Canine terminology


Canine terminology in this article refers only to dog terminology, specialized terms describing the characteristics of various external parts of the domestic dog, as well as terms for structure, movement, and temperament. This terminology is not typically used for any of the wild species or subspecies of wild wolves, foxes, coyotes, dholes, jackals or the basal caninae. Dog terminology is often specific to each breed or type of dog. Breed standards use this terminology in the description of the ideal external appearance of each breed, although similar characteristics may be described with different terms in different breeds.

Dog coats




Coat colors range from pure white to solid black and many other variations. Above is a white American Eskimo dog and a black Belgian Shepherd.



A Stanford University School of Medicine study published in Science in October, 2007 found the genetics that explain coat colors in other mammals such as in horse coats and in cat coats, did not apply to dogs. The project took samples from 38 different breeds to find the gene responsible for dog coat color. One version produces yellow dogs, and a mutation produces black. All dog coat colors are modifications of black or yellow. For example, the white in white miniature schnauzers is a cream color, not albinism
Today, dogs exhibit a diverse array of fur coats, including dogs without fur, such as the Mexican Hairless Dog. Dog coats vary in texture, color, and markings, and a specialized vocabulary has evolved to describe each characteristic.

Color

One often refers to a specific dog first by coat color rather than by breed; for example, "a blue merle Aussie" or "a chocolate Lab". Coat colors include:
All these colors can also be dilute, meaning they become a paler shade of the original color. Blue and cream are both dilute colors.

Pattern

Coat patterns include:
Coat textures vary tremendously. Some coats make the dogs more cuddly and others make them impervious to cold water. Densely furred breeds such as most sled dogs and Spitz types can have up to 600 hairs per inch, while fine-haired breeds such as the Yorkshire Terrier can have as few as 100, and the "hairless" breeds such as the Mexican Hairless Dog and the Peruvian Inca Orchid have none on parts of their bodies. The texture of the coat often depends on the distribution and the length of the two parts of a dog's coat, its thick, warm undercoat and its rougher, somewhat weather-resistant outer coat. Breeds with soft coats often have more or longer undercoat hairs than guard hairs; rough-textured coats often have more or longer guard hairs. Textures include:
's coat demonstrates a rough texture.
A special vocabulary has been developed to describe the characteristics of various body parts of the dog. Terms are often specific to each breed or type of dog.

Head

The parts of the head are the nose, muzzle, stop, forehead or braincase, occiput, ears, eyes, eyebrows or brows, whiskers, flews, and cheeks.
Dog heads are of three basic shapes:
A snipey muzzle is one that is too pointed for good breed type.

Stop

The stop is the degree of angle change between the skull and the nasal bone near the eyes. Also the indentation between the eyes where the nose and skull meet.

Forehead or braincase

Occiput

The occiput in dog terms is the bump or protuberance clearly seen at the back of the skull in some breeds like the English Setter and Bloodhound. However, in other breeds it is barely perceptible. Myths in dog folklore believed that size of the occiputal protuberance was somehow a measure of the dog's sense of smell. So to this day it is prominent in most Scent Hounds.
However, technically the occipital bone extends right down the back of the head to where it articulates with the neck. So when breed standards refer to the length of a dog's skull, they rarely include the occiput in this measurement.
The occiput has many nerve endings and stimulates calming effects to do with the flight or fight system. It is used in canine therapeutic massage to calm the dogs.

Ears

Dogs' ears come in a variety of sizes, shapes, lengths, positions on the head, and amounts and types of droop. Every variation has a term, including:
A dog's vision is actually equivalent to a human with red-green color blindness. Different breeds have different shapes of eyes. It all depends on the purpose. If a dog is a hunter, they most definitely need good eyesight. Therefore, those breeds have a wider range of vision than others. As a rule of thumb, breeds with short heads have a narrower field of vision, whereas breeds with longer heads have a wider field of vision - such as wolf, sighthound.

Eyebrows or brows

Whiskers

Flews

Flews are a dog's upper lips, or the canine equivalent of upper lips.

Cheeks

Cheeky refers to a dog with strongly defined cheeks.

Mouth and teeth

Bite describes how the dog's teeth meet when its mouth is closed.

Body

The body may be described as "cobby" or sometimes by a ratio of height to length.

Withers

The ridge between the shoulder blades; often it is the tallest point of the body.

Skin

Legs and gait

Legs

Gait

One way a dog releases heat from its body is from in between its paws.
Some dogs have a seemingly superfluous claw at the base of their foot. This is known as a dewclaw.

Tails

Like ears, tails come in a tremendous variety of shapes, lengths, amounts of fur, and tailsets. Among them: