209 Fun Facts About Dog Breeds and Facts

Which small breed, whose motto is the Latin 'multum in parvo' (much in little), has a wrinkly short-muzzled face and curled tail?

The Pug reached Europe from China in the sixteenth century. Legend says one saved the Prince of Orange by raising the alarm before an attack, and the breed became the mascot of his royal house.

Which sighthound is the fastest of all dog breeds?

The Greyhound is built for the chase: long legs, a deep chest and a flexible spine power a gallop in which all four feet leave the ground twice in every stride.

What breed was Chaser, the dog who could fetch 1,022 toys by name?

Chaser was a Border Collie. Retired psychology professor John Pilley spent hours a day for three years naming each toy, hiding it and sending her to find it, with play as her reward rather than treats.

Which breed, bred by Cape Colony settlers to bay lions, is nicknamed the 'African Lion Hound'?

The Rhodesian Ridgeback tracked a lion and held it at bay until the hunter arrived, but never killed it. The breed began as crosses between the ridged dogs of the Khoikhoi and the settlers' European hounds.

A dog's front dewclaw sits in the same position as which human digit?

The thumb: a dog walks on its other toes, and the dewclaw is an extra digit that rarely touches the ground. That is why its nail seldom wears down on its own and needs trimming.

Which dog breed is famous for its distinctive blue-black tongue?

The Chow Chow's blue-black tongue is essential under its breed standard, and the dark pigment extends to the lips and mouth. Puppies are born with pink tongues that darken as they grow.

Which rust-gold pointing breed is nicknamed the 'Velcro dog' for its clinginess?

The Vizsla was bred to hunt close beside its handler and bonds so tightly that owners call it the Velcro dog. Hungary's golden-rust pointer was all but extinct after the world wars and had to be rebuilt.

The Canaan Dog, redomesticated from semi-wild desert dogs since the 1930s, is the national dog of which country?

Israel: Rudolphina Menzel chose the desert's semi-wild dogs because only the fittest could have survived there, then trained them as sentries and messengers and later as guide dogs for the blind.

Which small-to-medium Hungarian herding breed is famous for its naturally corded coat?

The Puli's coat cords naturally as its woolly undercoat tangles with the outer coat; cords can be flat or round, and black is by far the most common colour, with white and grey rarer.

Which 'gentle giant' breed, bred by hospice monks for rescue work, is shown with a neck barrel?

The Saint Bernard is named for the Great St Bernard Hospice in the Alps. Its monks say their dogs never carried brandy barrels, and trace the image to an 1820 painting by an English artist.

Which Italian breed, once a marsh water retriever, now specialises in hunting truffles?

The Lagotto Romagnolo retrieved waterfowl in the Romagna marshes; after those wetlands were drained in the 19th and 20th centuries, breeders repurposed its nose for truffle hunting.

Which gundog's swimming is aided by fully webbed paws, an otter-like tail and a waterproof coat?

The Labrador Retriever descends from the water dogs of Canada's Atlantic fishermen, which worked from the boats and retrieved fish that came off the nets; British breeders later turned them into gundogs.

Which breed was named Alaska's official state dog in 2010?

The Alaskan Malamute was bred by the Mahlemiut people of north-western Alaska to haul heavy loads slowly over long distances, a dog built for freight rather than speed.

Which fluffy white Arctic breed's alert, happy expression earned it the nickname 'smiley dog'?

The Samoyed's upturned mouth gives it the famous 'Sammy smile'. It began as the reindeer-herding dog of Siberia's nomads, and polar explorers later harnessed it to their sledges.

About how long does a dog's pregnancy last?

About 9 weeks: gestation averages 63 days from ovulation. Counted from mating the range is wider, because sperm can survive for days before the eggs are ready.

Queen Elizabeth II owned more than 30 dogs of which breed over the course of her reign?

Pembroke Welsh Corgis: it all started with Susan, an 18th-birthday present in 1944 who even went along on the royal honeymoon, and the Queen's later dogs were bred from her line.

Which fox-like breed is the smallest of Japan's native dog breeds?

The Shiba Inu came close to extinction during the Second World War, when food ran short, and the breed was rebuilt afterwards from the few dogs that survived.

American fanciers formed a breed club to defend which French Bulldog trademark after a show judge rewarded the alternative?

Bat ears: the judge had picked only dogs with folded 'rose' ears like a Bulldog's, so the breed's American devotees wrote a standard demanding the upright kind.

Which toy spaniel breed is famous for its large, fringed, upright ears?

The Papillon's name is French for 'butterfly', after its large fringed ears; the drop-eared variety of the same breed is the Phalène, French for 'moth'.

Among dog breeds, which size class typically lives the longest?

Small breeds commonly reach 10 to 15 years, while giant breeds have the shortest lives. It is a puzzle, because across the animal kingdom large species such as elephants and whales tend to outlive small ones.

In which country did Sir Dudley Marjoribanks develop the Golden Retriever at his Guisachan estate?

Scotland: at Guisachan in the Highlands, Marjoribanks, later Lord Tweedmouth, mated his yellow retriever Nous with a Tweed Water Spaniel called Belle and kept careful records of every breeding that followed.

The Mexican hairless dog is better known by what name?

The Xoloitzcuintle was sacred to the Aztecs, who sacrificed the dogs and buried them with their owners to guide the soul on its journey to the underworld.

Which sighthound was nicknamed 'the poor man's racehorse' by 19th-century colliers?

The Whippet was bred small by northern English coal miners, who loved dog racing but could not afford to feed and kennel bigger hounds; it can still reach about 35 mph.

Seaman, the dog that accompanied Lewis and Clark all the way to the Pacific and back, was what breed?

Seaman was a Newfoundland bought by Meriwether Lewis. He guarded the camp at night and once drove off a buffalo that charged through it while the men slept.

What is the smallest recognised dog breed in the world?

The Chihuahua is thought to descend from the Techichi, a larger dog kept by the Toltecs a thousand years ago and bred down over the centuries into today's tiny companion.

Which dog breed is generally recognized as the tallest in the world?

The Irish Wolfhound is the tallest of all breeds. It nearly died out once Ireland's wolves had been hunted to extinction, until Captain George Graham gathered the last hounds and revived it.

