Modern dog breeds were created in Victorian Britain. The evolution of the domestic dog goes back tens of thousands of years. however, the multiple forms we see today are just 150 years old. Before the Victorian era, there were different types of dog, but there were not that many and they were largely defined by their function. They were like the colors of a rainbow: variations within each type, shading into each other at the margins. And many terms were used for the different dogs: breed, kind, race, sort, strain, type, and variety.By the time the Victorian era came to an end, only one term was used breed. This was more than a change in language. Dog breeds were something entirely new, defined by their form and not their function. With the invention of breed, the different types became like the blocks on a paint color card discrete, uniform, and standardized. The greater differentiation of breeds increased their number. In the 1840s, just two types of terrier were recognized; by the end of the Victorian period, there were 10, and proliferation continued today there are 27.The advent of dog shows drove the creation of breed. The groups running these events and driving changes were styled the "dog fancy," and the aficionados of the new canines "doggy people." Breed standards were contingent and contested, decided as competitions selected the best dogs in each class. Owners gained prestige, and some income, from sales and stud fees. Competition at shows and in the market drove specialization, in the specification of ideal forms; standardization, in the designs of physical conformations; objectification, in viewing dogs' bodies as made up of parts; commodification, in promoting dogs as tradable goods; differentiation, in the proliferation of breeds; and alienation, as ability and character became secondary to form.The templates for breed conformation standards drew upon history, art, natural history, physiology and anatomy, and aesthetics. There was a tension in breeding between earned and inherited worth, that is, between "best in breed" winners, chosen in competitions, and "pure blood" dogs with pedigrees showing superior inheritance.This tension points to the divisions among doggy people who were gentlemen-amateurs, and those who were trader-professionals. The former, predominantly from the upper classes, defined themselves as "dog lovers." They were men (few women were active in the dog fancy until the 1890s), who were themselves of the right breeding, to use their parlance. They claimed to be interested only in the long-term improvement of the nation's dogs, and saw themselves in a struggle against entrepreneurs, whom they styled as "dog dealers," interested only in short-term profit and social success.