Page 117 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

Chapter 6 Introduction to Animals 101

(a) (b) (c)

FIGURE 6.8 Toy group: (a) Chihuahua, (b) Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and (c) Pug. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Used under CC BY‐SA
3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chihuahua_01_K.jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Betty_Verdure.Photo_
Ph.BRIZARD.JPG, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mops_oct09.jpg.

They are gentle giants that tolerate piles of children with to know and love. If children are to be in the mix it is
aplomb and are very protective of their little people! better to raise this group with the child rather than get-
Most drool a little and some drool a lot! The protection ting one when the child is a toddler. Having said that, it
and police dogs include Rottweilers, Dobermans, Great is important to teach the child to respect the dog and the
Danes, Boxers, and Mastiffs. Mastiffs were used to dog to respect the child.
develop most of the dogs in this group. Their large size
and deep voices deter even the most foolhardy burglar.
Luckily, these dogs are truly gentle giants and their bark
is worst than their bite. All of these are great dogs and Learning Exercise
make good family pets. As you go about your day and see different
breeds of dogs, see if you can guess their breed
Toy Group by the descriptions provided above. Perhaps by
starting a “scrapbook” or quiz card app on your
The toy group of dogs was developed to fit into pockets phone, take a picture and use it to help you learn
or satchels to be carried and pampered by royalty across the breeds.
Europe and Asia (Figure 6.8). For the most part they still
think of themselves as royalty and expect to be treated as
such, meaning don’t touch me unless you want to be bit-
ten! Luckily, they weigh between 8 and 20 lb so they don’t Cat Breeds
cause massive damage when they bite, but it still hurts!
Again, there is a wide range of hair coats and sizes avail- Cats have been domesticated for thousands of years; they
able in this group. They are usually one person’s pet and have been worshipped as gods, declaimed as spawn of
they may not tolerate the rest of the family. The smallest the devil, and loved as part of the family. Most of the cats
toy is the Chihuahua coming in at 3–6 lb and they can seen in the veterinary clinic will be of the “domestic
have short or long hair coats. Their distinguishing fea- type” meaning that they are not purebred cats. They
ture is their “apple dome” head, the rounded skull offset come in all shapes, hair coat lengths, and colors. The
by prick ears. The next smallest is the Yorkshire Terrier, medical record will often show under breed the abbrevi-
with long flowing gray gunmetal hair. They are often ations DS for domestic short hair, DL for domestic long
seen in the veterinary clinic with the initials BD/LD in hair, or DM for domestic medium hair. There is one
the record which means “big dog injured little dog.” breed of cat that has a dominant gene for its hair coat,
However, it was most likely the Yorkie that picked the eye color, and color pattern and that is the Siamese
fight! The Pomeranian rounds out the smallest toys, (Figure 6.9). The Siamese is a solid‐colored cat ranging
being a double-coated puffball with a squirrel tail. The in body color from ivory to a seal brown with points that
larger long‐haired toys include Cavalier King Charles include a mask, paws, and tail in a darker shade of brown,
Spaniels, Maltese, Papillon, Pekingese, and Shih Tzu. and brilliant blue almond‐shaped eyes. This color
The larger short‐haired toys include Pugs, Chinese pattern is called a seal point and is homozygous domi-
Crested, and the Italian Greyhound. Again, there are nant (SS) or homozygous recessive (ss). So, when a pure-
individuals in this group that are notorious for biting but bred Siamese mates with a regular domestic cat often all
then there are delightful individuals that are fun to get or most of the offspring will have blue eyes and a seal