The Kangal Shepherd Dog, a large livestock guardian, takes its name from a town in which country?

Turkey: Kangal is a town and district of Sivas Province. Since the 1990s Kangals have also guarded farms in Namibia, keeping cheetahs away from the livestock, which helps to conserve the cats.

Which sled breed, developed by the Chukchi people, reached gold-rush Alaska in the early 1900s and soon dominated its sled races?

The Siberian Husky was smaller than the local freight dogs, yet a team won the 400-mile All Alaska Sweepstakes in 1910, and the breed took most of the territory's racing titles for the rest of the decade.

Dogs have up to 300 million of what?

Scent receptors: humans have about six million. A dog can also move each nostril independently to tell where a smell is coming from.

Barry, the hospice rescue dog, is preserved in which city's natural history museum?

Bern: Barry is said to have helped rescue 40 people before he was retired to the city, where he died in 1814 and his body was preserved for the museum.

Which white Hungarian livestock guardian is nicknamed the 'mop dog' for its long corded coat?

The Komondor's white cords let it blend in with the sheep it guards, giving it the element of surprise, and shield it from the bites of wolves.

Roughly how many dog breeds did the American Kennel Club fully recognise as of 2025?

About 200: the Danish-Swedish Farmdog became breed number 202 in 2025, after 14 years waiting in the Foundation Stock Service, the club's holding register for breeds seeking recognition.

Which German breed, descended from medieval hunters of boar and bear, has usually held the title of tallest living dog?

Great Dane Zeus stood 44 inches at the shoulder, the tallest dog ever measured. Despite the name, the breed has no known link to Denmark: it was developed in Germany, where it is the Deutsche Dogge.

The 'Beagle Brigade' sniffs passengers' luggage at US airports mainly to find what?

Fruit, meat and plants can carry pests and diseases that threaten American farms. Beagles got the job, begun in 1984, for their keen noses, love of food rewards and gentle, unthreatening manner.

Which breed did cavalry captain Max von Stephanitz spend 35 years developing and promoting from 1899?

The German Shepherd was created to herd sheep: von Stephanitz crossed herding dogs from across the country, and only later did the breed make its name in police and military work.

Which medium-sized, short-coated Chinese breed is renowned for its loose, deeply wrinkled skin?

The Shar-Pei was close to extinction by the 1970s. In 1973 a Hong Kong breeder, Matgo Law, appealed to American dog lovers to save it, and their response secured the breed's survival.

The Pharaoh Hound, despite its name, is the national hound of which island nation?

Malta: there the Pharaoh Hound is the Kelb tal-Fenek, the 'rabbit dog', bred to hunt rabbits over the islands' rocky ground. Its Egyptian-sounding name is an English invention.

Which dog breed yodels instead of barking?

The Basenji's unusually shaped larynx produces a yodel-like sound instead of a bark; DNA studies place the Central African breed among the most basal dog lineages.

Which breed is widely promoted as hypoallergenic, though studies find little allergen difference between breeds?

The Poodle's tightly curled coat sheds very little, which is why it is sold as allergy-friendly; yet a 2012 study found the Can f 1 allergen in such breeds' coats at levels no lower than in other dogs'.

Which large white livestock guardian must have double dewclaws on each hind leg?

The Great Pyrenees guarded flocks from wolves high in the mountains, yet in the seventeenth century it also became a fashionable dog at the French court.

Which retriever descends from Sailor and Canton, two pups rescued from a foundering ship in the early 1800s?

The Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Maryland's state dog, was bred by duck hunters for the bay's freezing water: its thick, oily coat sheds moisture much as a duck's feathers do.

Which breed's trailing is trusted as evidence in court and has followed human scent trails over 300 hours old?

The Bloodhound has worked for the law since the early 1800s, when an English association against felons bought one to hunt down poachers and thieves; police still use it to find the lost.

Which breed comes in smooth, wirehaired and longhaired coats, in standard and miniature sizes?

The Dachshund, German for 'badger dog', was built low and long to follow badgers underground; it comes in smooth, wirehaired and longhaired coats and in standard and miniature sizes.

Which large, powerful Japanese breed is renowned for its loyalty and its broad, massive head?

The Akita reached America through Helen Keller, who admired the breed on a 1937 visit to Japan and was presented with a puppy, among the first of its kind in the United States.

The Boxer was bred from the Old English Bulldog and which now-extinct hunting breed?

The Bullenbeisser ('bull-biter') vanished through crossbreeding rather than decline; its descendant keeps the broad skull, underbite and strong jaws built for holding large prey.

Which setter breed's solid mahogany coat was fixed by 19th-century breeding from red-and-white dogs?

As breeders fixed the Irish Setter's solid red in the nineteenth century, the older red-and-white dogs it came from almost died out, until a few enthusiasts revived them as a separate breed.

Which curly-coated breed was taught to herd fish into nets and carry messages between boats?

The Portuguese Water Dog worked on Algarve fishing boats, herding fish into nets and carrying messages between boats; it was near extinction in the 1930s until shipping magnate Vasco Bensaude rebuilt the breed.

Which breed once ran beside horse-drawn coaches and fire engines?

Dalmatian puppies are born pure white and their spots appear over the following weeks. The breed trotted beside coaches to guard the horses, which is how it came to run with horse-drawn fire engines.

Which breed, named after a German town, was known as the 'butcher's dog' for driving cattle and pulling meat carts?

The Rottweiler is named after Rottweil, where butchers used it to drive cattle to market and haul carts of meat. When railways ended the cattle drives, the breed found new work as a police dog.

What does a dog's vomeronasal (Jacobson's) organ detect?

The vomeronasal or Jacobson's organ opens into the roof of the mouth behind the upper incisors and detects pheromones; its nerves ignore ordinary smells and report to the part of the brain that deals with mating.

Which of these foods can cause sudden kidney failure in dogs?

Grapes, like the raisins made from them, can shut down a dog's kidneys. Nobody has proved why, but the chief suspect is tartaric acid, which dogs are poor at clearing from the body.

Which college's Bulldog mascot is called Handsome Dan?

Yale students adopted Handsome Dan in 1889, after one of them, Andrew Graves, bought the bulldog and took him to football games; the original Dan was later stuffed and returned to Yale for display.

