History of The Domestication of Dogs: Are Dogs our Companions or Are We Their Companions?

It can be argued that along with cats, dogs were one of the first animals to become domesticated. For approximately 10,000 years humans and dogs have more than co-existed, they have developed a special bond unlike any other animal has developed with us. Today hundreds, if not thousands of breeds of dog exist. Although this fact remains true, all dogs belong to the Canis Familiaris family within the animal kingdom. Despite any tamed, domesticated, or docile tendencies, all breeds of dogs have traits that are derived from their wild ancestors and to this day many of those traits still exist and in fact, are quite important to the dog’s survival and mating techniques. Some of the more prominent survival tactics include digging, burying, being

Dogs were not always how they are today. Almost 35,000 years ago, they were wolves. Humans saw most wolves as a threat. Even though they saw each other as enemies, there was a point where they helped each other. This is what helped them evolve. It all started when wolves went to human camps to devour some scraps of food. Because of this, the wolves were healthy and had many pups. The pups inherited the parents' habit of snacking on leftovers. This cycle repeated over and over. Wolves were willing to get closer to people. Humans soon realized that wolves make very good guards because they protected the humans from many dangerous animals. As a result, wolves living near the humans started to change.

This has led to the belief that dogs can provide company, affection and support to people who are going through a difficult time or who feel lonely. Dogs have aided humans in tasks such as hunting, livestock herding, and guarding. However, as society moved from small rural communities to increasingly large metropolitan areas, the dog’s role changed. Throughout the years a more specific type of

(Transition: Have you had conversations with your dog? I do all the time! Have you ever avoided a dog because it looked scary? Most of us know what a relaxed dog and an aggressive dog looks like. What many don’t and should know are the signals that tell you when a dog is transitioning from being relaxed to a stressed, fearful, or threatened mood. Let’s start with stress and fear signals. Let’s go over a some dog body language so you can evaluate your judgments.)

    Dogs have been domesticated for over 10,000 years. Food from the humans would bring the dogs to them, and the dogs would bark at predators when they came so the people started to feed the dogs to keep them around. In the 1’st century AD in China Roman mosaics show evidence of the present day Pekingese and Roman ladies also had lap dogs. They believe the dogs warmth cures stomach aches. The earliest evidence of any domesticated dog is a jawbone found in Iraq in a cave about 12,000 years ago. We know it is a jawbone of a dog because a jawbone of a wolf is smaller and the teeth is smaller.

For being man’s supposed best friend, humans too often make choices to benefit themselves instead of dogs. People decide what traits make a dog cute and disregard what traits make them healthy. Dog breeding is a harmful practice for dogs both biologically and culturally due to superficial standards. These dogs are bred to be cute, but that cuteness can inadvertently carry a gene that can lead to disease, or even the cuteness itself could be debilitating, such as with the poster pug’s flat face makes breathing significantly more difficult. Dogs are living, breathing creatures and the standards set for their reproduction should factor their well-being into the standard of the dog.

Have you ever had a dog? Do you know where dogs came from? Well, did you know that a million of years ago dogs did not exist. Back, then the dogs were wolves that disliked people. The relationship between dogs and humans has changed over time because over thousands of years ago, the wolves evolved to dogs and the dogs soon became part of human families. That is why these days people want to have a dog as a pet.

Humans and dogs have long shared a bond that was based on function. Early dogs that were the least valuable and useful did not make it into today’s time. On the other hand, the most valuable and helpful of dogs remained and created others like them. Ultimately, breed predecessors were produced by breeding the best hunters to the best hunters and the best guards to the best

Imagine a life with a best friend that never gets mad at people and never talks back. A famous saying you hear dad to day is a dog is the only thing on the earth that loves you more than they love themselves. This is a pretty ideal situation for most people. Studies show that a dog can be more than just a pet. A dog can be a best friend, a listener, and a healer. Animals have influenced humans through out our evolution they have become domestic and we have become reliable on our house pets for many reasons. Dogs assist many different groups of people. They play a major role in child development, heal the sick, and benefit the elderly.

