Azure Trance
First Post
I'm curious. Were there once larger domestic cats, but bred out for one reason or another? Imagine if there were a spectrum for domestic cats that varied in size as much as dogs.
scent hound, sight hound, herd dog, ratter..
- Thread starter alsih2o
- Start date
Azure Trance said:
Hate to say this because I love cats but I feel that if cats were breed for the same type of work dogs do, they would take on the same stats.
Note: once you look at types of dogs and job function dogs are amazing animals, there is even a poodle with webbed paws that was used to drag ropes to boats.
Something that may need to be discussed about the relationship between man and dog is 'the bond'. I think it give dogs the ablity to predict their masters wants.
Buttercup
Princess of Florin
I read somewhere long ago that the canine genetic structure pertaining to muskulo-skeletal features was more mutable than that of the feline. I suppose that's a fancy way of saying that you can get a chihuahua and a borzoi from the same gene pool, but the biggest difference you'll see in house cats is variations in coat and slight ones in build.
I'm no expert on this, so if someone knows better, please speak up. But I think that dogs & cats have been domesticated for roughly the same amount of time. Both were common in ancient Egypt, for example.
But dogs are more versatile. They can help humans hunt, herd, even fish. They can guard territory and possessions, heck even children. They kill vermin. And they'll eat whatever they're given. Cats, by and large, aren't as trainable. (Meaning no offense to cat lovers, of course. But when was the last time you saw a herding cat?)
Anyway, to drag this back onto the subject, I'd love to see a pdf with official stats for the various dog breeds, and their potential use as familiars or animal companions. Vuron made a good start.
I'm no expert on this, so if someone knows better, please speak up. But I think that dogs & cats have been domesticated for roughly the same amount of time. Both were common in ancient Egypt, for example.
But dogs are more versatile. They can help humans hunt, herd, even fish. They can guard territory and possessions, heck even children. They kill vermin. And they'll eat whatever they're given. Cats, by and large, aren't as trainable. (Meaning no offense to cat lovers, of course. But when was the last time you saw a herding cat?)
Anyway, to drag this back onto the subject, I'd love to see a pdf with official stats for the various dog breeds, and their potential use as familiars or animal companions. Vuron made a good start.
Kahuna Burger
First Post
Azure Trance said:
AFAIK the orriginal domestic cats were egyptian and looked fairly similar to the skinnier cats of today. The main issue is that, well, "domestic cat" is a teeny misnomer.
I've known a few cats that could be trained for tricks, but as a species, without getting into a huge behavioral evolution thing, cats aren't wired to be trainable. Dogs were sculpted over the years so their range of bodies matched their range of behavoral possibilities. While behavoral differences exist between cat breeds, AFAIK the goals have been largely cosmetic. Has anyone used the scifi fantasy idea of a species of humaniods with as much variation as dogs have, but still the same species? They would pretty much have had to have been a slave race of a longer lived race...
Kahuna Burger
Kahuna Burger
First Post
Buttercup said:
well, I'm a semiprofessional writer who games and works with dogs professionally.
I've been thinking about doing something similar for dragon or someone for a while. However, I have the attention span of a ADD affected cat, and do not own any PDF editing software.If I could get a cowriter or two on board, I could start an outline right about now for a complete guide to dogs. Dfferent breeds, alternate special qualities to adress trainablity, "classes" for dogs to reflect special training, etc.
Anyone wanna play?
Kahuna Burger
Buttercup said:
Lot of debate about this but it looks like dogs and humans have been working together a lot longer. Cats were accepted in Egypt as rat killers and then icons. The greeks had to smuggle them out and from there taken all over the world, it is why the word for cat is much the same everywhere.
Kahuna Burger said:well, I'm a semiprofessional writer who games and works with dogs professionally.
If I could get a cowriter or two on board, I could start an outline right about now for a complete guide to dogs. Dfferent breeds, alternate special qualities to adress trainablity, "classes" for dogs to reflect special training, etc.
Anyone wanna play?
You are on, Burger. I'm a semipro writer/professional editor who games, knows a little about dogs, and possesses a tremendous range of desktop publishing software (including PDF stuff). We do this up right, maybe we can convince Natural 20 to take it up, eh?
You should be able to get my e-mail out of my profile, but if you can't, my address is ez(at)needcoffee.com. Fire at will.
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