 We, and everyone else it seems has given homage to the cats
of ancient Egypt, but dogs too were important, both as symbols of gods and
as domesticated animals. Certainly they were pets, but it is difficult
to say whether dogs were as beloved by their Egyptian owners as cats. They
were never shown as animals to be petted. But as in modern times, their uses were much more diverse. Nevertheless, they
were mummified and they were often buried with owners, or sometimes in their
own coffins. At Abydos, part of the cemetery was set aside for dogs near the
graves of women, archers and dwarfs.
 Egyptian probably first domesticated
the cat, but dogs
were most likely domesticated in other parts of the world. Notably, the
first domestication of dogs from wolfs occurred in Persia, North America and
possibly Northeast Africa. The earliest reference to dogs in Egypt comes to us
from the predynastic period. Bones of domesticated dogs have been discovered
dating to the fifth millennium BC in Egypt, and we find the first
representation of domesticated dogs on the Moscow cup from the Badarian age
(4000-4500 BC). We begin to find natural representations of dogs with
collars on the Asmolean Palette and the Hunting Palette. These
palettes date from the predynastic era during the Naqada II (3500-3000
BC). But we find many more domesticated dogs in murals starting in
the Old Kingdom.
 The ancient Egyptian word for dog was "iwiw",
which referred to the dog's bark. They served a roll in hunting, as
guard and police dogs, in military actions and as household pets. They
are well known to us from ancient Egyptian paintings, but their breed is
still difficult to discern completely. However, these pictures show resemblance
to basenji, saluki, greyhounds, mastiffs others.
Some of the possible breeds derived from ancient Egyptian
Dogs
 We even know many ancient Egyptian dog's names from
leather collars as well as stelae and reliefs. They included names
such as Brave One, Reliable, Good Herdsman, North-Wind, Antelope and even
"Useless". Other names come from the dogs color, such as
Blacky, while still other dogs were given numbers for names, such as
"the Fifth". Many of the names seem to represent endearment, while
others convey merely the dogs abilities or capabilities. However,
even as in modern times, there could be negative connotations
to dogs due to their nature as servants of man. Some texts
include references to prisoners as "the king's dogs".
 Anubis is often referred to as the jackal headed god, but
Egyptians seem to have identified other dogs with this god, and at times
domestic dogs were buried as sacred animals in the Anubieion catacombs at Saqqara.
Anubis (Inpew,
Yinepu, Anpu) was an ancient Egyptian god of the underworld who guided and protected the spirits of the dead.
He was generally depicted as a black jackal-headed man, or as a black jackal. The Egyptians would have noticed the jackals prowling around the graveyards, and so the link between the animal and the dead was formed in their minds.
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