Dog breeds
Dog breeds are dogs that have relatively uniform physical characteristics developed under controlled conditions by humans, with breeding animals selected for phenotypic traits such as size, coat color, structure, and behavior. The Fédération Cynologique Internationale recognizes over 400 pure dog breeds.
Other uses of the term breed when referring to dogs may include pure breeds, cross-breeds, mixed breeds and natural breeds.
Archaeology has revealed dog remains of various sizes but there does not appear to have been distinctive breeds until 3,000-4,000 years ago when greyhound-type dogs were depicted on pottery and paintings in Egypt and Western Asia. Mastiff-type dogs were kept for guarding and hunting, and short-legged dogs were also bred. By Roman times, most of the breed-types known today were well-defined and their qualities and functions recorded. Dog breeds proliferated in Europe during the Middle Ages 700 years ago. Most modern dog breeds are the products of the controlled breeding practices of the Victorian era (1830-1900), and the accurate documenting of pedigrees with the establishment of the English Kennel Club in 1873 in imitation of other stud book registries for cattle and horses.
other breeds in the study
Ancient breed of dogs was a term once used for a group of dog breeds by the American Kennel Club, but no longer. These breeds were referred to as "ancient breeds", as opposed to modern breeds, because historically it was believed that they had origins dating back over 500 years. In 2004, a study looked at the microsatellites of 414 purebred dogs representing 85 breeds. The study found that dog breeds were so genetically distinct that 99% of individual dogs could be correctly assigned to their breed based on their genotype, indicating that breeding barriers (pure-bred breeding) has led to distinct genetic units. The study identified 9 breeds that could be represented on the branches of a phylogenetic tree which grouped together with strong statistical support and could be separated from the other breeds with a modern European origin. These 9 breeds had been referred to as "ancient breeds", as opposed to the modern breeds. The study found that the Pharaoh Hound and Ibizan Hound were not as old as believed but had been recreated from combinations of other breeds, and that the Norwegian Elkhound grouped with the other European dogs despite reports of direct Scandinavian origins dating back 5,000 years.
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