Modern Dog Breeds and a Look at Their Origins
The Grey Wolf AND A Theory
Every dog breed is said to be a subspecies of the Grey Wolf (Canis lupus); so goes the theory. Yet domestic dogs have been around since ancient times. A 2010 discovery in Siberia has revealed remains of a domesticated dog, similar to the modern Samoyed, dating to around 33,000 BC ! The earliest “cultural evidence”, linking man with a domesticated dog (Canis lupus familiaris) goes back some 14,000 years to the Bonn-Oberkassel burial site in Germany where dog and human remains were discovered buried together.
Dogs Get Domesticated
Ancient Dog Breeds
There are a number of ancient breeds, amongst them the Afghan Hound, Alaskan Malamute, Pekingese, Saluki, Samoyed, Shihrian Husky and Tibetan Mastiff. Clearly, they were created with a striking diversity of color, size, build, and character. While some have evolved in small degrees, the fossil record shows others to have remained essentially unchanged up. Genetic and archeological studies have identified about 14 breeds as being ancient, meaning that their origins go back further than 5,000 years.
Kennel Clubs and Today’s Dog Breeds
The organization of dog breeds, as we know them today, dates from the formation of the English Kennel Club in 1873. The American Kennel Club (AKC) was founded in 1884, and many other national clubs sprang up around the globe. For the most part, their breed classifications were based on those of the English Kennel Club.
Here is a sampling of some of the best-known breeds in accordance with American Kennel Club classifications:
| GROUPS | |||||||
| 1.Sporting Dogs | Spaniels | Retrievers | Setters | Pointers | |||
| 2.Hounds | Afghan | Beagle | Basset | Dachshund | Bloodhound | English Foxhound | |
| 3.Working Dogs | Alaskan Malamute | Australian Cattle Dog | Boxer | German Pincer | Great Dane | Rottweiler | Mastifs |
| 4.Terriers | |||||||
| Section 1; Medium & Large | Airdale | Border | Fox | Irish | |||
| Section 2; Small | Australian | Jack Russel | Norfolk | Scottish | |||
| Section 3; Bull Type | Bull Terrier | Staffordshire Bull Terrier | |||||
| Section 4; Toy Terriers | Australian Silky Terrier | English Toy Terrier | Yorkshire Terrier | ||||
| 5.Toys; 11sections, including: | Bichons | Poodles | Chihuahuas | English Toy Spaniels | Pekingese | Papillons | |
| 6.Non-Sporting | Bulldog | Bichon | Dalmatian | Boston Terrier | Chow Chow | Poodle | |
| 7.Herding | Shepherds | Collies | Corgis | Sheep Dogs |
The German Shepherd & Other Popular Breeds
Since we are GermanShepherdPlace.com, our main focus is the German Shepherd Dog. However, in our article: Popular Dog Breeds, we’ll take a “side-trip”, and look at the top 10 most popular breeds in the United States.
The origins of the German Shepherd will be covered in more detail in our article, The German Shepherd – Introduction.
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