Home Forums Chat Forum Why are dogs all different sizes…

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  • Why are dogs all different sizes…
  • camo16
    Free Member

    …but cats are all the same size?

    It’s just weird.

    akira
    Full Member

    My cat is much smaller than a tiger.

    deadlydarcy
    Free Member

    I reckon humans have genetically interfered less with (domestic) cats than dogs.

    camo16
    Free Member

    I think I could guess the length of any domestic cat. That’s my USP.

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    why are there no small elephants?

    camo16
    Free Member

    I can’t help thinking that life would be somehow better if I owned a Great Dane (cat). Hell, you even get giant domestic rabbitz…

    retro83
    Free Member

    Maine Coons are pretty large as cats go.

    camo16
    Free Member

    How big we talking here? St Bernard big or slightly over average?

    househusband
    Full Member

    It wouldn’t be good if all cats were within a whisker of being the same size.

    It’d be a catastrophe…

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    I reckon humans have genetically interfered less with (domestic) cats than dogs.

    probably – but the genetic range available to meddle with seems to be huge I don’t think theres any species capable of anywhere near as big a range of sizes (and also the variation in proportion) as dogs.

    camo16
    Free Member

    How many pugs would fit inside a St Bernard? Now that’s a Wednesday question.

    My guess? 6

    Unless the St Bernard is sitting down.

    loddrik
    Free Member

    People also come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

    But tories are all ****.

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    probably – but the genetic range available to meddle with seems to be huge I don’t think theres any species capable of anywhere near as big a range of sizes (and also the variation in proportion) as dogs.

    Apart from cats?

    kayak23
    Full Member

    neilwheel
    Free Member

    Different dog breeds do different jobs.

    The only job for domestic cats is catching rodents, so there’s no sense in breeding a hard to train animal any larger than it needs to be.

    deadlydarcy
    Free Member

    probably – but the genetic range available to meddle with seems to be huge I don’t think theres any species capable of anywhere near as big a range of sizes (and also the variation in proportion) as dogs.

    Dunno…we haven’t really messed with any other animal as much have we? Maybe the horse…if you look at the difference between say, a Shetland pony and a Clydesdale, you’re not far off a Great Dane v Pug. But horses have always been used for a smaller variation of tasks. Whereas dogs, have had lots of different uses hence the selection of different physical characteristics and sizes. I’m not sure where humans stepped in of course, but they may have had different types of dogs to start with rather than everything descending from a wolf type thing.

    camo16
    Free Member

    Hey that’s a really good and sensible answer dude.

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    Apart from cats?

    not the same species as your household moggie though – you couldn’t interbreed munchkins and bengal tigers, you can interbreed a Chihuahua with a Mastif

    bearnecessities
    Full Member

    Be honest, who noticed the tiger?

    househusband
    Full Member

    Be honest, who noticed the tiger?

    I did… I think it’s stuffed – and that image is well ‘shopped!

    justatheory
    Free Member

    If cats were any bigger they’d kill us all.

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    Dunno…we haven’t really messed with any other animal as much have we? Maybe the horse…if you look at the difference between say, a Shetland pony and a Clydesdale, you’re not far off a Great Dane v Pug.

    Actually in a sense the range with horses and dogs is pretty similar depending on how you measure size (the biggest breed is about 30 times the volume of the smallest breeds) – but theres a much wider range of form factor for dogs – horses are all pretty much horse shaped, give or take. Theres a much wider range is shape and proportion with dogs – so the perceptible size difference is greater (a Great Dane is the tallest breed of dog but Mastiffs are ‘bigger’ in that theres more dog rather than more height / length)

    I’m not sure where humans stepped in of course, but they may have had different types of dogs to start with rather than everything descending from a wolf type thing.

    There’s a school of thought our evolution goes hand in hand – that modern human’s evolutionary advantage over other early humans (who were bigger, rougher and tougher than us) is our ability to form working relationships with other animals, and in particular dogs.

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    I did… I think it’s stuffed – and that image is well ‘shopped!

    My be, but Google liger. They’re not all shopped.

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    Be honest, who noticed the tiger?

    I know – that lawn is dreadful

    bearnecessities
    Full Member

    There’s a lawn?

    irc
    Free Member

    why are there no small elephants?

    There were on Cyprus before man arrived there. 1M tall.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus_dwarf_elephant

    tonyg2003
    Full Member

    Why are dogs different sizes. “Selective breeding”. It’s been done for thousands of years with dogs for different characteristics

    Drac
    Full Member

    IIIRC it’s not been worked out as a cat is pretty much a cat, where as dogs vary massively. Both have been bred to be domesticated but the variation in dogs is remarkable.

    bearnecessities
    Full Member

    Sorry, but I still can’t get over how hot Michael Jackson’s got.

    Moses
    Full Member

    7 copies of some genes in their DNA, allowing for greater variability.

    deadlydarcy
    Free Member

    but theres a much wider range of form factor for dogs – horses are all pretty much horse shaped, give or take. Theres a much wider range is shape and proportion with dogs

    Aye, but I was trying to say that horses were used for three main tasks weren’t they? Riding, pulling or carrying. Hence we’ve bred with the for those three things. Ostensibly, they’re also more trainable and intelligent than other beasts of burden so within the realms of riding, pulling or carrying, we could breed a bit more. But at the end of the day, they were for riding or pulling or carrying. Hence horses still all look much the same.

    Dogs had a multitude of other uses – hunting (and within that: killing, pointing, fetching, chasing), carrying, pulling sleds, rescue, shepherding and companionship (and plenty more I’m sure). So we bred for all the characteristics we needed, constantly refining and refining, often to the detriment of certain “breeds” of course. Who knows? If horses had the same variation of usage, we may have messed about with them to the same end result in terms of variation in physical characteristics.

    EDIT: Also, as mcc said above, dogs have almost evolved with us – we’ve been messing with them for millennia whereas “domestic” cats have bred amongst themselves, choosing their own mates hence being slightly more homogenous. AFAIK, we’ve only been arsing around with cat characteristics for a few centuries.

    gwaelod
    Free Member

    Some dogs are close…some are far away

    gwaelod
    Free Member

    There were on Cyprus before man arrived there. 1M tall.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus_dwarf_elephant

    Thats an island evolution thing – see also small reindeer on Svalbard

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_dwarfism

    aracer
    Free Member

    that or implants

    thekingisdead
    Free Member

    why are there no small elephants

    pygmy elephant

    perchypanther
    Free Member

    It’s Tim Westwoods fault. If all dogs were the same size he would have to refer to himself as the Ordinary Sized Dawg. Yo!

    stuey
    Free Member

    Are Chihuahua’s less ‘intelligent’ – and do other dogs know it?

    cbike
    Free Member

    Even Dinosaurs on remote islands had pygmy varieties. Tiny Wee Brontosaur types scooped up by flying dinosaurs.

    jivehoneyjive
    Free Member

    Is it anything to do with them licking their dangleberries?

    Would a warm sack at conception grow bigger offspring?

    sirromj
    Full Member

    Dogs of different sizes allow us to pedal fast up hill and pedal down the other side too.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 55 total)

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