The beagle is a breed of small scent hound, similar in appearance to the much larger foxhound. The beagle was developed primarily for hunting hare, known as beagling. Possessing a great sense of smell and superior tracking instincts, the beagle is the primary breed used as a detection dog for prohibited agricultural imports and foodstuffs in quarantine around the world. The beagle is a popular pet due to its size, good temper, and a lack of inherited health problems.
The dingo is an ancient (basal) lineage of dog found in Australia. Its taxonomic classification is debated as indicated by the variety of scientific names presently applied in different publications. It is variously considered a form of domestic dog not warranting recognition as a subspecies, a subspecies of dog or wolf, or a full species in its own right.
Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog believed to have descended from bull and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. Within the United States the pit bull is usually considered a diverse grouping that includes the breeds American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, American Bully, Staffordshire Bull Terrier and occasionally the American Bulldog, along with any crossbred dog that shares certain physical characteristics with these breeds. In other countries including Britain, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is not considered a pit bull. Most pit bull-type dogs descend from the British Bull and terrier, a 19th-century dog-fighting type developed from crosses between the Old English Bulldog and the Old English Terrier.
Guide dogs are assistance dogs trained to lead blind or visually impaired people around obstacles. Although dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are red–green colour blind and incapable of interpreting street signs. The human does the directing, based on skills acquired through previous mobility training. The handler might be likened to an aircraft's navigator, who must know how to get from one place to another, and the dog is the pilot, who gets them there safely. In several countries guide dogs, along with most other service and hearing dogs, are exempt from regulations against the presence of animals in places such as restaurants and public transportation.
A puppy mill, also known as a puppy farm, is a commercial dog breeding facility characterized by quick breeding and poor conditions. Although no standardized legal definition for "puppy mill" exists, a definition was established in Avenson v. Zegart in 1984 as "a dog breeding operation in which the health of the mill’s dogs is disregarded to maintain a low overhead and maximize profits". They are cited as being a result of increased demand for household pets, especially after World War II. The Veterinary Medical Association of the Humane Society of the United States defines the main characteristics of a puppy mill as "emphasis on quantity over quality, indiscriminate breeding, continuous confinement, lack of human contact and environmental enrichment, poor husbandry, and minimal to no veterinary care."
The Australian National Kennel Council is the coordinating kennel club of Australia. It is a member of the Fédération Cynologique Internationale.
Herding is the act of bringing individual animals together into a group (herd), maintaining the group, and moving the group from place to place—or any combination of those. Herding can refer either to the process of animals forming herds in the wild, or to human intervention forming herds for some purpose. While the layperson uses the term "herding" to describe this human intervention, most individuals involved in the process term it mustering, "working stock", or droving.
In law, breed-specific legislation (BSL) is a type of law that prohibits or restricts particular breeds or types of dog. Such laws range from outright bans on the possession of these dogs, to restrictions and conditions on ownership, and often establishes a legal presumption that such dogs are dangerous or vicious to prevent dog attacks. Some jurisdictions have enacted breed-specific legislation in response to a number of fatalities or maulings involving pit bull–type dogs or other dog breeds commonly used in dog fighting, and some government organizations such as the United States Army and Marine Corps have taken administrative action as well. Due to opposition to such laws, anti-BSL laws have been passed in 21 of the 50 state-level governments in the United States, prohibiting or restricting the ability of jurisdictions within those states to enact or enforce breed-specific legislation.
Coursing by humans is the pursuit of game or other animals by dogs—chiefly greyhounds and other sighthounds—catching their prey by speed, running by sight, but not by scent. Coursing was a common hunting technique, practised by the nobility, the landed and wealthy, as well as by commoners with sighthounds and lurchers. In its oldest recorded form in the Western world, as described by Arrian – it was a sport practised by all levels of society and it remained the case until Carolingian period forest law appropriated hunting grounds, or commons, for the king, the nobility, and other land owners. It then became a formalised competition, specifically on hare in Britain, practised under rules, the Laws of the Leash.
The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prohibiting or restricting certain types of dogs and codifying the criminal offence of allowing a dog of any breed to be dangerously out of control. After eleven horrific attacks in 1991, Home Secretary Kenneth Baker promised "to rid the country of the menace of these fighting dogs". The Act has been controversial for failing to stem the rise of dog attacks and for focusing on a dog's breed or looks instead of an individual dog's behaviour.
A guard dog or watchdog is a dog used to watch for and guard people or property against unwanted or unexpected human or animal intruders.
A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to use its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, wildlife scat, currency, blood, and contraband electronics such as illicit mobile phones. The sense most used by detection dogs is smell. Hunting dogs that search for game, and search and rescue dogs that work to find missing humans are generally not considered detection dogs but instead under their own categories. There is some overlap, as in the case of cadaver dogs, trained to search for human remains.
The dog is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from extinct Pleistocene wolves, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. The dog was the first species to be domesticated by humans. Hunter-gatherers did this, over 15,000 years ago in Germany, which was before the development of agriculture. Due to their long association with humans, dogs have expanded to a large number of domestic individuals and gained the ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet that would be inadequate for other canids.
The Sinhala Hound is a landrace of dog from Sri Lanka.
The Dogs Act of 1953 is a British Act devised to protect livestock from dogs. The Act outlines punishment of dog owners whose dogs worry livestock on agricultural land. Protected livestock is defined as cattle, sheep, goats, swine, horses and domestic poultry. Game birds are specifically excluded.
Toceranib is a receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor and is used in the treatment of canine mast cell tumor also called mastocytoma. Together with masitinib, toceranib is the only dog-specific anti-cancer drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is sold under the brand name Palladia as its phosphate salt, toceranib phosphate (INN) by Pfizer. It was developed by SUGEN as SU11654, a sister compound to sunitinib, which was later approved for human therapies. Toceranib is likely to act mostly through inhibition of the kit tyrosine kinase, though it may also have an anti-angiogenic effect.
Beware of the dog is a warning sign posted at the entrance to a building or other private area indicating that a dangerous dog is within. Such signs may be placed to deter burglary even if there is no dog, or if the dog is not actually a competent guard dog.
Olate Dogs is an American dog trick act featuring father-and-son trainers Richard and Nicholas Olate. The group won the seventh season (2012) of America's Got Talent, claiming the US$1,000,000 first prize.
Dog Daze is a 1937 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies directed by Friz Freleng and animated by Robert McKimson. The short was released on September 18, 1937.
The VIA Rail Canada Police Service (VRCPS) is the federal railway police service of the Canadian intercity passenger rail operator, VIA Rail Canada Inc.
