Domestic dog

The domestic dog (*Canis familiaris*) is a domesticated descendent of now-extinct Pleistocene wolves. Dogs were the first species to be domesticated by hunter-gatherers around 15,000 years ago. Dogs have been selectively bred over the millennia for many purposes and attributes. They have become uniquely adapted to human behaviour and this influence on human society has given them the nickname of man’s best friend.

## Appearances in Dorling Kindersley Vision media

The domestic dog is the most commonly recurring species in Dorling Kindersley Vision media, with 46 episodes containing one as either stock footage, studio footage of a combination of the two.

### See How They Grow

The Pets episode of See How They Grow has one segment about the life cycle of a golden retriever puppy.

### Eyewitness

A total of twelve Eyewitness episodes includes at least one domestic dog. The season with the most episodes is season three, with seven altogether. Season two has three episodes while season one only has two, although one of them, the episode entitled *Dog*, probably has more overall dog appearances than any other Dorling Kindersley Vision show.

* **SEASON ONE**: Dog, Amphibian
* **SEASON TWO**: Mammal, Weather, Arctic and Antarctic
* **SEASON THREE**: Bear, Sight, Survival, Monster, Plant, Life, Natural Disasters

A wide variety of dog breeds appears in Eyewitness, including a black poodle (the poodle’s acting name is Whisper), dalmatian, St. Bernard, English foxhounds, husky, boxer, Afghan hound, basset hound, German shepherd, black Labrador, Border collie and cocker spaniel. The hero of the dog episode is Connell, a dog of an unidentified breed.

Of the episodes, Weather, Sight and Plant only have dogs appear in stock footage, with the others containing either dogs filmed in the studio or a combination of both studio and stock footage.

### Amazing Animals

A total of twenty-five episodes of Amazing Animals includes at least one domestic dog. Seasons three and four draw in the number of episodes, with both having eight episodes that contain a dog. Season two has five episodes with a dog, while season one has only four. It should be noted that the opening sequence of Amazing Animals that plays before every episode has two domestic dogs – a Great Dane and a Yorkshire terrier.

* **SEASON ONE**: Animal Appetites, Animal Survivors, Animal Senses, Animal Babies
* **SEASON TWO**: Scary Animals, Animal Records, Animal Mothers, Animal Pets, Animal Families
* **SEASON THREE**: Animal Talk, Slimy Animals, Animal Acrobats, Giant Animals, Creepy Crawly Animals, Farm Animals, Animal Changes, Animal Eggs
* **SEASON FOUR**: Around the World, Polar Animals, Clever Animals, Animal Helpers, Mountain Animals, Tiny Animals, Scaly Animals, Animal Flight

A variety of breeds appear in Amazing Animals, including golden retrievers, a Great Dane, a husky and a St. Bernard, plus dog breeds that only appear in this series such as a Puli, a collie and a Dogue de Bordeaux.

The Great Dane was chosen as the winner of the Golden Gecko Awards for Animal Pets, while dogs in general won the silver award in Animal Helpers.

The opening cartoon of Animal Pets has a very brief appearance of a cartoon Dog. Its interaction with the Chicks is what inspires Rooster to try out several other pets throughout the course of the episode.

In Farm Animals and Backyard Animals, the dogs only appear as stock footage. In all the others, the dog is either studio footage or a combination of stock and studio footage.

### Creatures Fantastic

Domestic dogs appear in six of the discovered episodes of Creatures Fantastic. In Creatures of the Night and Mythical Cats, they appear only briefly as stock footage – in both instances, faint footage of hounds running at night with the tapetum lucidum shining is used, sometimes to represent different animals.

In The Apocalypse, a dog was filmed in the studio to represent the story of Shunka Sapar, a dog from Sioux mythology that prevents the end of the world by dismantling a porcupine-quill blanket being made by an old woman.

In Werewolves, the domestic dog appears in two settings. In one, dogs filmed on location in a forest are shown pursuing Peter Stumpp. The other uses stock footage of barking and snarling dogs to show the relationship that humans now have with animals and the irony that our best friends in the animal kingdom are descended from the hated wolf.

The Underworld uses an Irish wolfhound to digitally create Cerberus. He appears a few times, twice at the gates of Hades in two different story segments and once in Dante’s Inferno, roaming around in the third circle of Hell.

In Spirits of the Forest, a pack of Irish wolfhounds filmed on location in a forest are used to represent the hounds used by the lord in the Gawain and the Green Knight story.

### Baby Animals

In Baby Animals, a golden retriever puppy by the name of Doodle is one of the two protagonists of both episodes. In the On The Farm episode, one of the baby animals encountered is a mother sheepdog and her puppy.

## Gallery

Depiction of Cerberus from The Underworld