Tutti i cani discendono da un tipo di lupo estinto che si è progressivamente adattato alla vita con gli umani. La scienza sta ancora cercando di capire come siano nate le prime “razze” di cani, processo che i nostri antenati hanno sicuramente favorito pur senza avere conoscenza di genetica. Attualmente le razze canine sono circa 400 e in continuo aumento.
How can we select a breed?
By “Breed” we mean the belonging of a dog to a family tree pure and certified in some physical and psychological features that they can inherit through litters. Most of the breeds are born around 1800, for the need of specific performances at the beginning (hunting, sport activities, working, defending), then for aesthetic and temperamental purposes, then in order to generate companion animals. Some modern breeds have old traits, surely due to human selection as well.
Dog categories according to breed
Dogs divide into 1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees primitives and paedomorph. The firsts shows evident wolf features, aesthetic and temperamental. First degree paedomorphs are intelligent and independent dogs, predisposed for hunting and hunting animals. Second degree paedomorphs are predisposed to play, carry-over, they are curious and love exploring. Third degree paedomorphs are territorial, reactive and flexible dogs. As we have already said, breeds can be divided also into sizes, from toy to giants, but we should point out that breeds (such as Poodle, Dachshund and Schnautzer) can have different sizes.
Humans have created all dog breeds?
Not all breeds are born for a specific purpose, the Czechoslovakian wolf is an example of this: a couple of breeders in the 50’s realized that a recent litter of their German Shepherd showed particular features, very “wolfish”. Their little female dog mated with a wolf, producing a good- looking crossbreed, strong and sane. Not all breeds come from a lab or human efforts… sometimes they are spontaneous and humans love them, keeping breeding new ones.