Canine breeds:

All are unique in character

Many of you may be canine (dogs) lovers and having one or two of them as your pets. Even though you may be familiar with your pet dog's breed and perhaps a few others, you may not be aware of all the breeds. Today, we'll briefly introduce you to some of the breeds. We'll describe each group's characteristics in our future issues.

Did you know that the American Kennel Club recognises over 140 breeds? They are divided as sporting dogs, hounds, working dogs, herding dogs, terriers, toys non-sporting dogs and miscellaneous. In England however, the non-sporting group is called 'Utility' dogs. Even though members of each group have certain characteristics common to their particular class, each breed is a distinct unit. they each have their unique characteristics and temperaments. We'll describe each group in later issues.

Sporting dogs

You may have heard how people use trained dogs to hunt birds and other small game. Not all breeds of dog are good for this purpose. Breeds such as the Pointers, German Short haired Pointer and Wirehaired Pointing Griffon are great sporting dogs. It's not only different types of Pointers but also breeds such as Spaniels and Retrievers are great sporting dogs. Spaniels include the English Springer Spaniel, Cocker Spaniel, Clumber Spaniel, Britanny Spaniel, Welsh Springer Spaniel, Irish Water Spaniel, Sussex Spaniel and the Field Spaniel while the Retrievers include the Golden Retriever, Curly-coated Retriver, Flat-coated Retriever, Labrador Retriever and Chesapeak Bay Retriever. Even the Setters the English Setter, Irish Setter and Gordon Setter are categorised as sporting dogs.

What breeds come under Hounds? Some or even most of the breeds that are grouped as Hounds may not be familiar to many of you. They are; Afghan Hound, Basset Hound, Beagle Bloodhound, three varieties of Dachshund, Scottish Deerhound, American Foxhound, English Foxhound, Greyhound, Otter Hound, Saluki, Whipper, Russian Wolfhound, Basenji, Rodhesian Ridgeback, Ibizan Hound and Pharoa.

These breeds, as indicated by some of their names as well, are good at hunting larger animals like foxes and wolves.

Then there are Working Dogs. Yes, there are dogs breeds that are very good at helping man carryout some of his work. They are also excellent guardians of people and their property.

This group comprises the Doberman, Rottweiler, Boxer and Giant Schnauzer (of German origin) Bull Mastiff and Mastiff, Great Dane, Newfoundland and St. Bernard, The Eskimo, Siberian Huskey, Alaskan Malamute, Samoyed and the Kuvasz or the Hungarian Sheepdog.

The breeds that belong to Herding dogs have been developed for their herding abilities and are considered to be intelligent. They include the Collie (the rough coated and smooth) old English Sheepdog, German Shepherd, Belgian Shepherd dogs, (three breeds) and the Welsh Corgi.

Terriers comprise 25 breeds. Scottish Terriers, Cairn Terriers, West Highland White Terriers and the Skye are some of them. The English Terriers include the Smooth Fox Terrier, Wide Fox Terrier, Bull Terrier, Airdale, Manchesteo Terrior and Lakeland Terrier.

Then there are both miniature and standard size Schnauzers from Germany.

Toy breeds are generally miniatures of larger breeds. Italian Greyhound, Toy Manchester and Bull Terriers, Toy Poodles, English Toy Spaniels, Japanese Chin, Maltese dogs, Papillon, the Pug, Pekingese (or Peke) Pomeranian, Yorkshire Terriers, Mexican Hairless and Chihuahua belong to this group.

Just as much as there is a group of canine friends who belong to the sporting dog category, there is a group which does not belong to it and are called Non-sporting Dogs. Used almost entirely as pets, companions and guardians they include the Boston Terrier, Chow Chows, Dalmatian poodles, Schipperke, Keeshond, Lhasa Apsos and the Bulldog.

We'll discuss the special features of these groups later. Meanwhile check what group your beloved pet or pets fall into and observe any special traits in their behaviour.

Even though some of these dogs are not engaged in any of the type of work they were originally bred for, some display inherent traits. For example, a Collie mixed German Shepherd pet we knew always displayed a strong liking to run to and fro as if she was herding a flock of sheep.

More on dog breeds later.