Which breed's tuxedo-like coat and impeccable manners earned it the nickname 'the American Gentleman'?

The Boston Terrier descends from Judge, a bulldog-terrier cross of the pit-fighting type brought from Liverpool and sold to a Bostonian around 1870; breeders turned his bulky line into a small, gentle companion.

Which toy terrier did Victorian mill workers breed to catch rats?

The Yorkshire Terrier was small enough to chase rats through the nooks of textile mills and down coal mines, yet before the century was out it had become a fashionable lady's lapdog.

Which toy breed, whose Chinese name means 'lion dog', did imperial palace breeders develop from Tibetan stock?

The Shih Tzu is thought to come from crossing two older breeds, the Lhasa Apso and the Pekingese. The court prized its dogs so highly that none reached the West until the twentieth century.

The Pomeranian is named for a region straddling which two countries?

Pomerania is a Baltic coastal region now split between Poland and Germany; the breed was miniaturised from German Spitz types, and Queen Victoria's dogs popularised the small size.

The Titanic's three surviving dogs had been kept where?

Staterooms: the three were tiny lapdogs kept with their first-class owners rather than in the ship's kennel, and those owners carried them into the lifeboats.

A chestnut-and-white Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is called what?

Blenheim honours Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, where the Dukes of Marlborough bred their own line of red-and-white toy spaniels.

What does 'Senne' mean in the Bernese Mountain Dog's German name Berner Sennenhund?

Senne means an Alpine pasture or dairy, so Sennenhund is the dog of the Alpine herdsmen (Senn); the Bernese is one of four Swiss Sennenhund breeds traditionally traced to Roman-era mastiffs.

In which US state was the Australian Shepherd actually developed?

California: the dogs reached its ranches by way of Australia, arriving with imported sheep and their herders, so ranchers took them for an Australian breed and the name stuck.

What was Louis Dobermann's day job when he bred the dog now named after him?

Tax collector: Louis Dobermann of Apolda was an unwelcome caller on his rounds, so he bred an imposing but dependable dog to protect him.

Which silver-grey German gundog stars in photographer William Wegman's costumed portraits?

The Weimaraner in Wegman's first pictures was his own pet, Man Ray, whose deadpan poses made the dog an art-world celebrity and began decades of Weimaraner portraits.

What was the Lhasa Apso's traditional role in Tibet?

An interior watchdog: the Lhasa Apso raised the alarm inside Tibet's monasteries and palaces, while much larger dogs stood guard outside.

Where on a dog's body are the sweat glands that work like a human's found?

Paw pads hold the sweat glands that work like ours, but they do little to cool a dog: panting does almost all of that work.

Until 1936, what was the Borzoi known as?

The AKC registered the breed as the Russian Wolfhound until 1936, when it adopted Borzoi, from the Russian for 'fast'; Russian aristocrats used the hounds to course wolves.

The Saluki was originally bred in which region?

The Saluki was bred in the Fertile Crescent, where nomadic tribes used its speed to run down gazelle.

Which breed's nose is reputed to be the second most accurate of any dog's?

The Basset Hound's nose is ranked second among all breeds for accuracy on a trail; it was bred in France to hunt hare on foot, slowly enough that hunters needed no horses.

Jack Russell, who bred the terrier named after him, had what profession?

Country parson: the Reverend John Russell, nicknamed 'The Sporting Parson', bred terriers bold enough to run with his foxhounds and go to ground after the fox.

Which terrier was once known as the Poltalloch Terrier?

The West Highland White Terrier is white on purpose: the Malcolms of Poltalloch in Argyll are said to have wanted a working terrier that stood out on the moors and could not be mistaken for a fox.

Which breed is called the 'King of Terriers' as the largest of its type?

The Airedale Terrier is the largest of the terriers, hence the title. In the First World War it served the British Army as a messenger, carrying dispatches across the battlefield.

Which breed did James Hinks create, an all-white dog later known for its egg-shaped head?

The Bull Terrier began with pit-fighting crosses of bulldog and terrier; Hinks added the English White Terrier to make a more refined all-white dog that became a fashionable gentleman's companion.

Dogs are not fully colour-blind: which two colours can they tell apart best?

Blue and yellow: a dog's eye has two kinds of colour-sensing cone where ours has three, so reds and greens are hard for it to tell apart.

What is the name of the mottled coat pattern seen in Australian Shepherds and Catahoula Leopard Dogs?

Merle dilutes random patches of the coat and can turn the eyes blue. Breeders avoid mating two merles, because puppies that inherit the gene from both parents are often born deaf or blind.

What is the white-and-black colour variety of Newfoundland dog called?

The white-and-black Newfoundland is the Landseer, after Sir Edwin Landseer, who painted one in 'A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society'; the FCI treats the Landseer as a separate breed.

Why is the Old English Sheepdog nicknamed the Bobtail?

Its tail was traditionally docked. Now that many countries ban the practice, plenty of 'Bobtails' keep their full tails, and the old nickname no longer fits.

What was the Sheltie originally called before rival breeders objected?

The Kennel Club registered the breed as the Shetland Collie in 1909; Rough Collie breeders objected to the name, and it became the Shetland Sheepdog in 1914.

The Belgian Shepherd's long-haired black variety is called what?

The Groenendael, the long-haired black variety, is named after the Château de Groenendael, the restaurant near Brussels whose owner, Nicolas Rose, bred it; the Tervueren is long-haired fawn and the Malinois short-haired.

What does 'corgi' mean in Welsh?

Dwarf dog: corgi is usually derived from the Welsh cor, 'dwarf', and ci, 'dog'. The short legs were the point: a corgi drove cattle by nipping at their heels and was low enough to duck the kicks.

What is the coated variety of the Chinese Crested Dog called?

Powderpuff: hairlessness in the breed is a semi-dominant gene, so hairless parents can still have fully coated puppies, and both kinds turn up in the same litter.

By what name was the Keeshond first known in Britain?

The Keeshond was the Dutch Barge Dog because it rode the canal barges of the Low Countries as a watchdog. Its modern name probably comes from Kees, a name tied to the Patriot party whose symbol the dog became.

What does 'Bouvier des Flandres' literally mean?

Cow Herder of Flanders: bouvier is French for a cowherd. The breed nearly vanished when the First World War turned its homeland into a battlefield, and survived largely through its service with the army.

