Go dog, go!

I’ll freely admit – I love pets. I’ve written about our cats before several times, and though we don’t have a dog right now, we’d love to get one in the future. In fact, one of my and my husband’s favorite activities every February is to follow the goings-on at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. For those of you who don’t know, the Westminster Kennel Club dog show is the second longest continuously held sporting event in America (just one year behind the Kentucky derby). It is organized by the Westminster Kennel Club, America’s oldest organization dedicated to the sport of purebred dogs. Every February, dogs from over 150 breeds from around the world descend on New York to compete against each other, trying to be the dog that best matches the ideal standards of their particular breed. And we love to learn about all the different breeds of dogs! From giant St. Bernards to tiny Chihuahuas, from skinny Whippets to stocky English Bulldogs, from active Border Collies to pampered Pomeranians, domesticated dogs are a highly variable group, coming in all shapes, sizes, colors, features and temperments. In fact, domesticated dogs are the most highly variable mammal on the planet!

The domesticated dog, also known as Canis lupus familiaris, is a domesticated subspecies of the wolf. According the DNA evidence, the wolves that gave way to modern domesticated dogs began diverging from other wolves over 100,000 years ago; these wolves gave way to dogs some time later. (The exact time is disputed, and ranges anywhere from 15,000 to 100,000 years ago). Over time, dogs have diverged from each other in appearance because humans have selectively bred them to enhance for the traits they want. Let me give you a few examples of features that you might think are totally useless, but are actually integral to the dog’s purpose:

Corgis have extremely short legs relative to their body size. These dogs are particularly well-designed for herding cattle. Their short legs mean that when the cows kick, the dogs don’t get hit – they duck right under.



Daschunds also have short legs, but unlike corgis, their bodies are small and wiry. This is so they can crawl into dens and hunt out badgers, foxes and rabbits. This goes hand in hand with their tenacious and persistent (aka prone to barking) personalities.

Bloodhounds are extremely wrinkly dogs. Their faces seem to have about twice as much skin as they actually need! The reason for this is simple – the extra folds help funnel scents in from the air to the nasal passages of the hound. This allows them to be among the most sensitive scent hounds around – under optimal conditions, they can smell as few as 1 or 2 human skin cells.

Chesapeake Bay Retrievers are uniquely adapted to a watery life. Their coats are in 2 layers – a harsh outer coat and a dense woolly undercoat, both of which are oily and water-repellant. In addition, their hindquarters are especially strong and their back toes webbed, to allow for better paddling ability. All of this is very useful to the Chesapeake Bay Retriever, who was bred to retrieve fallen ducks from the frigid waters around the Chesapeake Bay when their masters were hunting. These dogs have been known to retrieve up to 200 ducks a day for their owners!

Bullmastiffs are big, broad, stocky dogs. They have barrel-like chests and very thick skulls. This makes them well-suited for their original purpose – finding and immobilizing poachers by knocking them over and pinning them to the ground.



But here’s something interesting - despite the many unusual traits that these and all dogs have, dogs are not particularly genetically diverse. They retain the same basic characteristics of their ancestors – sharp teeth, strong jaws, powerful muscles, fused wristbones, and a cardiovascular system that supports both sprinting and endurance running. There are a few genetic distinctions that we know about among dogs breeds. For example, scientists have discovered that large dogs and small dogs have differences in a gene called insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1). The IGF-1 gene of small dogs (like Chihuahuas and Pomeranians) tends to be of one variety, which is different from the IGF-1 gene of large dogs (like St. Bernards and Irish Wolfhounds). And while there are other genetic differences known to exist between breeds, scientists do not really know how those differences correlate with the different appearances of the dogs. So most of the differences may be primarily superficial – skin-deep, as opposed to DNA-deep.

And on a final note, this year’s Westminster Kennel Club dog show was particularly enjoyable. The winner of best in show was a 15-inch beagle named Uno. The beagle just happens to be one of my favorite breeds of all time, so I was really happy. How could you not love a face like this?

The following images were used in this entry:
Pembroke Welsh Corgi: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images10/PembrokeLucy2.jpg
Daschund: http://www.justusdogs.com.au/images/daschund.jpg
Bloodhound: http://www.greatdogsite.com/admin/uploaded_files/thumbnails/
bloodhound333x_1190777749500.jpg
Chesapeake Bay Retriever: http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/793/
75023959.JPG
Bullmastiff: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images16/BullmastiffShirley1
halfStand.JPG
Beagle: http://blog.mlive.com/kzgazette/2008/02/large_Uno.jpg