Dogs are just great!
Yeah, but its sad that direct ancestor of the dog is extinct.
Really?  What was the direct ancestor?
The gray wolf, but they are not related to modern wolves that were first domesticated.
So dogs of today came from gray wolfs.  Very interesting.
, aiding disabled people and therapeutic roles. This influence on human society has given them the sobriquet of "man's best friend".
Terminology.
- The term "dog" typically is applied both to the species (or subspecies) as a whole, and any adult male member of the same.
- An adult female is a "bitch".
- An adult male capable of reproduction is a "stud".
- An adult female capable of reproduction is a "brood bitch",
but their turnover has been high, and modern wolves are not the lineal ancestors of dogs. Although research had suggested that dogs and wolves were genetically very close relatives, later phylogenetic analysis strongly supported the hypothesis that dogs and wolves are reciprocally monophylic taxa that form two sister clades. This suggests that none of the modern wolf populations are related to the wolves that were first domesticated and the wolf ancestor of dogs is therefore presumed extinct. Recent mitochondrial DNA analyses of ancient and modern gray wolf specimens supports a pattern of population reduction and