The Catahoula Leopard Dog became the state dog of which state in 1979?

Louisiana made the Catahoula Leopard Dog its state dog in 1979; settlers used it to bay and herd feral hogs and cattle.

The animated series Bluey centres on a family of dogs belonging to which working breed?

Australian Cattle Dogs are nicknamed Heelers because they move stubborn cattle by nipping at their heels; Bluey herself is a Blue Heeler puppy, one of the breed's two colour types.

The New Guinea singing dog is most closely related to which other wild dog?

Dingo: the two are close relatives, and the New Guinea singing dog has at times been classed as a dingo subspecies; it is named for a howl that rises and falls like a yodel.

Which breed was Aicama Zorba, who entered Guinness in the 1980s as the world's heaviest and longest dog?

English Mastiff Zorba stretched 2.5 metres from nose to tail, still Guinness's longest dog ever; in 1989 a relative minding him overfed him until he ballooned past 150 kg, and he had to slim back down.

Which breed played Hooch, Tom Hanks's slobbering partner in the 1989 comedy Turner & Hooch?

Dogue de Bordeaux: the breed was almost unknown outside France until Hooch, played by a dog called Beasley, drooled his way through the film; the AKC only admitted it to the show ring in 2008.

Bobi, briefly certified by Guinness as the oldest dog ever before the title was withdrawn in 2024, lived in which country?

Portugal: Bobi, a Rafeiro do Alentejo farm guardian from the village of Conqueiros, was said to be 31 when he died in 2023, but Guinness revoked the record for lack of evidence of his age.

On which spacecraft did Laika orbit the Earth in 1957?

Laika flew on Sputnik 2, launched on 3 November 1957, becoming the first animal to orbit Earth; the stray Moscow mongrel died of overheating within hours.

At which Tokyo station did Hachikō wait for his late owner for nearly ten years?

Shibuya Station is where Hachikō met Professor Ueno's train each day; after Ueno died at work in 1925 the dog kept coming for more than nine years, and his statue there is now one of Tokyo's favourite meeting points.

Which lead dog ran the longest and most dangerous stretch of the 1925 serum run, though Balto took the fame?

Togo, Leonhard Seppala's 12-year-old lead dog, covered 261 miles of the relay, far more than any other team; Gunnar Kaasen's Balto ran only the final 55 miles into Nome.

Balto was present when his bronze statue was unveiled in 1925 in which city?

New York unveiled Balto's statue in Central Park on 17 December 1925 with the dog himself looking on; in 1927 Cleveland raised $2,000 to buy him and his teammates out of a dime museum.

The dog Greyfriars Bobby reputedly guarded his master's grave for 14 years in which city?

Edinburgh took Bobby to heart: in 1867 the Lord Provost paid for his dog licence, saving him from being destroyed as a stray, and the inscribed collar he was given is still in a city museum.

Which Hollywood dog star was found on a WWI battlefield?

Rin Tin Tin was pulled from a bombed-out kennel in Lorraine by American serviceman Lee Duncan; his films earned Warner Bros. so much that people at the studio called him 'the mortgage lifter'.

A male dog named Pal originated which female screen character in a 1943 MGM film?

Lassie was first played by Pal, a male Rough Collie, in Lassie Come Home; he became the first in a line of male collies to play her, in what the Saturday Evening Post called film's most spectacular canine career.

What breed was Moose, the dog who played Eddie on Frasier?

Moose, a Jack Russell Terrier, played Eddie on Frasier until his son Enzo inherited the role; the pair also shared the part of Skip in the 2000 film My Dog Skip.

What was the name of the Obama family's first dog, who arrived in April 2009?

Bo was chosen partly because his low-shedding breed suited Malia Obama's allergies; the girls named him, and a second dog, Sunny, joined the family in 2013.

What breed was Fala, President Franklin Roosevelt's famous dog?

Scottish Terrier Fala became a campaign issue when Roosevelt mocked Republican claims that he had sent a Navy destroyer to fetch the dog; Fala outlived the president by seven years and is buried near him.

Which breed has won Best in Show at Westminster the most times?

The Wire Fox Terrier had 15 Westminster Best in Show wins by 2026, nearly double the Scottish Terrier's eight; one early champion, Matford Vic, was bought from a farmer for $10 and won in 1915 and 1916.

Crufts founder Charles Cruft worked as general manager for what kind of company?

A dog biscuit manufacturer, Spratt's, made Charles Cruft its general manager; while working for the firm in France he was asked to run a dog show at the 1878 Paris exhibition, and in 1891 he launched his own.

Which scientist's experiments taught dogs to salivate at a signal that food was coming, founding the study of conditioned reflexes?

Ivan Pavlov was studying digestion, work that won him the 1904 Nobel Prize, when he noticed his dogs drooling before any food arrived; chasing that 'psychic secretion' led him to conditioned reflexes.

Genetic studies show that the domestic dog's closest wild relative is which species?

Gray wolf: dogs and today's wolves share an ancestor, and hunter-gatherers had domesticated the dog more than 14,000 years ago, before anyone farmed or kept livestock.

Which Alaskan mushing race covers about 1,000 miles from Anchorage to Nome each March?

The Iditarod was first run to Nome in 1973, after Joe Redington Sr. pushed for a long-distance race to revive a mushing culture that snowmobiles had almost wiped out in the 1960s.

Morris Frank, with guide dog Buddy, co-founded which school?

The Seeing Eye was incorporated in Nashville in 1929, months after Frank had Buddy lead him across a dangerous city street in front of reporters and cabled Switzerland one word: 'Success.'

Dogs are not fully colour-blind, seeing the world mainly in blue and which other colour?

Yellow and blue are what a dog's two types of colour-sensing cone cells can pick out; with no third type, as humans have, dogs struggle to tell red from green.

Which of these popular family breeds ranks in the top five of Stanley Coren's The Intelligence of Dogs?

The Golden Retriever ranks fourth in Coren's 1994 list, which measures obedience rather than cleverness: he surveyed dog-obedience judges, so breeds that learn commands fast came out on top.

Which Founding Father was key to developing the American Foxhound?

George Washington kept a pack of hounds and crossed them with French hounds given to him by the Marquis de Lafayette, shaping the American Foxhound, now Virginia's state dog.

