abc13: Girl enlists help of family dog to pull out loose tooth Some kids will visit a dentist or use a door knob to help get rid of a loose tooth. Sidney Vasquez and her family, though, called upon their family dog to help solve the 10-year-old girl's dental ... KCTV News: Family says neighbor’s loose dog ripped toddler’s teeth out during attack DogsBestLife.com on MSN: Why clean dog teeth matter more than you think The dog (Canis familiaris or Canis lupus familiaris) is a domesticated descendant of wolves.

Understanding the Context

Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. Dogs and the modern gray wolf share a common ancestor. [4] Dogs were the first species to be domesticated over 14,000 years ago, before the development of agriculture, though genetic studies suggest ... As humans became more sophisticated, so did their dogs.

Key Insights

Eventually, there emerged specific breeds of dogs, custom-bred to suit the breeders’ local needs and circumstances. What is a dog? 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.

Final Thoughts

Dogs are one of the two most ubiquitous and most popular domestic animals in the world. (Cats are the other.) All types of dogs are in the family Canidae, the dog-like carnivorans or canids, while the genus Canis means “dog” and includes wolves, dogs, coyotes, and jackals.