Through centuries, dogs has probably been the first animal to be domesticated. They were living side by side with human beings and helping out with such hugh variety of jobs as hunting dogs, messenger dogs, rescue dogs, police dogs, army dogs, assistance dogs especially for the blind, herding dogs, guard dogs and all the things you can think of.
Dogs are most probably the best that man can think of to utilize and appreciate the wide variety of tasks that they can perform. They have the intelligence and the mutual understanding between animal and man. Today we can still see that after centuries of closeness and the bond between human and dogs, they (man and dogs) are still working together on critical rescue missions during a disaster such as earthquake, floods, landslide, tracking lost person and many others.
You will sometimes find that dogs are called canines as this word originated from the Latin word. And that we often hear the word “man’s best friend” which represents dogs is an honorable phrase. We honor them for all the benefits that man take joy in and also the enrichment in our life.
It is quite easy to come to this conclusion when you see from the above that they are man’s best helper with such a wide variety of abilities in terms of carrying out their duties. Not only that, they are also very loyal and faithful to their owners which no other can come close to or attest to. That is why you will agree that “Man’s Best Friend” title is won anytime by dogs, hands down.
It is fascinating to know that the size of dogs varies greatly from as small as about six inches tall to as big and tall as 33 inches in shoulder height standing. This is the general accepted standard by the dog registry world-wide. There are five breeds of dogs namely Toy Breed, Small Breed, Medium, Large and Extra Large.
Toy breed is usually from 5 to 12 pounds. The small breed being from 12 to 25 pounds. From 25 to 50 pounds dogs are under the medium breed. Large breed dogs from 50 to 100 pounds. And the last but not least is the extra large breed which weighs over 100 pound.
However some might dispute that there were reports of dogs as tall as 44 inches which was a Guinness World Record for the Great Dane named Zeus. Sometimes you will find this uncommon occurrence such as Zeus which is extraordinarily big. Unfortunately it dies at the age of 5 years old.
Generally dog breeds of smaller size live a longer lifespan than their larger cousins.
However we need to be informed that a “certain breed of dogs” could be smaller than the above stated size of six inches tall at shoulder height standing. This breed of dogs is categorized under Teacup category by some and is not recognized by any major dog registry. This breed of Teacup dog as they called it is created by some “dog enthusiast”.