The Big Search to Find Out Where Dogs Come From

[Subdeacon Joe]

Interesting read.

 

 

OXFORD, England — Before humans milked cows, herded goats or raised hogs, before they invented agriculture, or written language, before they had permanent homes, and most certainly before they had cats, they had dogs.

Or dogs had them, depending on how you view the human-canine arrangement. But scientists are still debating exactly when and where the ancient bond originated. And a large new study being run out of theUniversity of Oxford here, with collaborators around the world, may soon provide some answers.

Scientists have come up with a broad picture of the origins of dogs. First off, researchers agree that they evolved from ancient wolves. Scientists once thought that some visionary hunter-gatherer nabbed a wolf puppy from its den one day and started raising tamer and tamer wolves, taking the first steps on the long road to leashes and flea collars. This is oversimplified, of course, but the essence of the idea is that people actively bred wolves to become dogs just the way they now breed dogs to be tiny or large, or to herd sheep.

The prevailing scientific opinion now, however, is that this origin story does not pass muster. Wolves are hard to tame, even as puppies, and many researchers find it much more plausible that dogs, in effect, invented themselves.

Imagine that some ancient wolves were slightly less timid around nomadic hunters and scavenged regularly from their kills and camps, and gradually evolved to become tamer and tamer, producing lots of offspring because of the relatively easy pickings. At some point, they became the tail-wagging beggar now celebrated as man’s best friend.

Some researchers question whether dogs experience feelings like love and loyalty, or whether their winning ways are just a matter of instincts that evolved because being a hanger-on is an easier way to make a living than running down elk. Raymond Coppinger, a professor emeritus of biology at Hampshire College, noted in his landmark 2001 book, “Dogs,” that “best friend” is not an “ecological definition.” And he suggested that “the domestic house dog may have evolved into a parasite.”

Researchers also point out that of the estimated one billion dogs in the world, only a quarter of them are pets. The vast majority of dogs run free in villages, scavenge food at dumps, cadge the odd handout and cause tens of thousands of human deaths each year from rabies. They are sometimes friendly, but not really friends.

 

[Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795]

Dog is GOD spelled backwards. I certainly don't consider ours parasites, more like family

[Subdeacon Joe]

Dog is GOD spelled backwards. I certainly don't consider ours parasites, more like family

 

 

+ 1 on that.

 

One thing in the article kind of irked me - says that domestic dogs won't run in packs. Nope. Ask anyone who has raised livestock near a suburban area and they will tell you that they do. Sonoma Co. CA has leash laws mainly because peoples dogs were allowed to run free and were packing together and killing sheep and calves. Back in the mid-80s one guy raised a lot of outrage because one night he shot and killed 4 or 5 dogs that were killing his sheep, piled them around a "Leash Law" sign, and hung one on the sign to make a statement. Several of the dogs had collars and tags.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I believe it started long ago with the hunter gatherers who took in orphaned wolf pups. They raised them and the wolfs went on hunts with them. We helped each other and a bond was developed.

 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/131114-europe-dog-domestication-wolves-hunter-gatherers/

[DocWard]

The esteemed Professor Emeritus Coppinger should really go back to his biology 101 class where they teach about symbiosis and symbiotic relationships, where both organisms receive an advantage as a result. If he doesn't see that sort of relationship in the human-canine relationship, he simply doesn't understand, regardless of how many books he has written.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

Don't know, don't care. All I know is my life would sure be a lot smaller and not as rich if I didn't have dogs in it. Even my little pup who needs me for everything and still loves Momma the best.

[Bugs Bonney SASS # 10171]

What if, when you die, all the dogs you have ever owned, cohabitated with or whatever turn out to be who judges you? Maybe God is dog spelled backwards is a message that the dog is how God watches you and sees how you treat "these the least of my brethren". For me that would be one heck of a happy day. For others, not so much

[Tascosa, SASS# 24838]

That article is just some college professors opinion and I cant tell you here what I think about college professors. My dog is what makes me laugh when Im sad or shows me unconditional love.

Say what you want about dogs but they make our life richer and when I have lost one of my furry friends, its a deep hurt that is still there no matter how long ago they passed.

Yes dogs are God spelled backward and maybe it is how he keeps an eye on us. I would sooner help a dog than some lazy SOB that's too lazy to get a job.

Just my humble (?) opinion..

[Dawg Hair, SASS #29557]

I think I was a dog in one of my past lives, but did something bad and was sentenced to come back as a human. That's my excuse and am sticking to it!

[Russ T. Sites]

I think I was a dog in one of my past lives, but did something bad and was sentenced to come back as a human. That's my excuse and am sticking to it!

Me to, I spend most of my time after work cleaning up after them , feeding them and opening the door for them

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

Canis is sinac spelled backwards; chien, neihc; hund, dnuh. Don't get me wrong-- I like dogs!

