Dog Terminology

Dogs were domesticated from gray wolves about 15000 years ago. They must have been very valuable to early human settlements for they quickly became ubiquitous across world cultures. Dogs perform many roles for people such as hunting herding pulling loads protection assisting police and military companionship and more recently aiding handicapped individuals. This impact on human society has given them the nickname ‘Man’s Best Friend’ in the western world. In 2001 there were estimated to be 400 million dogs in the world.