The Plott Hound was developed in North Carolina's mountains primarily to hunt which animal?

The Plott Hound was bred to hunt bears by the Plott family of North Carolina's mountains, from German hounds Johannes Plott brought over in 1750; it became the state dog in 1989.

Why was the Spitz-type ancestor of the American Eskimo Dog renamed in the US?

Anti-German sentiment in WWI led American owners to drop the name German Spitz; the white dogs took the name 'American Eskimo' from a breeding kennel and went on to star in travelling circuses.

The Azawakh, a West African hunting dog, is named after a valley in which region?

The Azawakh is named for the Azawagh valley of the Sahel, spanning Mali and Niger, where Tuareg nomads kept it to course gazelle and guard their camps.

What does 'lunde' mean in Norwegian Lundehund?

Puffin: the Lundehund, literally 'puffin dog', was bred on Norway's Lofoten islands to scale sea cliffs and pull the birds live from their nesting burrows.

Which trait helps the Norwegian Lundehund grip sea cliffs?

Six toes per foot, all fully working, give the Lundehund extra grip; it can also bend its head back to touch its spine and fold its ears shut, handy in tight rock crevices.

Which corgi-like Nordic herder was saved from extinction in the 1940s?

The Swedish Vallhund was close to extinction in 1942 when Count Björn von Rosen and Karl-Gustaf Zetterstén toured the Västergötland countryside, tracked down the best remaining dogs and bred from them.

Which terrier, named after a Northumberland town, is famous for looking like a lamb?

The Bedlington Terrier's fleecy looks deceive: Northumberland miners bred it as a pit ratter and vermin killer, and bet their wages on fights between their dogs.

Which mostly white gundog is the heaviest of the spaniels?

The Clumber Spaniel takes its name from Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire, where the Duke of Newcastle and his gamekeeper developed the burly dog in the late 1700s to push through heavy cover after game birds.

What is the scientific name for a dog's whiskers?

Vibrissae take their name from the Latin for 'vibrate': each whisker sits in a nerve-rich follicle, so the faintest air current or brush against an object tells the dog what is nearby.

Which designer crossbreed did Wally Conron create in Australia as a low-shedding guide dog?

The Labradoodle was bred to guide a blind woman in Hawaii, and Conron chose a catchy name to beat the stigma against crossbreeds; he has since said he regrets starting the designer-dog craze.

Who co-wrote and directed the 2000 dog-show mockumentary Best in Show?

Christopher Guest directed Best in Show and co-wrote it with Eugene Levy, who also plays Gerry Fleck; much of the dialogue was improvised by the cast.

Who wrote the 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians?

Dodie Smith wrote The Hundred and One Dalmatians in 1956, inspired by her own Dalmatian Pongo; Disney's animated film followed in 1961.

Charles Schulz based Snoopy on which childhood dog of his, whose name later went to Snoopy's desert-dwelling brother?

Spike was the Schulz family dog; in 1937 the teenage Schulz had a drawing of him printed in Ripley's Believe It or Not!, which reported that the dog ate pins, tacks and razor blades.

Scooby-Doo, created by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, first appeared in 1969 from which animation studio?

Hanna-Barbera launched Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! on CBS; network executive Fred Silverman is said to have named the dog after the 'doo-be-doo-be-doo' scat in Frank Sinatra's 'Strangers in the Night'.

What breed was Terry, the dog who played Toto in The Wizard of Oz?

Terry was a female Cairn Terrier trained by Carl Spitz; she earned $125 a week on The Wizard of Oz and was officially renamed Toto in 1942.

Which 1956 novel ends with a boy forced to shoot his dog?

Old Yeller, by Fred Gipson, has young Travis shoot the dog after it is bitten fighting off a rabid wolf to protect the family; the book won a Newbery Honor in 1957.

What breed was Marley in John Grogan's Marley & Me?

Marley was a yellow Labrador Retriever so unruly that he was thrown out of obedience school; John Grogan's 2005 memoir of their 13 years together is subtitled 'Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog'.

Which 1992 family comedy about an enormous, drooling dog did John Hughes co-write as 'Edmond Dantès'?

Beethoven was written by Hughes under the name of the hero of The Count of Monte Cristo; the comedy about a giant family dog earned $147 million and grew into a series of eight films.

Which painting made the dog Nipper a global trademark?

His Master's Voice, Francis Barraud's painting of his late brother's dog Nipper listening to a phonograph, sold only when the Gramophone Company offered £100 on condition that he paint in one of its own machines.

Which stolen prize did the collie Pickles find in March 1966?

Pickles sniffed out the stolen Jules Rimet Trophy, football's World Cup, wrapped in newspaper on a south London street a week after it vanished; four months later England won the trophy he had rescued.

Which honour, called the animals' Victoria Cross, did the ship's dog Judy receive?

The Dickin Medal went to Judy, an English Pointer, in 1946: the only dog registered as a prisoner of war, she was smuggled aboard a transport ship in a sack by airman Frank Williams and survived its sinking.

Which American mascot dog served in 17 battles of World War I?

Stubby, a stray adopted by the 102nd Infantry, warned his unit of gas attacks and found wounded men; the tale that he caught a German spy earned him the nickname Sergeant Stubby.

Which WWII sentry dog's Silver Star and Purple Heart were revoked by Army policy?

Chips, a family pet donated to the Army, broke from his handler in Sicily in 1943 and charged an Italian machine-gun nest until its crew surrendered; his Silver Star and Purple Heart were later revoked.

Owney, who rode America's trains in the 1890s collecting tags, was which organisation's mascot?

The US Post Office adopted Owney at Albany around 1888; he rode with the mailbags of its Railway Mail Service for over 140,000 miles, including a trip around the world.

Snuppy, the first cloned dog, was which breed?

Afghan Hound Snuppy was the only survivor from 1,095 embryos implanted at Seoul National University in 2005; when lab chief Hwang Woo-suk's other work was exposed as fraud, Snuppy was confirmed as a genuine clone.

Which compound is the main toxin that makes chocolate dangerous to dogs?

Theobromine is chocolate's main toxin for dogs, which break it down far more slowly than people do; dark and baking chocolate hold the most, and the caffeine in chocolate adds to the effect.

