Canine terminology in this article refers only to dog terminology, specialized terms describing the characteristics of various external parts of the domestic dog, as well as terms for structure, movement, and temperament. This terminology is not typically used for any of the wild species or subspecies of wild wolves, foxes, coyotes, dholes, jackals or the basal caninae. Dog terminology is often specific to each breedortype of dog. Breed standards use this terminology in the description of the ideal external appearance of each breed, although similar characteristics may be described with different terms in different breeds.
AStanford University School of Medicine study published in Science in October, 2007 found the genetics that explain coat colors in other mammals such as in horse coats and in cat coats, did not apply to dogs.[1] The project took samples from 38 different breeds to find the gene (abeta defensin gene) responsible for dog coat color. One version produces yellow dogs, and a mutation produces black. All dog coat colors are modifications of black or yellow.[2] For example, the white in white miniature schnauzers is a cream color, not albinism (a genotype of e/e at MC1R.)
Today, dogs exhibit a diverse array of fur coats, including dogs without fur, such as the Mexican Hairless Dog. Dog coats vary in texture, color, and markings, and a specialized vocabulary has evolved to describe each characteristic.[3]
One often refers to a specific dog first by coat color rather than by breed; for example, "a blue merle Aussie" or "a chocolate Lab". Coat colors include:
Brown: From mahogany through liver (dark brown).[3]
Red: Reminiscent of reddish woods such as cherryormahogany; also tawny, chestnut, orange, rusty, and red-gold.[3]
Yellow: From pale cream to a deep yellowish-gold tan.
Gold: From pale apricot to rich reddish-yellow.
Gray: Pale to dark gray, including silver; can be mixed with other colors or various shades to create sandy pepper, pepper, grizzle, blue-black gray, or silver-fawn.
Blue: A dark metallic gray, otherwise known as slate; diluted black pigment. Blue merle is genetically black, not blue.[3]
Sable: Black-tipped hairs; the background color can be gold, silver, gray, or tan.
All these colors can also be dilute, meaning they become a paler shade of the original color. Blue and cream are both dilute colors.[3]
Pattern
[edit]The Dalmatian's coat is one of the more widely recognized markings.
Coat patterns include:
Bicolor: such as black and tan, red and white. The coat has both colors but in clearly defined and separated areas; usually the top and sides are darker and lower legs and underside are the lighter color.[3]
Tricolor: Consisting of three colors, usually black, tan, and white or liver, tan, and white.[3]
Brindle: A mixture of black with brown, tan, or gold, usually in a "tiger stripe" pattern.[3] Sometimes called grizzle when the pattern is not in lines.[3]
Roan: A kind of ticking on the hair where half the fur is one color and the other half is a different color. In English Setters, this color pattern is called a Belton pattern.[3]
Merle: Marbled coat with darker patches and spots of the specified color.
Particolor: Two-colored coat with the colors appearing in patches in roughly equal quantities.[3]
Tuxedo: Solid (usually black) with a white patch (shirt front) on the chest, and white on some or all of the feet (spats.) This pattern is sometimes called Irish Spotting, Flashy, or Boston.[3]
Coat textures vary tremendously. Some coats make the dogs more cuddly and others make them impervious to cold water. Densely furred breeds such as most sled dogs and Spitz types can have up to 600 hairs per inch, while fine-haired breeds such as the Yorkshire Terrier can have as few as 100, and the "hairless" breeds such as the Mexican Hairless Dog and the Peruvian Inca Orchid have none on parts of their bodies. The texture of the coat often depends on the distribution and the length of the two parts of a dog's coat, its thick, warm undercoat (ordown) and its rougher, somewhat weather-resistant outer coat (topcoat, also referred to as guard hairs). Breeds with soft coats often have more or longer undercoat hairs than guard hairs; rough-textured coats often have more or longer guard hairs. Textures include:
Double-coated: Having a thick, warm, short undercoat (ordown) that is usually dense enough to resist penetration by water and a stronger, rougher weather-resistant outer coat (topcoat), also referred to as guard hairs. Most other coat types are also double-coated.
Single-coated: Lacking an undercoat.
Smooth-coated: "Smooth" to the eye and touch.
Wire-haired: Also called broken-coated. The harsh outer guard hairs are prominent, providing excellent weather protection for hunting dogs such as the Border TerrierorWirehaired Pointing Griffon.
A special vocabulary has been developed to describe the characteristics of various body parts of the dog. Terms are often specific to each breed or type of dog.
The parts of the head are the nose, muzzle, stop, forehead or braincase, occiput (highest point of the skull at the back of the head), ears, eyes, eyebrows or brows, whiskers, flews (lips, which may hang down), and cheeks.
The stop is the degree of angle change between the skull and the nasal bone near the eyes. Also the indentation between the eyes where the nose and skull meet.[5]
The occiput in dog terms is the bump or protuberance clearly seen at the back of the skull in some breeds like the English Setter and Bloodhound. However, in other breeds it is barely perceptible. Myths in dog folklore believed that size of the occipital protuberance was somehow a measure of the dog's sense of smell. So to this day it is prominent in most Scent Hounds.
However, technically the occipital bone extends right down the back of the head to where it articulates with the neck. So when breed standards refer to the length of a dog's skull, they rarely include the occiput in this measurement.
The occiput has many nerve endings and stimulates calming effects to do with the flight or fight system. It is used in canine therapeutic massage to calm the dogs.
A dog's vision is actually equivalent to a human with red-green color blindness. Different breeds have different shapes of eyes. It all depends on the purpose. If a dog is a hunter, they most definitely need good eyesight. Therefore, those breeds have a wider range of vision than others. As a rule of thumb, breeds with short heads have a narrower field of vision, whereas breeds with longer heads have a wider field of vision - such as wolf, sighthound.
The bite describes how the dog's teeth meet when the mouth is closed.
Usually have wide mouths and good teeth, these breeds can benefit from getting their teeth brushed regularly due to such wide areas in their mouths.
One way a dog releases heat from its body is from in between its paws.
Some dogs have a seemingly superfluous claw at the base of their foot. This is known as a dewclaw.
^Bonham, Margaret H. (2013). "Dog Anatomy from Head to Tail". Dog Grooming for Dummies. John Wiley and Sons. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
The Boston Terrier And All About It by Edward Axtell, Chapter XV. Technical Terms Used In Relation To The Boston Terrier, And Their Meaning. Publisher: Vintage Dog Books, 2006, ISBN1-84664-062-8
Spira, Harold R. (1982). Canine terminology. San Francisco: Harper & Row. ISBN0-06-312047-X.
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