# Types of dog breeds **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2022, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982 "2022-04-18T04:13:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![breakneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e99b99/32.png) [@breakneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breakneck)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/1 "2022-04-18T04:13:57Z")
Hello . From what I understand humans Domesticated dogs from the Wolf? If that is true how were we able to "domesticate " or "make " all the diverse dog breads wiener dog to a great dane . Were there wild species that resembled a wiener dog ? or how was or is it done ?thank you ---
**Author:** ![FrenchDunadan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frenchdunadan/32/5449_2.png) [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/2 "2022-04-18T06:20:06Z")
Standard breeding planning: you start by allowing only the ones with the most interesting traits to reproduce, then same thing with the second generation, then with the third,… In about 20-25 generations, the selected traits will be stable. Look at the Doberman: breaded by a postman in Germany that wanted a guard dog athletic enough to follow him. He cross breaded several breeds and in 30 years he had stabilized the gene pool enough to classify as an independent breed. The same is true for horses, cows, pigs, hens,… ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/3 "2022-04-18T06:26:40Z")
How the wolf turned into the pug etc. is probably the most classic, most discussed example of the power of selective breeding. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/4 "2022-04-18T09:16:48Z")
Dogs have weird genes. Very small changes to their genetic codes, which would hardly be noticeable in other species, can lead to major variations in their appearance and capabilities. I thing it has something to do with how they develop in the womb. Humans learned how to take advantage of this evolutionary quirk a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/5 "2022-04-18T12:20:11Z")
For details. > **[Dogs Keep Their Genes on a Short Leash](https://www.science.org/content/article/dogs-keep-their-genes-short-leash)** > > Only a few genetic regions are necessary to explain canine diversity ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/6 "2022-04-18T13:41:19Z")
Selective breeding - especially pigeons - plays a big part in The Origin of Species. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/7 "2022-04-18T14:53:13Z")
Dogs diverged from wolves around 30,000 years ago (other domesticated animals are all much much later, more like 5,000 to 10,000). The foundational type of dog is the Pariah Dog, which is commensal to humans. This is a true species which has little to no human intervention in its mate selection. It exists all over the world to this day, in non-westernized cultures. In the US you can find them on Indian reservations, for example. Most of the exaggerated breeds of dogs we see today are very recent, with the exception of Chinese breeds (they anciently distorted several kinds of animals). The dachshund for example, was a medium-sized stout German hunting hound with some chondrodysplasia (produced by the short legged gene) in the 19th century, commonly used to dig badgers and foxes out of dens. Then it, like so many others, was caught up in the new middle-class hobby of dog showing, and the most exaggerated traits were selected for. A generation is only two years in dogs, so a lot of selection can take place in a short time. The same story is true of almost all the other how-did-they-get-way breeds. A little research will show that their 19th or 20th century ancestors were much more normally shaped and furred. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/8 "2022-04-18T15:16:27Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The foundational type of dog is the Pariah Dog, which is commensal to humans. This is a true species Untrue. There are no “dog species” at all—all dogs are a single subspecies of the species _Caniu Lupis_. > **[Subspecies of Canis lupus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subspecies_of_Canis_lupus)** > > There are 38 subspecies of Canis lupus listed in the taxonomic authority Mammal Species of the World (2005, 3rd edition). These subspecies were named over the past 250 years, and since their naming, a number of them have gone extinct. The nominate subspecies is the Eurasian wolf (Canis lupus lupus). > In 1758, the Swedish botanist and zoologist Carl Linnaeus published in his Systema Naturae the binomial nomenclature – or the two-word naming – of species. Canis is the Latin word meaning "dog", an... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/9 "2022-04-18T15:28:13Z")
Suppose that thee are a few dozen different genes that regulate dog size. Wolves have a mix of all of them, so any given wolf might have the large version of some genes, and the small version of others, and it averages out to a normal-sized wolf. In the wild, some wolves will have a few more or less of the “large genes” than normal, and so those animals will be a bit bigger or smaller than normal. Some will have more than a few, and they’ll be significantly larger or smaller than normal, but if you get too large or small, you can’t function effectively as a wolf any more. But now put humans into the picture. If we want a small canine, we take all of the smaller-than-average wolves, and breed them, and only them. Our next generation will still contain a mix, but that mix will contain a greater than average proportion of “small genes”, and some animals that contain mixes of different small genes. So this second generation will be smaller than the original population, but still have some variety. Take all of the smallest of those, and repeat. Eventually, you’ll get animals that have the small version of every size gene, and so will be much smaller than normal wolves, like a Chihuahua. A Chihuahua wouldn’t stand a chance of surviving in a wolf pack, but fortunately for it, that’s not the environment it now finds itself in: It has humans tending to its every need, and so it can survive despite its freakish size. Now, it happens that this is a lot more effective with canines than with most animals, but the basic principles are still the same. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/10 "2022-04-18T15:32:13Z")
Okay, subspecies then. I used the word species in a somewhat idiosyncratic way, to mean an animal which both developed and continues without humans controlling its breeding choices. The idea that humans “created” the dog from the wolf is not, in all probability, accurate. A more plausible theory is that some wolves decided being camp-follower dogs was the better deal. It is certainly so closely related to both the wolf and the coyote that they interbreed freely. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/11 "2022-04-18T17:36:49Z")
For that matter, the domestication of dogs probably had effects on us as a species, too. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/12 "2022-04-19T01:38:14Z")
Humans have been domesticating each other probably since we learned to talk. Unfortunately, we’ve been backsliding recently, especially but not only, within the last couple years. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/13 "2022-04-19T02:47:08Z")
> [@FrenchDunadan](#): > > Look at the Doberman: breaded by a postman in Germany that wanted a guard dog athletic enough to follow him. He cross breaded several breeds and in 30 years he had stabilized the gene pool enough to classify as an independent breed. Was the postman’s last name Schnitzel? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/14 "2022-04-19T03:48:18Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Was the postman’s last name Schnitzel? He was real a real crumb to that dog. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/15 "2022-04-19T13:06:25Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Was the postman’s last name Schnitzel? So… was he actually from Vienna? ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/16 "2022-04-19T14:14:23Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > [@FrenchDunadan](#): > > > > Look at the Doberman: breaded by a postman in Germany that wanted a guard dog athletic enough to follow him. He cross breaded several breeds and in 30 years he had stabilized the gene pool enough to classify as an independent breed. > > Was the postman’s last name Schnitzel? I was waiting… ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/17 "2022-04-19T19:28:32Z")
Something that happened in a single lifetime: [a Russian scientist domesticated foxes, increasing docility and decreasing wild traits like musk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_silver_fox). A separate experiment also bred more vicious foxes. Clearly that’s what was done with wolves to create those lovable psychos called dachshunds. ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-dog-breeds/962982/18 "2022-04-19T22:58:23Z")
So, is this how that Russian Billionaire got that lap giraffe?