What term describes a guide dog refusing a command that would endanger its handler?

Intelligent disobedience is the trained refusal to obey an unsafe command, such as stepping into traffic; because dogs cannot judge traffic lights, the handler decides when to cross and the dog vetoes.

Which unseen enemy pilot repeatedly shoots down Snoopy's Sopwith Camel?

The Red Baron, the real German ace Manfred von Richthofen, is Snoopy's unseen foe; the World War I Flying Ace fantasy began in 1965 and inspired the Royal Guardsmen's 1966 hit 'Snoopy vs. the Red Baron'.

Which extinct breed was the base stock of the Dogo Argentino from 1928?

Antonio Nores Martínez built the Dogo Argentino from 1928 on the Córdoba fighting dog, an extinct pit-fighting breed, adding Great Dane, Boxer, Bull Terrier and Pyrenean Mastiff blood to make a pack hunter of boar and puma.

Which of these French breeds is a spaniel?

The Brittany (Épagneul Breton) is the spaniel here, though it works so much like a pointer that the AKC dropped 'Spaniel' from its name in 1982; the Briard and Beauceron are herders, the Barbet a water dog.

Miniature Schnauzers were bred by German farmers for what purpose?

Ratting was the Miniature Schnauzer's farm job: German farmers shrank the Standard Schnauzer, probably with Affenpinscher and Poodle crosses, into an all-round barn dog that killed vermin.

Which Italian city gives its name to an Alpine herding breed with a felted, matted coat?

Bergamo: the Bergamasco Shepherd takes its name from the city in the Lombardy Alps; its coat felts into flat 'flocks' that protect it from cold and predators while herding sheep and cattle.

Which distinctive feature marks the head of a Dandie Dinmont Terrier?

A topknot of hair, soft and silky, crowns the Dandie Dinmont, a breed named after a fictional character: a terrier-keeping farmer in Sir Walter Scott's 1815 novel Guy Mannering.

Which Hungarian flock guardian historically served as a royal guard dog?

The Kuvasz guarded the 15th-century court of King Matthias Corvinus, who reputedly trusted the dogs more than his guards; it is a white Hungarian flock guardian placed by the AKC in the Working Group.

The Schipperke, a small black Spitz-type dog, is believed to have originated in which region?

Flanders, the Dutch-speaking north of Belgium, is the Schipperke's likely home; its Flemish name is usually read as 'little skipper', from its work as a boat watchdog, though some fanciers prefer 'little shepherd'.

Which long, low-slung Scottish breed is among the most endangered native breeds of the UK?

The Skye Terrier, twice as long as it is high, was the height of fashion when Queen Victoria championed it; by 2005 only about 30 puppies a year were being born in the UK.

Which Asian country has a native Ridgeback breed with backward-growing hair along its spine?

Thailand's Thai Ridgeback stayed unchanged for centuries because poor transport in the country's east left it few chances to crossbreed; its ridge comes in up to eight recognised patterns.

In which sport is a cross-country skier towed by one or more harnessed dogs?

Skijoring, from the Norwegian for 'ski driving', needs no sled-dog team: the skier keeps skiing and poling, so one to three dogs of almost any larger breed can add the pull.

What does the Finnish Spitz do when it finds game?

Barks to hold its attention: the Finnish Spitz points with its voice, yodelling at up to 160 barks a minute while a slowly wagging tail keeps the treed bird mesmerised until the hunter arrives.

Which disease threatened the children of Nome in 1925, prompting the famous serum run by dog teams?

Diphtheria antitoxin travelled 674 miles from Nenana to Nome in five and a half days, passed between 20 mushers and about 150 dogs because the winter weather ruled out sending it by plane.

Bummer and Lazarus, two stray dogs celebrated by 1860s newspapers, roamed the streets of which Gold Rush city?

San Francisco's supervisors exempted Bummer and Lazarus, famed rat-killers, from the city's dog laws in 1862; Mark Twain later wrote Bummer's obituary.

The Icelandic Sheepdog descends from dogs brought to Iceland by which settlers?

Vikings brought the Icelandic Sheepdog's ancestors about 1,100 years ago, and it is still Iceland's only native breed; after disease ravaged the dogs in the late 1800s, the island banned dog imports.

Which European country began enforcing a ban in 2019 on breeding very short-muzzled dogs such as Bulldogs?

The Netherlands outlawed breeding dogs whose muzzle is shorter than a third of the skull in 2014 and began enforcing the rule in 2019, which rules out typical Bulldogs, a breed prone to breathing trouble.

The Bulldog was originally bred for which blood sport, outlawed in Britain in 1835?

Bull-baiting set packs of dogs on a staked bull while spectators bet; when the 1835 ban left the Bulldog without a job, breeders remade the fighter as a gentle companion.

The Maltese is closely related to the Bichon Frise, the Bolognese and which other toy breed?

Havanese, Maltese, Bichon and Bolognese all belong to the old Barbichon family of little companion dogs; Cuba's Havanese survived because families fleeing the 1959 revolution took their dogs to America.

Spanish seamen are believed to have carried the early Bichon type to which island group?

The Canary Islands, whose own name comes from the Latin for 'islands of dogs', gave the early breed its name Bichon Tenerife; Italian sailors are credited with carrying it back to Europe's courts.

Breed standards describe the Chihuahua's skull using which fruit?

Chihuahua standards call for a well-rounded 'apple dome' skull; the breed also keeps a small share of pre-Columbian American dog ancestry, unlike most European-derived breeds.

Which Italian guard breed was revived from a few survivors in rural Puglia?

The Cane Corso, once a farm guard across Italy, became rare as the old farming system broke down in the mid-20th century; enthusiasts formed a breed society in 1983 and the AKC recognised it in 2010.

Which breed was Cairo, the military dog on the 2011 Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden?

Belgian Malinois Cairo went in with SEAL Team Six, assigned with his handler to help secure the compound's perimeter; the breed's intelligence and trainability have made it a mainstay of military and police units.

What name did Dr Robert Jay Russell coin for the Coton de Tuléar after encountering it in 1973?

Dr Robert Jay Russell, who found the breed in 1973 and took the first to America, coined 'Royal Dog of Madagascar'; legend says the Coton descends from white shipwreck survivors, and Malagasy nobles once monopolised it.

