Today we are going to talk about breeds and different kinds of dogs. The World
Canine Federation recognises 350 breeds of dogs (some not genuinely pure bred),
however, other associations like the AKC (American Kennel Club) have a smaller
number of 199 breeds, considered to be 100% pure bred. This illustrates just how
numerous the canine family is. All these breeds have different particularities and are
divided into groups, such as:
• Working dogs, who perform special roles: guard dogs, guide dogs, life savers
(swimmers), searching (sniffing), sled pullers, etc. Some of these work tasks are
subdivided into even more specific classifications, such as:
• Herding: originally bred to help with the
herding of bigger and more numerous animals on farms, like cattle and sheep, they’re usually very smart, super trainable and resilient, capable of working long hours of labour. Border Collies, Blue Heelers and Shepherds in general are perfect for this task.
• Primitive: Some breeds are ancient and still very linked to their ancestor, the wolf. Breeds like Huskies, Japanese Akitas and Shiva Inu are good examples of primitive dogs. Some categories share the same dogs with some lineages of Border Collies and are also connected to the European wolves.
• Hounds: Bred to perform two main activities - sniffing and running. Firstly, by helping hunters search for the most diverse types of prey, and also in races, entertaining the elite with betting games. Nowadays, they work at airports, and with firefighters, the police and the military. Beagles and Greyhounds are some of them.
• Terriers: With one of the longest lists of different dogs inside the same group, they vary from Jack Russells to Pit Bulls. They’re generally high energy dogs bred to do some work. They require heaps of exercises and training, and are also very good companions, loyal and smart.
I won’t cover every single group here, but my point is just to give you an idea of how complicated it is to explain to the general public how unique and specific some dog
needs can be.
Many of the issues you might be facing right now can be attributed to at least one of
the dog’s natural instincts, like digging, for instance. Most of the time, certain problems arise at home without the knowledge of the owner, and if nothing is done, those bad habits will only grow stronger.
So ideally, in order to avoid dealing with undesirable issues, every single dog should be trained at some stage of their lives, not only to incorporate obedience in their lives, but also to be able to do what they were bred for. Some of the original work purpose has been taken away from those dogs over many years. Simultaneously, as our lives have changed over the last centuries, all these original breeds have lost their jobs too. With the development of big cities, the majority of farm and hunting dogs now struggle to live in small apartments, unable to be their true selves.
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