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The dog (Canis familiaris or Canis lupus familiaris) is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was domesticated from an extinct population of Pleistocene wolves over 14,000 years ago. The dog was the first species to be domesticated by humans. Experts estimate that hunter-gatherers domesticated dogs more than 15,000 years ago, 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 dog has been selectively bred over millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes. Dog breeds vary widely in shape, size, and color. They perform many roles for humans, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and the military, companionship, therapy, and aiding disabled people. Over the millennia, dogs became uniquely adapted to human behavior, and the human–canine bond has been a topic of frequent study. This influence on human society has given them the sobriquet of "man's best friend". (Full article...)

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A fawn-colored pug, the most common coloring

The Pug is a breed of dog with the physically distinctive features of a wrinkly, short-muzzled face, and curled tail. An ancient breed, with roots dating back to 400 B.C., they have a fine, glossy coat that comes in a variety of colors, most often fawn (light brown) or black, and a compact, square body with well developed and thick muscles all over the body.

Pugs were brought from China to Europe in the sixteenth century and were popularized in Western Europe by the House of Orange of the Netherlands, and the House of Stuart. In the United Kingdom, in the nineteenth century, Queen Victoria developed a passion for Pugs which she passed on to other members of the royal family. (Full article...)

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A Komondor during the Working Group judging at the 2007 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is a two-day benched conformation show that takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City every year. Dog owners from around the world come to show their dogs. Dogs are judged closely by eminent American Kennel Club (AKC) judges. It is considered by many to be America's most prestigious dog show.

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Human–canine bonding is the relationship between dogs and humans. This relationship can be traced back to at least 15,000 years ago, to the Bonn-Oberkassel dog, who was found buried alongside two humans. For centuries, dogs have been considered man's best friend. This is most evident in western countries, such as the United States, where 44% of households have a pet dog.