A Rough Collie became a fashion item after Queen Victoria saw one at which royal residence?

Balmoral Castle is where Queen Victoria fell for the local collies during her Highland stays in the 1860s; her enthusiasm turned a working sheepdog into a fashionable pet and show dog.

Elizabeth I kept tiny hounds, only about nine inches tall, known by what name?

Pocket Beagle hounds rode to the hunt in saddlebags and were released to chase the quarry through the underbrush once the bigger hounds had run it to ground; the line is now extinct.

Champion Obo, born in 1879, is considered the father of which breed, once defined as any spaniel under 25 pounds?

The English Cocker Spaniel descends from Obo, while his son Obo II founded the American Cocker; 'cocker' comes from the woodcock these small spaniels were used to flush.

The word 'terrier' comes from the Latin for which element, a clue to where the dogs hunt?

Earth is the root: Latin terra gave Old French chien terrier, literally 'earth dog', for dogs bred to hunt vermin and to trail quarry underground.

Which furry Star Wars creatures did George Lucas model on the face of his pet Brussels Griffon?

Ewoks took their faces from the Griffon Bruxellois that Lucas owned, sculpted by make-up artist Stuart Freeborn for Return of the Jedi.

The Westminster Kennel Club is named after what kind of Manhattan business, where its founders met?

A hotel gave the club its name: the hunters who started the show for their gun dogs met regularly at the Westminster Hotel on Irving Place and Sixteenth Street.

Turnspit Dogs, bred to run in a wheel that roasted meat, were also taken to church to serve as what?

Foot warmers were the kitchen dogs' Sunday job. One story has several bolting from a church in Bath when the bishop's sermon mentioned Ezekiel's wheel.

Which coat pattern of dark streaks over a lighter base is sometimes described as tiger-striped?

Brindle usually shows as black stripes on a red base, subtler than a real tiger's coat. The same pattern turns up in cats, guinea pigs and, rarely, horses.

Dog breed standards give height measured at which point of the body, the same spot used for horses?

Withers, the ridge between the shoulder blades, stay put however high the animal carries its head, which makes them a repeatable place to measure.

The Affenpinscher, a wiry-faced German toy dog, is named for its resemblance to which animal?

Monkey is the meaning of the German word Affe, and the name is sometimes translated 'Monkey Terrier', although the dog is a pinscher and not a terrier at all.

Which breed was Cairo, the dog that joined US Navy SEALs on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden?

Belgian Malinois Cairo went in with his handler Will Chesney, trained in scent detection and bite work. The variety is named after Mechelen, called Malines in French.

In Turner & Hooch, which heavy-jowled breed plays the drooling partner of Tom Hanks's detective?

Dogue de Bordeaux Beasley played Hooch, and the 1989 film brought the old French breed to a far wider public than it had ever had.

The Australian Kelpie, a tireless sheepdog, is named after what kind of creature in Celtic folklore?

A water spirit, the shapeshifting kelpie, gave the dogs their name. Working Kelpies clear a jam of sheep by jumping up and walking across the animals' backs.

In the name Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, what does 'tolling' describe the dog doing?

Luring birds into range is the trick: the hunter hides while the dog romps after a stick at the water's edge, and curious waterfowl swim over to investigate.

The Canaan Dog, developed from semi-wild pariah dogs, is the national dog of which country?

Israel's kennel club recognised the breed in 1953. Rudolphina Menzel, who came across the dogs in the 1930s, later trained them as guide dogs for the blind.

Which country's hairless dog, seen on ancient Moche pottery, is part of its national heritage?

Peru treats the hairless dog as a national symbol, and the animals appear on Moche ceramic vessels from around AD 750 and in later Andean pottery.

Crufts, recognised by Guinness as the world's largest dog show, was held in which city until 1991?

London staged every Crufts until the centenary show of 1991 moved to the National Exhibition Centre in the West Midlands, where 22,973 dogs were exhibited.

Which breed is Smokey, the Tennessee Volunteers mascot first picked for howling at a halftime vote?

Bluetick Coonhound Smokey howled when his name was called in the 1953 contest, and when the students cheered he threw his head back and howled again.

Which rare breed, developed by dog driver Arthur Walden, is the official state dog of New Hampshire?

Chinook was first the name of Walden's own lead dog, born in 1917, and the breed descends mainly from him. Walden later led the dog teams on Byrd's 1929 Antarctic expedition.

The Schnauzer's name, also German slang for a moustache, goes back to the word for which body part?

Snout, in German Schnauze, is the root, and the fanciers who began exhibiting the dogs under that name around 1900 glossed it as 'whiskered snout' after the famous beard.

The Dandie Dinmont, the only breed named after a fictional character, honours a farmer in whose novel?

Walter Scott put the jolly, terrier-keeping Dandie Dinmont into Guy Mannering in 1815, and until then the little dogs were hardly known outside the Borders.

Which free-roaming breed of the American Southeast's swamps is nicknamed the 'American dingo'?

Carolina Dog packs were found living wild by ecologist I. Lehr Brisbin Jr. at the Savannah River Site, land that had been closed to the public for decades.

Which film hero is named after George Lucas's Malamute, the dog that also inspired Chewbacca?

Indiana Jones was first written as Indiana Smith, borrowing the name of the Malamute that Lucas owned in the 1970s.

Breeders use which term for a dog giving birth to a litter, as 'lambing' is used for sheep?

Whelping is the breeder's word, just as foaling is the word for horses. As the moment approaches, the mother's contractions come more and more often.

Setters take their name from 'setting', which describes a dog doing what on scenting game birds?

Crouching low once let hunters toss a large net over the vegetation and trap the birds. A setter may also freeze in place, pointing, or creep very slowly forward.

Which mottled coat pattern, often seen with blue eyes, risks deafness in a pup with two copies?

Merle needs only one copy of the allele to show; a pup with two, a 'double merle', is far more likely to have impaired hearing or vision, which makes pairing two such parents risky.

Czechoslovakian Wolfdogs began as a 1955 army experiment crossing dogs with wolves of which mountains?

Wolves from the Carpathians were crossed with shepherd dogs in military kennels under colonel Karel Hartl, and the world canine federation accepted the new breed in 1999.

