Dog type

Dog types are broad categories of dogs based on form, function or style of work, lineage, or appearance. In contrast, modern dog breeds are particular breed standards, sharing a common set of heritable characteristics, determined by the kennel club that recognizes the breed.

Dog types include ancestral forms (or landraces) that arose undocumented over a long time.

A dog type can be referred to broadly, as in gun dog, or more specifically, as in Spaniel. Dogs raised and trained for a specific working ability rather than appearance may not closely resemble other dogs doing the same work, or any of the dogs of the analogous breed group of purebred dogs.

The origin of the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris or Canis familiaris) is not clear. Whole genome sequencing indicates that the dog, the gray wolf and the extinct Taymyr wolf diverged at around the same time 27,000-40,000 years ago. These dates imply that the earliest dogs arose in the time of human hunter-gatherers and not agriculturists. Modern dogs are most closely related to ancient wolf fossils that have been found in Europe than they are to modern gray wolves, with nearly all dog breed's genetic closeness to the gray wolf due to admixture but several Arctic dog breeds with the Taymyr wolf of North Asia due to admixture. With the beginnings of agriculture, approximately 12,000 years ago, humans began making use of dogs in various ways. "When we became an agricultural society, what we needed dogs for changed enormously."

The earliest books in the English language to mention numbers of dog types are from the "Cynegetica" (hunting literature), namely The Art of Venery 1327 by the Anglo-French Master of game, Twiti (Twici), a treatise which describes hunting with the limer (a leashed bloodhound type), the pack of running hounds (scent hounds) greyhounds, and alaunts. More significantly in recording the use and description of various dog types, The Master of Game circa 1406 by Edward of York a treatise which describes dogs and their work, such as the alaunt, greyhound, pack scent hounds, spaniel, and mastiff used by the privileged and wealthy for hunting purposes. "The Master of Game" is a combination of the earlier Art of Venery and the famous French hunting treatise Livre de Chasse by Gaston Phoebus circa 1387.The Boke of St. Albans, published in 1486 a "school" book about hawking, hunting, fishing, and heraldry, attributed to Juliana Berners (Barnes), lists dogs of the time mainly by function: " First there is a greyhound, a bastard, a mongrel, a mastiff, a limer, a spaniel, raches (small-to-medium sized scenthounds), kennets (small hunting dogs), terriers, butcher's hounds, dung-heap dogs, trundel tails (lapdogs?) and prick-eared curs, and small ladies puppies that bear away the fleas and diverse small sorts".

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