All of the dogs below are from the 2011 Westminster Dog Show. The American Kennel Club 2010 popularity ranking is listed after the name of the breed.
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Simple genetic tweaks decide the difference between a Great Dane and a Brussels griffon (following image).
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Pembroke Welsh corgi (left), 27; Cardigan Welsh corgi, 84
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Bloodhound (left), 43; German shorthaired pointer (center), 16; Sussex spaniel, 155
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Rhodesian ridgeback, 46
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Chinese crested, 57
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English setter (left), 101; Irish setter (center), 77; Gordon setter (right), 98
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Italian greyhound, 67
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Manny, an Afghan hound, is among the more elegant examples of canine diversity. The centuries of breeding that produced such diversity in dogs also created isolated genetic populations that are helping scientists understand human diseases. "We're the people doing the genetics," says one researcher. "But breeders have done all the fieldwork."
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The eye-shielding curls of Charlotte, a black-haired puli, are produced by the interaction of three genes.
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Researchers have identified a single gene mutation that causes the "hairlessness" of dogs like Sugar, a Chinese crested.
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Like its ancestor the gray wolf, the basenji, one of the most ancient breeds, doesn't bark.
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Originally bred as guard dogs, Tibetan mastiffs like Midas, a Westminster finalist from Lubbock, Texas, can top 150 pounds. They are highly protective of their owners—an impulse that, along with most other dog behaviors, remains a genetic mystery.
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Oakley, a pug (foreground), and Little Dude, a Saint Bernard, stand witness to the immense morphological diversity of their species. If humans varied as much in height, the smallest would be two feet tall and the tallest would measure some 31 feet.
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