Mary Allen
Dogs are mammals. For scientists, dogs are an animal family that also includes foxes. When most people think of a dog, they think of what scientists call a domestic dog. The male is called a male, the female is called a bitch, and the young animal is called a puppy.
Domestic dogs began with the wolf: People have become accustomed to wolves many thousands of years ago. There are findings that prove that humans lived with dogs as early as 30,000 years ago. Dogs have changed, people have often deliberately bred dogs so that they became what he wanted them to be. Today there are about 800 dog breeds.
Dogs used to be very useful for hunting, they kept people warm and they fought with enemies. Today some dogs have very special tasks, for example, they help blind people to find their way. You can also guard something and herd sheep too. However, the vast majority of dogs are only there today so that people can enjoy them. There are said to be over 500 million dogs in the world.
Dogs don’t see very well, but they have trouble distinguishing colors well. But they have very good ears for that. They hear sounds that are so high that humans cannot hear them. Above all, dogs have an excellent smell, a million times better than humans. This is not only related to the long nose, because many dog breeds have a short noses. The strong sense of smell comes from the fact that dogs use a much larger part of the brain to detect smells than humans.
Why do people keep dogs?
Most dogs consider people as friends or as additional members of the family. This works particularly well with dogs because they are pack animals like wolves. They remain loyal to the pack, especially the pack leader. They don’t want to be left out of the pack because they can’t hunt alone and would starve to death. For the same reason, they also guard and defend their family or their home.
It is very similar to herd dogs. A good herd dog is born in the midst of the herd. He then says that all the sheep are his siblings or other close relatives within the pack. Therefore he defends the sheep or the other animals in the flock. This is more important now than it used to be because there are more bears and wolves in nature than there used to be.
Police dogs obey their master unconditionally. They have undergone a long training so that they can also find small objects such as a key. To do this, they must learn to search for an area in a specific system. They also have to learn for a long time how to catch a criminal without hurting him too badly.
Drug dogs are also a type of police dog. Her specialty is drug sniffing. They do this during patrols in certain areas, especially at national borders and airports. For them, it’s like a game. Each time they sniff out a drug, they get a small treat as a reward.
The avalanche dog is also a special detection dog. He sniffs for people lying under a snow avalanche or under a boulder avalanche. It’s made of rock that suddenly fell off. Avalanche dogs are also used to deal with collapsed houses, for example after an earthquake.
The guide dog helps blind people to find their way. His real name is the guide dog for the blind because he guides the blind. Guide dogs for the blind take a long time to train. Don’t be alarmed by fireworks, for example. You need to recognize when a traffic light is green, then move forward. If it’s red, sit down. Many other things are added. Guide dogs for the blind carry a special sign so that sighted people can recognize them. They also have a fixed handle on their back so that the blind person can be guided by it.
The sled dogs have a special task. You know them from the far north. They mostly belong to the breed of huskies. They like to run and are very persistent. They also have thick fur, so they can spend the night in the snow without freezing to death. You have to get sled dogs used to their task well. From nature, they are not used to pulling something with a strap and always staying close to each other.
How do dogs breed?
Dogs must be around a year old before they can have pups. That’s called reproduction. This starts a little earlier in smaller dog breeds and later in larger ones. It can happen at any time of the year.
A bitch is only ready for sexual intercourse when the ova are mature in her womb. They say it can be covered. Healthy males are always willing to do this. Pregnancy begins with fertilization. It lasts about nine weeks for all dog breeds, i.e. about two Months.
However, the number of young animals depends very much on the breed. There are three to twelve per litter, that’s what the birth is called. They say: The bitch gave birth too young. The puppies drink milk from their mother because dogs are mammals.
Puppies must stay with their mother and siblings. You must learn to live with them and behave properly. You can also get them used to special noises, such as a police siren. That depends on what you want the dog to become later on.
Again and again, dogs are taken away too early by their mother and siblings and sold. This is torture for the animals. Dogs like that can never be trained properly. They don’t learn how to properly deal with people and dogs.
Large dog breeds usually live a little less than ten years. Smaller dog breeds often make it to over 15 years of age. The record is even said to be for a dog aged 29. Scientists have not yet found out why smaller dogs get older than larger ones.