The Irish Wolfhound is a historic sighthound dog breed from Ireland that has, by its presence and substantial size, inspired literature, poetry and mythology. Like all sighthounds, it was used to pursue game by speed; it was also famed as a guardian dog, specializing in protection against and for the hunting of wolves. The original dog-type was presumed extinct by most knowledgeable authors but recreated specifically for the canine fancy mainly by Captain George A. Graham in the late 19th century. The modern breed, classified by recent genetic research into the Sighthound United Kingdom Rural Clade, has been used by coursing hunters who have prized it for its ability to dispatch game caught by other, swifter sighthounds.
The Pharaoh Hound is a Maltese breed of hunting dog. In Maltese it is called Kelb tal-Fenek, which means "rabbit dog"; it is traditionally used for hunting rabbit in the rocky terrain of the Maltese Islands. It is classified by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale in its "Spitz and primitive" group, and shows similarities to other Mediterranean breeds in that group such as the Cirneco dell'Etna, the Podenco Andaluz, the Podenco Canario, the Podenco Ibicenco and the Portuguese Podengo. It is the only Maltese dog breed with international recognition.
The German Shepherd is a breed of medium to large-sized working dog that originated in Germany. According to the FCI, the breed's English language name is German Shepherd Dog. The breed name was officially known as the "Alsatian Wolf Dog" in the UK from after the First World War until 1977 when its name was changed back to German Shepherd. Despite its wolf-like appearance, the German Shepherd is a relatively modern breed of dog, with its origin dating to 1899.
A dog breed is a particular strain of dog that was purposefully bred by humans to perform specific tasks, such as herding, hunting, and guarding. Dogs are the most variable mammal on earth, with artificial selection producing around 450 globally recognized breeds. These breeds possess distinct traits related to morphology, which include body size, skull shape, tail phenotype, fur type, and coat colour. Their behavioural traits include guarding, herding, and hunting, and personality traits such as hypersocial behavior, boldness, and aggression. Most breeds were derived from small numbers of founders within the last 200 years. As a result, today dogs are the most abundant carnivore species and are dispersed around the world.
The Pyrenean Mountain Dog is a breed of livestock guardian dog from France, where it is known as the Chien de Montagne des Pyrénées or more commonly the Patou. It is called the Great Pyrenees in the United States. The breed comes from the French side of the Pyrenees Mountains that separate France and Spain. It is recognised as a separate breed from the closely related Pyrenean Mastiff which is from the Spanish side of the mountains.
Dog breeding is the practice of mating selected dogs with the intention of maintaining or producing specific qualities and characteristics. When dogs reproduce without such human intervention, their offspring's characteristics are determined by natural selection, while "dog breeding" refers specifically to the artificial selection of dogs, in which dogs are intentionally bred by their owners. Breeding relies on the science of genetics, hence a breeder who is knowledgeable on canine genetics, health, and the intended purpose of the dogs attempts to breed suitable dogs.
The Bergamasco Shepherd, Italian: Cane da Pastore Bergamasco, is an Italian breed of sheepdog. It originated in the Alpi e Prealpi Bergamasche, where it was used as a herding dog for both sheep and cattle.
A mastiff is a large and powerful type of dog. Mastiffs are among the largest dogs, and typically have a short coat, a long low-set tail and large feet; the skull is large and bulky, the muzzle broad and short (brachycephalic) and the ears drooping and pendant-shaped. European and Asian records dating back 3,000 years show dogs of the mastiff type. Mastiffs have historically been guard dogs, protecting homes and property, although throughout history they have been used as hunting dogs, war dogs and for blood sports, such as fighting each other and other animals including bulls, bears and even lions.
A Schnauzer is a dog breed type that originated in Germany from the 14th to 16th centuries. The term comes from the German word for "snout" and means colloquially "moustache", or "whiskered snout", because of the dog's distinctively bearded snout. Initially it was called Wire-Haired Pinscher, while Schnauzer was adopted in 1879.
The Maremmano-Abruzzese Sheepdog, Italian: Cane da pastore Maremmano-Abruzzese, also called Maremmano, Maremma Sheepdog or Abruzzese Sheepdog, is an Italian breed of livestock guardian dog. It is indigenous to central Italy, particularly to Abruzzo and to the Maremma region of Tuscany and Lazio. It has been used for centuries by Italian shepherds to guard sheep from wolves. The literal English translation of the name is "shepherd dog of the Maremma and Abruzzo". The English name of the breed derives from that of the Maremma marshlands where, until recently, shepherds, dogs and hundreds of thousands of sheep over-wintered, and where the dogs are still abundant although sheep-farming has decreased substantially. It is widely employed in Abruzzo, where sheep herding remains vital to the rural economy and the wolf remains an active and protected predator.
The Cirneco dell'Etna is an Italian breed of hunting dog from the Mediterranean island of Sicily. It is named for the Etna volcano in eastern Sicily. It has a keen sense of smell, and is used to hunt small game, particularly rabbits.
The Berger Picard or Picardy Shepherd is a French herding dog originating in Picardy. These dogs nearly became extinct after both World War I and World War II and remain a rare breed.
Any cause that reduces or increases reproductive success in a portion of a population potentially exerts evolutionary pressure, selective pressure or selection pressure, driving natural selection. It is a quantitative description of the amount of change occurring in processes investigated by evolutionary biology, but the formal concept is often extended to other areas of research.
The Sardinian Shepherd Dog or Fonni's Dog is an ancient landrace breed of Sardinian dog used as a herding, catching, and livestock guardian dog.
The Patagonian Sheepdog or Spanish: Ovejero Magallánico is a Chilean breed of sheepdog. It was bred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for sheep-herding work in the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region of the southern part of Chilean Patagonia. It has a long rough coat and is well adapted to the harsh climate of the area. The Kennel Club de Chile publishes a breed standard.
Elaine Ann Ostrander is an American geneticist at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. She holds a number of professional academic appointments, currently serving as Distinguished and Senior Investigator and head of the NHGRI Section of Comparative Genomics; and Chief of the Cancer Genetics and Comparative Genomics Branch. She is known for her research on prostate cancer susceptibility in humans and for conducting genetic investigations with the Canis familiaris, the domestic dog model, which she has used to study disease susceptibility and frequency and other aspects of natural variation across mammals. In 2007, her laboratory showed that much of the variation in body size of domestic dogs is due to sequence changes in a single gene encoding a growth-promoting protein.
Dogs have a wide range of coat colors, patterns, textures and lengths. Dog coat color is governed by how genes are passed from dogs to their puppies and how those genes are expressed in each dog. Dogs have about 19,000 genes in their genome but only a handful affect the physical variations in their coats. Most genes come in pairs, one being from the dog’s mother and one being from its father. Genes of interest have more than one expression of an allele. Usually only one, or a small number, of alleles exist for each gene. In any one gene locus a dog will either be homozygous where the gene is made of two identical alleles or heterozygous where the gene is made of two different alleles.
The Pastore della Lessinia e del Lagorai is an old Italian dog breed from the northeastern region called Triveneto. It is not recognized by any major kennel organisation.
The agouti gene (ASIP) is responsible for variations in color in many species. Agouti works with extension to regulate the color of melanin which is produced in hairs. The agouti protein causes red to yellow pheomelanin to be produced, while the competing molecule α-MSH signals production of brown to black eumelanin. In wildtype mice, alternating cycles of agouti and α-MSH production cause agouti coloration. Each hair has bands of yellow which grew during agouti production, and black which grew during α-MSH production. Wildtype mice also have light-colored bellies. The hairs there are a creamy color the whole length because the agouti protein was produced the whole time the hairs were growing.
