If a dog doesn't come up to your knee it's a cat that barks.
Posted on 11/26/2025 6:17:00 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Most modern dog breeds have small amounts of wolf ancestry from long after dogs were domesticated, according to a new study.
The wolf DNA isn't left over from when dogs and wolves diverged; instead, it most likely came from interbreeding in the past few thousand years. That wolfish influence may be linked to certain characteristics, such as size and personality traits, in different dog breeds, researchers reported Nov. 24 in the journal PNAS.
"Dogs are our buddies, but apparently wolves have been a big part of shaping them into the companions we know and love today," study co-author Logan Kistler, curator of archaeobotany and archaeogenomics at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.
Wolves and dogs genetically split more than 20,000 years ago. Since then, there has been some gene flow between dogs and wolves, thanks to their genetic compatibility. To measure the extent of intermixing and its effects on both animals, researchers studied the previously published genomes of nearly 2,700 dogs and wolves from the Late Pleistocene (the last ice age) to the present. This group included 146 ancient dogs and wolves, 1,872 modern dogs and about 300 "village dogs" that lived around humans but weren't pets.
At least 264 modern dog breeds have wolf ancestry passed on from mating that occurred an average of 900 dog generations ago, which equates to about 2,600 years ago — long after dogs became domesticated at least 20,000 years ago, the team found. The most wolfish dogs had up to 40% wolf ancestry in their genomes, but most had between zero and 5% wolf ancestry.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Because dogs and wolves can interbreed, they do.
Canines are like hippies. If it feels good, they do it.
That one is hilarious also!!!!!!
“As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly...”
I came for the list, and stayed for the graphics, LOLOL!!!
Thank you ma’am, for the article, AND the much needed laughter,
Tatt
It was a great episode, hkwever, turkeys are actually very strong fliers... however, not so much domestic turkeys who may have had wings clipped, or been penned up their whole liv3s.
Wild turkeys aren’t such great fliers either. My dogs and I stumbled upon a group of them nesting on the property several years ago by the river, which caused them to take panicked flight. Two flew into a cliff and rolled to the bottom, one flew right into a tree and knocked himself out for a few seconds. The other four got away, but they didn’t fly very far.
My Blue Heeler does that. Nips my ankles.
My Blue Heeler does that. She nips me a lot.
LOL. spelled wuf?
She could bark as a loud as a wolf!..........
So sorry. I missed the word “late”. All dogs go to heaven.
She lived a long and well-loved life................
Yeah, some of the little ones think they are tuff stuff.
She was definitely!
When we would come home after a short drive or long trip, she would bound out the car door as soon as it was open and run all around the yard barking all the way!
As if to say, “I’M HOME! YOU’ALL BETTER STAY AWAY!”............
My dogs do the same, they think they own the neighborhood.
lol they musta been drunk- Have seen them fly off many times- never seen anything like that-
we had a black lab, and they do what i call a ‘squat butt mad-dog berzerker run’ where they lower their butt and run flat out with a berserk look on their faces- then they leap at you mouth wide open- and do about a 1/4 bite- hard enough to kinda hurt, but not a full bite by any means-
It’s really funny to watch em go mental for a few minutes lol- have seen other labs do that too-
You can kinda see it here at the 56 mark- but outdoors they go really mental- so funny to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnvIf31Lo4s
If a dog doesn't come up to your knee it's a cat that barks.
When my grandson was little he called them chickywawas. lol
Hah, my son has a little Shih Tsu named Cookie and he is about 8 pounds now. Some of his best buddies are big dogs.
I don’t think he sees himself a smaller than them.
I’ve read that a dog is unaware of it’s own size................
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.