So many words #012 - Dogs

Good dogs.

Dogs are by far the most popular pet in China and Taiwan. Chinese prefer smaller breeds, for several reasons: small dogs cost less to feed, are better suited to living in cramped apartments and don't need to be taken out for a walk all that often (Chinese work a lot so this is a good thing). 

Edit: my friend André points out that it's illegal to own a dog taller than 40cm within ring 4 in Beijing. I guess you really do learn something new every day.

Male dogs are called 公狗 gōnggǒu, female dogs 母狗 mǔgǒu. This is a pattern that repeats with most domesticated animals, see for example 母豬 sow, or 公雞 rooster.  Puppies and small dogs are called 小狗 xiǎogǒu, or more colloquially, 狗狗 gǒugou. The measure word for dogs is 只 or 條, the latter usually used for small and long dogs.. 

Owning a dog has three common verbs associated with it, 養 raise/maintain，遛 walk and 喂 feed. The sentence below incorporates all three:

養狗很麻煩，每天都要去遛它三次，喂它兩次。Owning a dog is a lot of bother, you have to take it out for a walk three times and feed it twice every day.

The fur of a dog is called 皮毛 pímáo. The various types of fur are too numerous to list here, but the Wikipedia article gives a comprehensive list of ear types and fur types. Dog nouns are usually formed with 犬 as a suffix, 狗 being used less often. Here is a small sample:

獵犬 lièquǎn - hunting dog. 

臘腸狗 làchánggǒu - "sausage dog", aka dachshund.  

哈巴狗 hābagǒu - pekingese. Also means sycophant when used about people.

導盲犬 dǎomángquǎn - guide dog.

雪橇犬 xuěqiāoquǎn - sled dog.