of the bark varies according to the dog's morphological structure. Some dogs have a loud bark (the Kangal), some yelp (small sized fancy dogs), some bark frequently (the Samoyed), some bark less (the Scottish Terrier), some in various tones so as to identify the distance from the prey (Grand Bleu de Gascogne), some with a melodic sound (American Fox Hound), some howl like wolves (the Alaskan Dog), and some yodel (The Castro Laboreiro).

A human family with a dog family. Photo by Orhan Yılmaz.

Breeding features

Female dogs have 8 to 10 teats. Each teat has 3 to 4 holes. The gestation period is 9 weeks on average, that is 63 days. The average litter size is 3 to 10 puppies. Some bitches may whelp only 1 or 2 puppies in their first litter, whereas others may deliver more than ten. The known world record belongs to a dog named Lena owned by W. N. Ely in the U.S.A. It delivered 23 puppies alive in one litter in 1944. It is thought that the total number of dogs in the world is around 1 billion (Meydan Larousse 1996).

An old Kangal Dog, Küçüközlü Köyü, Zile, Tokat, Turkey. Photo by Orhan Yılmaz.

How are dogs useful?

Throughout history, dogs have been given a number of very interesting tasks other than those such as herding domesticated livestock, protecting houses, work places, gardens etc., rescuing people, hunting, guarding, acting as a companion for lonely and old people, guiding the blind, detecting mines, bombs, narcotics etc., and tracking.
Ancient Romans used dogs to carry messages and for attack. Upon the appearance of Molosser Dogs, with their pincer-like teeth and collars studded with long razor-sharp spikes, their enemies preferred to flee rather than fight. Messenger dogs were the most unfortunate ones. Written military orders were put into a small copper tube which the messenger dogs were forced to swallow. Urgency did not permit time for the tube to emerge naturally so it was swiftly removed by killing the dog and cutting open its abdomen on arrival at its destination.
In the Middle Ages priests used dogs for warming their feet during church services (Clutton-Brock, 1996).