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The History of Dogs

In the very earliest period of man's habitation of this world, he made a friend and companion of some sort of aboriginal representative of our modern dog. In return for its aid in protecting him from wilder animals, and in guarding his sheep and goats, he gave it a share of his food, a corner in his dwelling, and grew to trust it and care for it. Probably the animal was originally little else than an unusually gentle jackal, or an ailing wolf driven by its companions from the wild marauding pack to seek shelter in alien surroundings.

Traces of an indigenous dog family can be found in almost all parts of the world. There are several exceptions --in New Zealand, the Polynesian Islands, Madagascar, the eastern islands of the Malaysian Archipelago and the West Indian Islands have no evidence of any dog, fox or wolf existing as a native animal.

In ancient Asian regions, as among the the Mongolians, dogs were wild creatures, prowling in packs like wolves. This is still the case in many Eastern cities. If we examine the records of the high civilizations of Assyria and Egypt, we begin to discover distinct varieties of the canine form.

The myriad of different dog breeds, and the significant differences of their general appearance, size and temperament, makes it hard for us to believe that they could share a common ancestor. If we think of the differences between, say the St. Bernard and the Miniature Black; the Mastiff and the Japanese Spaniel; the Deerhound and Pomeranian, we become puzzled in considering that they all descended from one progenitor. Yet, the same is true of other species, such as breeds of horse. Dog breeders know that it is not at all difficult to produce a variation in type by selection.

In considering the question of dogs and wolves sharing a common origin, we should first look at their skeletal structures, or the osseous system. These are close enough in both species that their transposition from one to the other could hardly be noticed.

The spine of a dog has seven vertebrae in the neck, thirteen in the back, seven in the loins, three sacral and twenty to twenty-two in the tail. As for ribs, both the dog and wolf have thirteen pair --nine true and four false. They both have the same number of teeth --forty-two, and the same number of toes --five front and four hind. In many cases, a general outward description of either one could serve the other.

Nor are their habits different. The wolf's natural voice is a loud howl, but when confined with dogs he will learn to bark. Although he is carnivorous, he will also eat vegetables, and when sickly he will nibble grass. In the chase, a pack of wolves will divide into parties, one following the trail of the quarry, the other attempting to intercept its retreat, exercising a considerable amount of strategy, a trait which is exhibited by many of our sporting dogs and terriers when hunting in teams.

Yet another similarity between canis lupus and canis familiaris is the gestation period, which is sixty=three days for each. The wolf's litter usually has from three to nine cubs. These are blind for twenty-one days. After two months of being suckled, they are capable of eating half-digested flesh which their dam or even sire has disgorged for them.

The dogs and wolves native to almost all regions closely resemble each other in size, coloration, form and habit, a fact too widespread to be simply coincidental. An observer in 1829, Sir John Richardson, commented that the only difference he could see between the wolves of North America and the domestic dog of the Indians was the greater size and strength of the wolf.

One of the arguments against the lupine nature of the dog is that all domestic dogs bark, while wolves howl. This difficulty, however, is not evidence of anything; we know that wolf pups, wild dogs and jackals raised by bitches readily learn to bark. For their part, domestic dogs who run wild can forget the habit. We cannot, therefore, use this as a deciding argument regarding the origin of the dog.

We might consider Darwin's belief that domestic dogs descended from several species of wolf from places as diverse as Europe, India and North Africa, as well as several species of jackal, and possibly from one or more species now extinct. This suggestion that our modern dogs had such a diverse ancestry could be the truest explanation we will find.

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Bob Evanston writes and researches on many topics pertaining to animals and pets. You can get more information on animal care and some useful resources on training your dog Click here to get your own unique version of this article.

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