"Dog" is the common use term that
refers to members of the subspecies Canis lupus familiaris (canis,
"dog"; lupus, "wolf"; familiaris, "of a
household" or "domestic").
The term can also be used to refer to
a wider range of related species, such as the members of the genus Canis,
or "true dogs", including the wolf, coyote, and jackals, or it can refer
to the members of the tribe
Canini,
which would also include the African wild dog, or it
can be used to refer to any member of the family Canidae, which would also
include the foxes, bush dog, raccoon dog, and others.
Some members of the family have "dog" in their common names, such as
the raccoon dog and the African wild dog. A few animals have "dog" in
their common names but are not canids, such as the prairie dog.
- The world’s biggest dog was an English Mastiff named Zorba. He stood 8 feet and 3 inches tall and weighed a whopping 343 pounds.
- The world’s smallest dog was a Yorkshire Terrier. It stood only 2.5 inches shoulder length, 3.5 inches from tail to nose, and weighed only 4 ounces.
- The tallest dog living is ‘Giant George’ a Great Dane, who measured 1.092 m (43 in) tall on 15 February 2010 and is owned by David Nasser of Tucson, Arizona, USA.
