note: the vast majority of these are also applicable to many other animals, but it'd take me forever to specify which and when and all that and i am just a dogwolf ahah! ^^;; hope this helps anyhow !!
please do not tag as "b!oterms", the term is anti-physical-nonhumans and i am a zoanthropic holothere ! i will NOT discourse abt it, go bark up a tree !!!!
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parts of the body:
[human → dog]
hair -> fur
hair on head → mane
hair drawn around front of neck → ruff
nose + mouth + chin → muzzle / snout
teeth → fangs
upper lip → flews [rhymes with "crews"]
skin (overall) → hide
skin on front of neck → dewlap
skin on back of neck → scruff / nape
hair on back of neck → hackles
shoulder blades → withers
hands → (fore)paws
palms of hands + balls of feet → (paw)pads
thumbs → dewclaws
fur on hairy hands → mops
nails → claws
belton — intermingled white + other colored hairs
bicolor(ed) — coat of 2 distinct colors
brindle — even mix of dark + light, usu. like tiger/tabby stripes
buff — light brownish yellow
fawn — pale brown / golden brown, like a fawn
grizzled — roan pattern mixing black OR blue-gray OR iron-gray OR red w/ white
harlequin — black or blue patches on white
hound-colored — black, tan, white + black saddle
lion-colored — golden brown w/ a yellow-to-red undertone, like a lion [see: ibizan hound]
merle — mottled + white fur (usu. red, black, or blue) [see: australian shepherd]
mottled — irregular pattern of streaks, spots, speckles, or blotches
particolor(ed) — patches of 2 different colors on 1 base color
piebald — black + white (or any other 2 colors) in patches
roan — even blended mix of white + another color, not gray from age
sable — black tips on silver, gray, gold, fawn, or brown hairs
saddle — dark patches on the back
(be)spectacle(d) — markings around eyes
ticked — distinct speckling of black / dark colors on light
tricolor — coat of 3 distinct colors (usu. black, white + tan)
wheaten — pale yellow or light fawn
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fur types:
longhaired — long fur
shorthaired — short fur
smooth-coated — visibly + tactilely smooth
wirehaired — very textured fur (usu. straight)
corded — tight curls to coils to locs [see: komondor + puli]
feathered — long, thin, + wispy at the edges
jacket — short + close to the body
stand-off coat — fluffy coat billowing out from body instead of lying flat [see: norweigian elkhound]
topknot — tuft on top of head
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life + events:
[human → dog]
sleeping place → den, lair
storage (esp. of food) → cache
being born, giving birth → whelping
child, youth → whelp, pup
family, comrades → pack / packmates
moving out, starting out on your own → dispersal
partner → mate
course, legacy → track
*dogs don't really have "genders" genders, ofc, but i wanted to include this for those who DO choose gendered animal terms for themselves, and were looking for an alternative to "bitch". "tife" is an old english word also meaning female dog!
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sources!!!
dog breed info: list of dog terms (cw for mentions of animal modification)
wikipedia: canine terminology (accessed 18 june 2025)
wikipedia: dog anatomy (accessed 18 june 2025)
wiktionary: tife / tifan
