Assistance Dogs

Another wonderful gift that dogs have are is to assist disabled people and they do incredible things for their owners such as turn on lights, open doors, pull out chairs, turn off alarm clocks, yes and even make phone calls! Dogs also have acting skills, as we have all been able to appreciate in the movies.

There are many different types and breeds of dogs in the world, and this is part of the reason why it might turn into quite the ordeal trying to choose which one you want. Some dogs have been bred to do different types of jobs, others have been bred because of their exterior features (if they are rare for example), and others have been simply bred. If you are a future dog owner you will need to study the different types of dogs there are before even getting into the different types of breeds.

The oldest dog, that still to this day has its same features and that conserves a big part of its ancestors is the Nordic. These are the breeds of the artic nomad, and they are often denominated as the Spitz. They have a very natural look to them and the distribution of colors on their coats is very wild, they have pointy ears, thick coats, wide and long noses, and an outer protective coat like the wolf as well as a lot of flexibility. There are also different gregarious canines that independent, but that create very strong bonds with man. In this group of dogs we can find sled dogs such as the Siberian husky, the Samoyed, as well as Chow Chow, Elkhound, American Eskimo, Pomeranian, keeshond etc.

There is also another primitive group of dogs that are considered to be the outcasts; these are probably survivors of the first domesticated dogs. The Pharaoh hound, the Canaan dog, African Basenji etc are all examples of these. These breeds are less human oriented then the Nordic ones who actually lived with humans and were not expelled for the camps, as were the outcasts.

Right next to the outcasts are the whippets and greyhounds. These dogs came about in the south of Asia and the north of Africa to hunt in open fields but they used their sight instead of their smell. These are very old dog as well and within this group we have the Greyhound, Afghan greyhound, the saluki, and the Whippet. All of these breeds have very distinct similarities such as their long noses, deep chests, long and strong legs, flexible columns, and they are very fast runners, some even reach speeds higher than 70 kilometers an hour.

We also have other breeds that are excellent as guard dogs and these are usually the bigger breeds. Man's fascination for these types of giant dogs has resulted in the enormous dogs we have now a days. These domestic dogs have incredible strength and a supernatural protective instinct. Originally these dogs were used in wars, as house guardians and they also protected flocks. Amongst the breeds that still exist today is the Mastiff, Tibetan mastiff, German shepherd and the Saint Bernard.

Dogs that were mixed with others created very different descendants. There were mixes of dogs and from these came the Deerhound and the Irish Wolf hound. Another example is the mix of terriers, which eventually created the Staffordshire terrier and the bull terrier.

Other descendants of the acromegalics were tracking dogs that were big heavy dogs such as the Bloodhound and the Basset hound as well as other continental breeds. These dogs have big jaws, long dewlaps and ears. In continuation from these types are the Beagle, which is smaller and more familiar, as well as foxhounds and coonhounds. 

Sporting dogs descended from similar origins and within this group we can find breeds such as Dalmatians, pointers, spaniels, setters and retrievers. Pointers are the oldest within this group and they were used to point at their prey. Water spaniels and land ones include breeds that locate the prey and lifting dogs that would make birds fly up in the air. Later when guns came into the picture they developed mixes of pointers and lifting dogs. These dogs locate their prey and make them fly at command. Out of all these breeds, retrievers are the ones that conserve their original form since they are heavier and their faces are wider. Among the breeds that were bred to retrieve their prey from the water or land we can find the Labrador, golden retriever, flat coated, and the curly coated retriever, and next to that were poodles, which were anciently used to work in water.

The miniature version of these types of breeds has given us a great variety of companion dogs, as well as hunting dogs. Toy dogs descend from stunted mutations and later on they were kept as such. Some toy dogs have been around for quite awhile such as the Italian whippet and the Chihuahua whereas there are others that have more recently come into the picture such as the toy poodle, Chinese crested dog, and the Cavalier King Charles spaniel. Unfortunately toy breeds are underestimated and are said to not be useful due to their small sizes. In these days most dogs are used as companion dogs and the smaller breeds are included in this category and they are excellent for senior citizens, disabled people, for people that live in small apartments or in the city etc.

Likewise terriers are also very small and compact dogs, however they are strong and they have hard hair. These dogs were originally bred to get rid of rodents and other pests mostly in the British islands. Almost all of the terrier breeds known today came from England, Scotland, Gales and Ireland. Terriers vary in size; in this group we have the Airedale, which is the biggest, all the way down to the Yorkshire, which is the smallest. These dogs have very strong characters, are very brave, loud, sometimes very stubborn, but they are very ingenious.