Which Japanese fighting breed is one of the types banned by Britain's Dangerous Dogs Act 1991?

Tosa dogs were bred for the ring, as the only dogs legally allowed in Japanese dog fighting. By 2018 Britain's index of exempted dogs listed just three of them.

The 'molossoid' label for heavy guard dogs recalls the Molossians, a tribe of which Greek region?

Epirus was home to the Molossians, whose big dogs were prized in antiquity. Alexander the Great's mother was a Molossian princess, which fed legends about the dogs.

Which breed did the Soviet army's Red Star Kennel build from the Giant Schnauzer and many others?

Black Russian Terrier is a misleading name, since about seventeen breeds went into a dog that is no true terrier. The state kennel bred it alone until 1957.

Which is the smallest of the Swiss Sennenhund breeds, named after a region in the canton of Lucerne?

Entlebucher dogs come from the Entlebuch region and were nearly overlooked until four bobtailed examples were shown in 1913 to Albert Heim, champion of the rare Swiss types.

Which show dog of 1907 to 1909 is the only one to win Westminster's Best in Show three times?

Warren Remedy won the first three Best in Show awards Westminster ever gave, the prize having been introduced in 1907. She was bred and owned by Winthrop Rutherfurd of New Jersey.

American slang names a dog of very mixed ancestry after an advertising slogan of which food brand?

Heinz 57, or a 'Heinz hound', is the playful label: the company's slogan boasted of 57 varieties, which suits a dog whose ancestry nobody can pin down.

From which city's streets did Soviet scientists pick Laika, the stray mongrel sent into orbit?

Moscow strays were chosen on purpose: the scientists assumed that dogs living on the streets had already learned to endure extreme cold and hunger.

Which family-film hero was first played by Higgins, a mixed-breed dog from a Burbank shelter?

Benji made a film star of Higgins, whom trainer Frank Inn found as a puppy at the shelter in 1963 and who was already known from the sitcom Petticoat Junction.

Which Disney pet, first seen unnamed in the cartoon The Chain Gang, is officially a mixed-breed dog?

Pluto was called Rover in his second cartoon, The Picnic, before settling into his familiar name and his job as Mickey Mouse's pet.

Which Disney mongrel woos a pampered spaniel over dinner at Tony's Restaurant in a 1955 classic?

Tramp is a homeless terrier mix with a talent for escaping dog-catchers, and the restaurant's owner and his chef know him well enough to call him Butch.

In which US state is a mixed-breed dog called a 'poi dog', after an extinct local breed?

Hawaii's original poi dogs were fattened on poi, the mashed taro staple, and kept as food and as spiritual protectors of children. Today's mixes are unrelated to them.

The word 'mutt' for a mixed-breed dog was also early-1900s slang for what kind of person?

A fool was a 'mutt' in print by 1901, three years after the word was first recorded for a dog, especially a stupid one. 'Muttonhead' itself dates from 1803.

In PAW Patrol, which pup, the team's recycling and handyman dog, is simply a mixed-breed?

Rocky gets no breed label beyond mixed-breed, and in the Mighty Pups stories he gains X-ray vision and the power to conjure green energy constructs.

Which traditional poacher's dog crosses a sighthound with a herding, terrier or other working type?

Lurcher breeders wanted a sighthound's speed disguised under a thick rough coat, with extra stamina and brains bred in, so the dogs would not betray their bloodline.

The puggle, a popular designer dog, shares its name with the young of which Australian animal?

Echidna young are called puggles too. The dog, a planned cross first made in Oklahoma in the 1990s, was named America's 'Hottest Dog of 2005'.

Monica Dickens, great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens, bred which 'doodle' cross as early as 1969?

Goldendoodle crosses only caught on in the 1990s, when breeders in Australia and the United States adopted the name. Some now work as guide dogs or sniff out nuts for allergy sufferers.

Which spaniel cross, bred in the United States since the 1960s, is known in Australia as a spoodle?

Cockapoo breeders aimed for a healthy companion that would escape the inherited defects of both parent breeds. The same cross is also spelled cockerpoo.

Which sled dog, the mainstay of the Iditarod, is a performance-bred mix no kennel club recognises?

Alaskan Husky lines are bred for performance alone, so looks vary: distance dogs carry dense double coats, while sprint lines have shorter coats that shed heat at speed.

Which competition, new to the Westminster show in 2014, opened the event to mixed-breed dogs?

Agility is open to dogs of every background at Westminster, and the best-placed mutt in the round takes a title of its own, the 'All American Dog'.

Scruffts, a Kennel Club contest whose final is held alongside Crufts, is open only to which dogs?

Crossbreeds of any parentage can enter classes such as Most Handsome Dog, Prettiest Bitch and Golden Oldie, while purebred dogs are barred however grand their pedigree.

Mixed-breed street dogs in the Bahamas are called 'potcakes' after which kitchen scrap fed to them?

Crusted leftover rice from the bottom of a pan of peas and rice, the 'pot cake', was mixed with other scraps for the dogs. The Turks and Caicos Islands use the name too.

The Sulimov dogs Aeroflot trained to sniff out explosives cross domestic dogs with which wild canid?

Golden jackal ancestry makes up a quarter of the Sulimov dog, a cross developed in Russia by Klim Sulimov to scent explosives that machines cannot detect.

The word 'mongrel' grew from an Old English term for 'mingling' that also underlies which preposition?

Among and mongrel both go back to Old English gemong, 'mingling'. The dog word appears in the mid-15th century with the belittling suffix -rel attached.

Brazilians call a mixed-breed street dog a 'vira-lata', a nickname that pictures the dog doing what?

Tipping over trash cans earns the 'trashcan-tipper' its name, and the honey-coloured vira-lata caramelo is now treated in Brazil as a national symbol, memes and all.

The 'Frise' in Bichon Frise comes from a French phrase describing which kind of coat?

Curly is the sense of the full French name, bichon à poil frisé, 'curly haired small dog'. The white coat grows in loose spirals or corkscrews over a thick, soft undercoat.

Which tall gundog with a purple-tinged liver coat is nicknamed 'Rat Tail' for its smooth, tapering tail?

Irish Water Spaniel owners know the tallest of the spaniels as the 'clown' of the family, a dog that will often do ordinary things in extraordinary ways.