Dog - Companion, Hunting, Protection: Dogs have played an important role in human history and were among the first domesticated animals. They have served as hunting allies, bodyguards, herders and guardians of livestock, been employed as guides for the blind and disabled and for police work., Dog - Breeds, Temperament, History: There are about 400 breeds of purebred dogs worldwide. A purebred dog has a genealogy that can be traced for three generations within the same breed. Sporting dogs are hunting dogs that scent and either point, flush, or retrieve birds on land and in water., Each of a dog’s four legs ends in a foot, or paw, with five toes. Each toe has a soft pad and a claw. A coat of hair keeps the dog warm. It cools off by panting and hanging its tongue out of its mouth. Apart from these common features, dogs come in many different sizes, shapes, and colors., A dog is a domesticated mammal of the family Canidae and the order Carnivora. Its scientific name is Canis lupus familiaris. Dogs are a subspecies of the gray wolf, and they are also related to foxes and jackals. Dogs are one of the two most ubiquitous and most popular domestic animals in the world. (Cats are the other.), Dog - Reproduction, Heat Cycle, Breeding: The heat cycle of the female lasts from 18 to 21 days. The gestation period is usually 63 days, and most bitches whelp normally. Both males and females are fertile well into their advanced age. Dogs are social, territorial, pack animals. They have a repertoire of barks, growls, and howls; some can yodel., Bull Terrier, breed of dog developed in 19th-century England from the Bulldog, the White English Terrier (a breed now extinct), and the Dalmatian; other breeds including the Spanish pointer, foxhound, and Greyhound may also have been incorporated..