The dog (or its younger counterpart puppy) is a mammal in the order Carnivora. Dogs were domesticated from wolves less than 15,000 years ago according to BBC newshttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2498669.stm, or perhaps as early as 100,000 years ago based upon recent genetic fossil and DNA evidence Vilà, C. et al. (1997).Multiple and ancient origins of the domestic dog. Science 276:1687–1689. (Also "Multiple and Ancient Origins of the Domestic Dog")Lindblad-Toh, K, et al. (2005) Genome sequence, comparative analysis and haplotype structure of the domestic dog. Nature 438, 803–819.. In this time, the dog has developed into hundreds of breeds with a great degree of variation. For example, heights at the withers range from just a few inches (such as the Chihuahua) to roughly three feet (such as the Irish Wolfhound), and colours range from white to black, with reds, greys (usually called blue), and browns occurring in a tremendous variation of patterns.

Dogs, like humans, are highly social animals and this similarity in their overall behavioral pattern accounts for their trainability, playfulness, and ability to fit into human households and social situations. This similarity has earned dogs a unique position in the realm of interspecies relationships. The loyalty and devotion that dogs demonstrate as part of their natural instincts as pack animals closely mimics the human idea of love and friendship, leading many dog owners to view their pets as full-fledged family members. Conversely, dogs seem to view their human companions as members of their pack, and make few, if any, distinctions between their owners and fellow dogs. Dogs fill a variety of roles in human society and are often trained as working dogs. For dogs that do not have traditional jobs, a wide range of dog sports provide the opportunity to exhibit their natural skills. In many countries, the most common and perhaps most important role of dogs is as companions. Dogs have lived with and worked with humans in so many roles that their loyalty has earned them the unique sobriquet "Man's best friend." Conversely, some cultures consider dogs to be unclean. In some cultures, certain types of dog may be used as food.

Terminology

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The word dog, in common usage, refers to the domestic pet dog, Canis lupus familiaris (originally classified as Canis familiaris by Linnaeus in 1758. In 1993, dogs were reclassified as a subspecies of the gray wolf, 'Canis lupus,' by the Smithsonian Institution and the American Society of Mammalogists.) The word is sometimes used to refer collectively to any mammal belonging to the family Canidae (as in "the dog family"), such as wolves, foxes, and coyotes. The constellations Canes Venatici, Canis Major and Canis Minor are named from the Latin word for "dog," for their perceived resemblance to dogs. An alternative designation has also been presented, which is to name dog either Canis lupus f. familiaris or Canis familiaris L.. This terminology has been considered acurate by geologists and zooarcheologist for a while, since dogs wouldn't be one subspieces of wolf if the above designation should be considered correct, but 450 subspieces of wolf. The designation was presented by a group of scientists in the article "The naming of Wild Animals and their Domestic Deriatives" in the Journal of Archeological Science # 31 in 2004.

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