The human–canine relationship is not necessarily always a positive one; dogs can be viewed in an extremely negative light depending on the region. On average, females tend to have more positive attitudes toward dogs as opposed to males, and studies have demonstrated that both dogs and humans release oxytocin while spending time together. This release of oxytocin is correlated with the formation of a strong social bond. Canines are capable of distinguishing between positive and negative human facial expressions and will react accordingly. Dogs appear in religions all over the world, particularly in Mesoamerican folklore and myth, signifying the deep reverence humans all over the world and throughout history have for them. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various dog-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Mammoth bone dwelling, Mezhirich site, Ukraine (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 2Schematic anatomy of the ear. In dogs, the ear canal has a "L" shape, with the vertical canal (first half) and the horizontal canal (deeper half, ending with the eardrum) (from Dog anatomy)
Image 3Sled dogs, 1833 (from Dog type)
Image 4Frontal view of a dog skull (from Dog anatomy)
Image 5Montage showing the morphological variation of the dog. (from Dog breed)
Image 6Sled dog types, sketched in 1833 (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 7"Five different types of dogs", c. 1547. (from Dog breed)
Image 8External anatomy (topography) of a typical dog: 1. Head 2. Muzzle 3. Dewlap (throat, neck skin) 4. Shoulder 5. Elbow 6. Forefeet 7. Croup (rump) 8. Leg (thigh and hip) 9. Hock 10. Hind feet 11. Withers 12. Stifle 13. Paws 14. Tail (from Dog anatomy)
Image 9An 1897 illustration showing a range of European dog breeds (from Dog breed)
Image 10Cart dogs, c. 1900; different in appearance but doing the same work (from Dog type)
Image 11A little mongrel puppy on the shore, on Halong Bay (from Puppy)
Image 12Diagram of a wolf skull with key features labelled (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 13Watercolor tracing made by archaeologist Henri Breuil from a cave painting of a wolf-like canid, Font-de-Gaume, France, dated 19,000 years ago (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 14The nose of a dog (from Dog anatomy)
Image 15West Highland White Terrier puppies (from Puppy)
Image 16Newborn Basenji puppies (from Puppy)
Image 17A dog's teeth (from Dog anatomy)
Image 18Sled dog types, sketched in 1833 (from Dog breed)
Image 19A mongrel puppy (from Puppy)
Image 20The difference in overall body size between a Cane Corso (Italian mastiff) and a Yorkshire terrier is over 30-fold, yet both are members of the same species. (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 21Two Shih Tzu puppies (from Puppy)
Image 22Ancient Hawaiian petroglyphic depiction of an ʻīlio (Hawaiian Poi Dog) (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 23NASA astronaut Leland D. Melvin with his dogs Jake and Scout (from Dog behavior)
Image 24Mandible of the oldest recognised dog discovered in Bonn-Oberkassel, Germany, and dated 14,200 years old (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 25Jack Russell Terrier puppy (from Puppy)
Image 26The dog diverged from a now-extinct population of wolves 27,000–40,000 years ago immediately before the Last Glacial Maximum, when much of the mammoth steppe was cold and dry. (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 27Basset Hound (from Puppy)
Image 28A wolf mandible diagram showing the names and positions of the teeth (from Dog anatomy)
Image 29Lateral view of a dog skeleton (from Dog anatomy)
Image 30St. Bernard puppy (from Puppy)
Image 31A cavapoo and maltipoo running back while playing fetch (from Dog behavior)
Image 32Puggle puppy (from Puppy)
Image 33The Greenland dog carries 3.5% genetic material inherited from a 35,000-year-old wolf from the Taymyr Peninsula, Arctic Siberia. (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 34Lateral view of a dog skull, jaw closed (from Dog anatomy)
Image 35Lateral view of a dog skull, jaw opened (from Dog anatomy)
Image 36German Spitz puppy (from Puppy)
Image 37Cavapoo puppy (from Puppy)
Image 38Scent-rolling (from Dog behavior)
Image 39Tesem, an ancient Egyptian sight-hound (from Dog breed)
Image 40A labradoodle puppy and a Golden Retriever puppy playing together (from Puppy)
Image 41Dog knee (from Dog anatomy)
Image 42Newborn Welsh Springer Spaniels (from Puppy)
Image 43Montage showing the coat variation of dogs. (from Dog anatomy)
Image 44The dog's retina shows the optic disc and the eye's vasculature. (from Dog anatomy)
Image 45An extinct Turnspit dog, 1800 (from Dog type)
Image 46A drawing by Konrad Lorenz showing facial expressions of a dog - a communication behavior. X-axis is aggression, y-axis is fear. (from Dog behavior)
Image 47Map depicting possible phylogeographic origins of dingoes, New Guinea singing dogs, and Island Southeast Asian and Oceanian dogs, based on recent genetic evidence (Fillios & Taçon, 2016) (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 48The difference in body size between a Cane Corso (Italian mastiff) and a Yorkshire Terrier is over 30-fold; both are members of the same species. (from Dog anatomy)
Image 49Basenji puppy (from Puppy)
Image 50Example of a dog making prolonged eye contact with a human (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 51Chihuahua puppy (from Puppy)
Image 52Chihuahua mix and purebred Great Dane (from Dog breed)
Image 53Reduction in size under selective breeding – grey wolf and chihuahua skulls (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 54Golden Retriever puppy (from Puppy)
Image 55Bloodhound puppy (from Puppy)
Image 56Bison surrounded by grey wolf pack (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 57Cave wolf skull, Natural History Museum, Berlin (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 58Australian Cattle Dog puppy (from Puppy)
Image 59Petroglyph depicting two dogs hunting – Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria (from Domestication of the dog)
Image 60President Lyndon B. Johnson with a basket of puppies in 1966 (from Puppy)
Image 61Skeleton of a dog:
1. Cranium
2. Maxilla
3. Mandible
4. Atlas
5. Axis
6. Scapula
7. Spine of scapula
8. Humerus
9. Radius
10. Ulna
11. Phalanges
12. Metacarpal bones
13. Carpal bones
14. Sternum
15. Cartilaginous part of the rib
16. Ribs
17. Phalanges
18. Metatarsal bones
19. Tarsal Bones
20. Calcaneus
21. Fibula
22. Tibia
23. Patella
24. Femur
25. Ischium
26. Pelvis
(from Dog anatomy)
Image 62A dog's whiskers (from Dog anatomy)

Did you know (auto-generated) - show different entries

... that a flat on London's Cadogan Lane has been described as "one of the happiest turn-on centres there's ever been" due to experiments with LSD done there?
... that the dog in A Man and His Dog was modelled after Thomas Mann's real-life dog Bauschan?
... that depictions of Tobias and the Angel, unusually for a religious subject, typically show Tobias's dog?
... that Winston Churchill was often portrayed as a bulldog, but his personal pet dog during the Second World War was a poodle?
... that a Hot Dog Bean screenprint from Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans II sold for $258,046 in 2013?
... that after decades of being a central hub for river dredging operations, Stony Island's population was reduced to a caretaker and his two dogs?

More did you know... - show different entries

...that Buster, the dog of British Labour politician Roy Hattersley, earned his owner a criminal record after killing a goose in St. James's Park, London?
...that the appearance of a dog in a Hutch ad campaign doubled sales of pugs in India in 2003?
...that Bamse was a St. Bernard dog that became the heroic mascot of the Free Norwegian Forces during the Second World War?

...that Fred Gipson was an American author best remembered for creating a fictional dog featured in a book and the classic 1957 movie Old Yeller?
...that Pal, owned by animal trainers Frank and Rudd Weatherwax, was the name of the first dog to portray Lassie?
...that fans in the Dawg Pound at Cleveland Browns Stadium used to throw dog food at opposing players?
...that the sled dog Togo is considered one of the heroes commemorated by the Iditarod dog sled race which is currently running across the U.S. state of Alaska?