In breeding circles, a male canine is referred to as a dog, while a female canine is called a bitch. The pater of a litter is called the sire, and the mum of a litter is called the dam. Offspring are generally called pups or Dog Tags puppies until they are about a collegiate year old. A clique of offspring is a litter. The case of decease is whelping. Multifarious terms are fond for dogs that are not purebred.

The earliest dog fossils, two crania from Russia and a mandible from Germany, date from 13,000 to 17,000 years ago. Their likely ancestor is the barn door northern Holarctic wolf, Canis lupus lupus. Remains of smaller dogs from Mesolithic (Natufian) accept deposits in the Middle East, dated to around 12,000 years ago, have been interpreted as descendants of a canal boat Southwest Asian wolf, Canis lupus Arabs. Pebble art and skeletal remains indicate that by 14,000 years ago, dogs were present from North Africa across Eurasia to North America. Dog burials at the Mesolithic cemetery of Svaerdborg in Denmark suggest that in ancient Europe dogs were valued companions.