The coats of domestic dogs are either "double", made up of a coarse guard hair and a soft down hair, like a wolf, or "single", with the topcoat only. Dogs with double coats tend to originate in colder climates.
Domestic dogs often display the remnants of countershading, a common natural camouflage pattern. A countershaded animal will have dark coloring on its upper surfaces and light coloring below, which reduces its general visibility. Thus many breeds will have an occasional "blaze", stripe, or "star" of white fur on their chest or underside.
There are many different shapes for dog tails: straight, straight up, sickle, curled, or cork-screw. In some breeds, the tail is traditionally docked to avoid injuries (especially for hunting dogs). In some breeds, puppies can be born with a short tail or no tail at all. This occurs more frequently in those breeds that are frequently docked and thus have no breed standard regarding the tail.
While all dogs are genetically very similar, natural selection and selective breeding have reinforced certain characteristics in certain populations of dogs, giving rise to dog types and dog breeds.
Dog types are broad categories based on function, genetics, or characteristics Dog breeds are groups of animals that possess a set of inherited characteristics that distinguishes them from other animals within the same species.
Modern dog breeds are non-scientific classifications of dogs kept by modern kennel clubs. Purebred dogs of one breed are genetically distinguishable from purebred dogs of other breeds, but the means by which kennel clubs classify dogs is unsystematic.
Systematic analyses of the dog genome has revealed only four major types of dogs that can be said to be statistically distinct. These include the "old world dogs" (e.g., Malamute and Shar Pei), "Mastiff"-type (e.g., Labrador Retriever), "herding"-type (e.g., St. Bernard), and "all others" (also called "modern"- or "hunting"-type).
Dogs are susceptible to various diseases, ailments, and poisons, some of which can affect humans. To defend against many common diseases, dogs are often vaccinated.
Some breeds of dogs are prone to certain genetic ailments such as elbow or hip dysplasia, blindness, deafness, pulmonic stenosis, cleft palate, and trick knees.
Two serious medical conditions particularly affecting dogs are pyometra, affecting unspayed females of all types and ages, and bloat, which affects the larger breeds or deep-chested dogs. Both of these are acute conditions, and can kill rapidly. Dogs are also susceptible to parasites such as fleas, ticks, and mites, as well as hookworms, tapeworms, roundworms, and heartworms.
Dogs are highly susceptible to theobromine poisoning, typically from ingestion of chocolate. Theobromine is toxic to dogs because although the dog's metabolism is capable of breaking down the chemical, the process is so slow that even small amounts of chocolate can be fatal, especially dark chocolate. Dogs are also vulnerable to some of the same health conditions as humans, including diabetes, dental and heart disease, epilepsy, cancer, hypothyroidism, and arthritis.
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