Pies: There are hundreds of breeds of dogs

Evidence: 80 • authority: 92

Attention and improvement: social learning reveals two behavioural dimensions behind dog-human interactions.. Humans selected hundreds of dog breeds, which show different levels of dependence on human-provided cues. While robust grouping factors, such as genetic relatedness-based ancestry and function-based cooperativeness, denote useful frameworks to analyse behavioural differences in dogs, they may lack fine enough resolution for a more detail-oriented understanding of human-oriented behaviours. Here, we focused on behaviour-based analysis of the characteristic reliance of dog breeds on human behaviour. We utilized N = 187 adult purebred dogs' performance in a social learning task. Dogs o…

Evidence: 80 • authority: 72

The Indian pariah dog, South Asian pariah dog, or Desi 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 ancient 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 "…

Evidence: 59 • authority: 92

Establishment of an open-access canine breed-associated neurologic disease literature library.. Importance The Veterinary Neurologic Disease Library has been created as an educational resource library for veterinary professionals related to breed-associated neurologic diseases in dogs. Objective To develop an open-access library that serves as a curated collection repository of peer-reviewed literature pertaining to dog breeds and neurologic diseases. Methods Dog breeds were identified using the American and United Kennel Club registered breed lists. Disease terms were collected from published texts discussing veterinary neurologic diseases. Publicly available resources were searched by inp…

Evidence: 59 • authority: 92

Genotypic and phenotypic consequences of domestication in dogs.. Runs of homozygosity (ROH) are genomic regions that arise when identical haplotypes are inherited from a shared ancestor. In this study, we explored ROH across 556 whole-genome sequences from domesticated and non-domesticated dogs. Then, we leveraged ROH from 466 breed dogs, representing 13 breed groups and 13 phenotypic traits, to investigate associations between genetic diversity and non-disease phenotypes. We identified significant associations between the ROH-based inbreeding coefficient (FROH) and multiple phenotypes. These include three quantitative traits (height, weight, lifespan) and ten morphological and coat-related…

Evidence: 59 • authority: 92

Dog Breeds for the Future: Theoretical Assessment of Strategies for Enhancing the Behavioural Reliability of Existing Dog Breeds, or Developing New Ideal Urban Companion Dogs.. The original function of many dog breeds no longer fits the requirements of an easy-going companion. Caretakers can also be overdemanding regarding their dogs' ability to cope with societal expectations. We propose and evaluate four strategies for readjusting the dog-human relationship by highlighting their positive and negative outcomes. (1) 'Converge': dog breeds should be changed towards the amicable dog's behavioural characteristics; thus, once the goal is reached, even novice dog owners can safely own almost any…

Evidence: 59 • authority: 92

Evaluation of Two Commercial DNA-Based Breed Identification Tests for Pit Bull-Type Dogs in Taiwan: A Pilot Study.. The "Declaration of Specified Breed Names of Animals Banned from Being Owned, Imported, or Exported" was promulgated in Taiwan in response to aggression involving pit bull-type dogs. To support enforcement, we developed standards for visual breed identification based on international breed standards and UK guidance. Given the subjectivity of visual identification, samples from 21 healthy dogs, including 12 pit bull-type dogs, were submitted to Embark ® and Orivet Genetic Pet Care for SNP-based breed identification. Across pit bull-type dogs, American Pit Bull Terrier signature…

Evidence: 59 • authority: 72

Dog types are broad categories of domestic dogs based on form, function, style of work, lineage, or appearance. Some may be locally adapted dog types (or landraces) that may have the visual characteristics of a modern purebred dog. In contrast, modern dog breeds strictly adhere to long-established breed standards,[note 1] that began with documented foundation breeding stock sharing a common set of inheritable characteristics, developed by long-established, reputable kennel clubs that recognize the dog as a purebred. A "dog type" can be referred to broadly, as in gun dog, or more specifically, as in spaniel. Dogs raised and trained for a specific working ability rather than appearance may no…

Evidence: 59 • authority: 72

A mongrel, mutt, or mixed-breed dog is any dog which does not belong to one officially recognized breed. While such terms may refer to all dogs of mixed breeds, the terms "dog crossbreed" and "designer dog" specifically refer to mixed-breed dogs which are intentionally bred. Mixed-breed dogs may have ancestries that include any combination of purebred dogs and other mongrels. Excluding designer dogs, mixed-breed dogs are generally considered less financially valuable than purebred dogs. Mixed-breed dogs are thought to be less susceptible to the genetic health problems associated with inbreeding (following the concept of heterosis or "hybrid vigor"). Estimates place the population of mixed-b…

Evidence: 58 • authority: 80

Hundreds of livestock breeds have gone extinct – but some Australian farmers are keeping endangered breeds alive

Evidence: — • authority: 38