What is the gentic relationship between canines to vulpines?

Both are members of the dog family, Canidae, but whilst dogs and wolves are in the genus Canis, the various species of foxes belong to the genera Vulpes, Alopex, Dusicyon, Otocyon and Urocyon.

Dogs nor wolves can interbreed with foxes - the fox genera split off from other canids millions of years ago, and so are too different for interbreeding. Certain species of fox can interbreed with each other, however - for example, the red fox and Arctic fox can interbreed.

In fact, foxes have 38 chromosomes, while dogs have 78 chromosomes.