There are similarities between dogs and humans. These will include homelessness, perseverance in the fight for survival, the apparent lack of organizational hierarchy among our species, and the instinctual survival abilities that have been lost through the evolution of domestication. All these became apparent to me when I started to compare the dogs that Randy has encountered. Consciously or subconsciously, I’ve come to the realization that humans are not very different from dogs. In the sense, both species have progressed through the evolution of domestication.

Their skulls, teeth, and paws shrank, their ears flopped, they gained a docile disposition, becoming both less frightening and less fearful. They learned to read the complex expressions that ripple across human faces. Even though some dogs don’t look alike, they share some of their genes, and belong to the same species. Compared with equally sized wolves, dogs tend to have smaller skulls and smaller brain. The teeth in wolves are larger than the dog’s teeth. The skin in dogs is thicker than wolves. Wolves are smarter and are more are in their environment than dogs. But when it comes to sociability, dogs are more friendly with other animals and as pets. The Saarloos Wolfdog carries more gray wolf DNA than any other dog breed. The gray wolves live in many places, like in deserts, grassland, forest and arctic tundras. Dogs were developed to do different tasks and for the men needs, like herding, droving, pulling, hauling, herding, hunting, rescuing and guarding. Some dogs were used as luxury item, they were viewed by others as an status

For millions of years dogs have remained a constant companion of man. Bred from the aggressive and formidable Gray Wolf tens of thousands of years ago the domestic dog now lives in many homes across the world. Where in the far distant past the domestic dog was bred as a guard animal, a beast of burden, and even a food source the dogs of today are bred for a far more endearing purpose-companionship and love. Finding a pet dog that is more of a joy than a chore is necessary when asking: How much is that puppy in the window?

There are several theories on how the evolution from wolf to dog came about. One theory is that the human environment attracted wolves. Wolves started following people around to take advantage of food scraps that were left behind. Eventually, wolves lost fear of people, and people lost fear of wolves. The benefits of this new relationship were not just one way. Wolves also helped humans by sniffing out prey and helping them hunt. Success likely meant the humans would share their food with wolves. This is a very popular theory, but it has been disputed. Archeological digs show that the early dogs were not eating the same mammoth meat that the humans were eating. Instead, their main diet consisted mostly of less popular human meat such as reindeer. The prehistoric dogs also had many broken teeth and severe facial wounds. Although these injuries could be from fighting with other dogs, many scientists believe the dogs had been beaten with sticks, leading many to assume the relationship between man and prehistoric dog was not as companionable as the theory would suggest.

It is often said that a dog is a man’s best friend. In the last 14,000 years, dogs have accompanied man by helping him hunt, guard, and protect. In our modern world, dogs help us combat in war, search-and-rescue, guide the blind, deaf, discapacitated, rehabilitate patients in therapy, aid law enforcement, and are part of our family as beloved pets (Coren). Although canine superstars such as Lassie, Old Yeller, and Rin Tin Tin portray the perfect dog we all want in our lives, these ideals are far from the truth. Many first-time dog owners expect dogs to know behaviors such as how to walk on a leash, not bite, not destroy the house, and in addition to many others. In reality, dogs must be trained on what their handler wants them to do. It is

“A dog is a man’s best friend” goes much deeper than the phrase might initially imply. Recently many medical journals have begun to identify with the many and varied benefits of pet ownership. Men have always relied upon animals for work, transportation, and survival. As times have changed, man has begun to appreciate a different bond with animals. Gone are the days of animals running free outside around the homestead, for now animals are allowed inside and are considered by many to be an integral part of our daily lives! Medical studies have found that animals have a much greater intelligence level than originally thought. Through proper training and experience, animals are not only household pets, but also are becoming an accepted form