Printable sheet
Dog under the moon sitting beside a log cabin, wolf-like and surrounded by pine trees. A nighttime printable for kids and adults; download the free PDF.
Printable sheet
Free for personal and educational use
Download PDFPrintA wolf-like dog sitting in front of a log cabin, with pine trees, a fence and a big full moon in the sky.
Make the sky deep blue and keep the moon white or pale yellow.
Make a chart showing how dogs and wolves are alike and different.
Dogs and wolves can have puppies together because they belong to the same species.
A dog under the moon like this one reminds us of its wild ancestor, the wolf. Every dog, from the tiniest chihuahua to the biggest Great Dane, descends from wolves that began living alongside humans more than fifteen thousand years ago.
Scientists think some bolder wolves started hanging around human camps to grab leftover food. Little by little, people and those animals began working together. The wolves warned of danger and helped with hunting, and in return they got food and shelter. Generation after generation, they turned into dogs.
Dogs still carry many habits from their ancestors, and one of the most striking is howling. Wolves howl to talk with their pack over long distances, mark their territory or gather together. Plenty of dogs howl when they hear a siren, a song or another dog, almost as if they are answering a call.
Many people believe wolves howl at the moon, but that is a myth. They howl at night because that is when they are most active, and they point their heads up so the sound travels farther. Some breeds, like huskies and malamutes, howl much more than others.
