Columbia Encyclopedia

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dog days

(Encyclopedia)dog days, name for the most sultry period of summer, from about July 3 to Aug. 11. Named in early times by observers in countries bordering the Mediterranean, the period was reckoned as extending from...

dog racing

(Encyclopedia)dog racing, trials of speed between dogs. Now contested on oval tracks, the sport developed from the ancient practice of coursing, in which specially trained dogs chase game animals in the open field....

Dog Star

(Encyclopedia)Dog Star: see Sirius.

coach dog

(Encyclopedia)coach dog: see Dalmatian.

guide dog

(Encyclopedia)guide dog, a dog trained to lead a blind person. The first school for training such dogs was established by the German government after World War I for the benefit of blinded veterans. Schools now exi...

nonsporting dog

(Encyclopedia)nonsporting dog, classification used by breeders and kennel clubs to designate dogs that may formerly have been bred to hunt or work but that are now raised chiefly as house pets and companions. The f...

police dog

(Encyclopedia)police dog: see German shepherd. ...

prairie dog

(Encyclopedia)prairie dog, short-tailed, ground-living rodent, genus Cynomys, of the squirrel family, closely related to the ground squirrels, chipmunks, and marmots. There are several species, found in the W Unite...

toy dog

(Encyclopedia)toy dog, classification used by breeders and kennel clubs to designate very small breeds of dogs kept as pets. Some are selectively bred diminutive forms of larger breeds and others are naturally smal...

working dog

(Encyclopedia)working dog, classification used by breeders and kennel clubs to designate dogs raised by humans to herd cattle and sheep, as draft animals, as message dispatchers in wartime, in police and rescue wor...