 

It does remind me of the old joke: what does a dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac do? Lays awake at night wondering whether there is a dog.

[Dawg Hair, SASS #29557]

Me to, I spend most of my time after work cleaning up after them , feeding them and opening the door for them

+1

Mine is only a year and a half old and already has me pretty well trained.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

What if, when you die, all the dogs you have ever owned, cohabitated with or whatever turn out to be who judges you? Maybe God is dog spelled backwards is a message that the dog is how God watches you and sees how you treat "these the least of my brethren". For me that would be one heck of a happy day. For others, not so much

I'd be okay with that. I think I'd come off very well indeed.

[Cat Brules]

A guy bought a place near mine and turned his dogs out to roam. I had a couple talks with him about his dogs coming onto my property and becoming increasingly aggresive towards horses and once, came after me. But this guy ignored my friendly requests to keep his dogs off my property. So I called the Sheriff's non-emergency number and told them the situation, told them I would shoot the dogs next time I found them coming after my horses and I wanted to get on record that I was having these problems. The officer manning the dispatch desk became concerned, asking why I would shoot a dog(?). She said that it's not fair and that it's not the dogs' fault, but the owner's fault. I cut her off, saying I wasn't going to get into some goofy, politically correct, feel-good discussion with her about the matter, and that I was going to shoot the dogs, because I just had the perception that the Sheriff's Department would take a very dim view of my shooting the dogs' owner, instead of the dogs. Silence on the other end......she quickly transferred me to the senior Deputy who handles agricultural issues. He acknowledged as correct my thinking that a landowner may destroy dogs roaming on private property posing a threat to livestock. But, he offered some ideas that made it unnecessary for me to shoot the dogs. That was good.

 

ANYWAY, I found this subject article puzzling, as these "origin of dogs" theories are not new and the most sensible, believable one is that symbiosis theory that DocWard referred to.

[Warden Callaway]

I just wonder what a dowg thinks when he sees a human peal off a coat or put it back on. Do the they think we can change our fur?

[Cat Brules]

They know what it is (at least some do). Our little dog would grab her sweater-coat and carry it to my wife to put on her when she was cold.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Dog is GOD spelled backwards. I certainly don't consider ours parasites, more like family

 

Some family members are more like parasites.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I don't think Dog has anything to do with God!

dog in the BibleExpand

frequently mentioned both in the Old and New Testaments. Dogs were usedby the Hebrews as a watch for their houses (Isa. 56:10), and for guardingtheir flocks (Job 30:1). There were also then as now troops of semi-wilddogs that wandered about devouring dead bodies and the offal of the streets(1 Kings 14:11; 16:4; 21:19, 23; 22:38; Ps. 59:6, 14). As the dog was anunclean animal, the terms "dog," "dog's head," "dead dog," were used asterms of reproach or of humiliation (1 Sam. 24:14; 2 Sam. 3:8; 9:8;16:9). Paul calls false apostles "dogs" (Phil. 3:2). Those who are shut out ofthe kingdom of heaven are also so designated (Rev. 22:15). Persecutorsare called "dogs" (Ps. 22:16). Hazael's words, "Thy servant which is but adog" (2 Kings 8:13), are spoken in mock humility=impossible that one socontemptible as he should attain to such power.

[Sedalia Dave]

I have a pair of dogs and if you ask them they are God as far as my house is concerned. :D

 

Saw this a while back and this thread reminded me of it.

 

Dmitry Belyaev and Fox Experiments

 

Published on May 8, 2013

In the 1950s, Belyaev and his team spent years breeding the silver fox (Vulpes vulpes) and selecting only those that showed the least fear of humans.

After about ten generations of controlled breeding, the domesticated silver foxes no longer showed any fear of humans and often wagged their tails and licked their human caretakers to show affection. They also started to have spotted coats, floppy ears, and curled tails.

As a result of domestication, the adrenaline levels of the domesticated foxes were significantly lower than normal. The presence of their multicolor coats is theorized by the scientists to be related to changes in melanin, which controls pigment production and shares a biochemical pathway with adrenaline. It could also be that it was a result of hormonal changes that occurred as the foxes became increasingly tame.

The changes to the foxes' coats as they became domesticated may have helped solve the biological riddle of how dogs evolved to have coats different from wolves.

 

[Sedalia Dave]

More on Dr Belvaey from a Scientific American Article.

 

Early Canid Domestication: The Farm-Fox Experiment

[Colt B.A. Blastn Johnson]

I cant read anything on this post, why is the font so small?...........Anyway all dog breeds come directly from wolves, of which there are maybe several dozen species of....From there man has bred them for his liking or for certain task at hand(working breeds)

[Chili Ron]

Howdy,

Id bet on different strains, wolf being only one of many variations.

Remember how many different varieties of dinosaur there are.

And we are probably missing thousands of different ones.

Best

CR

[Chili Ron]

cabbj- adjust your zoom under tools.....

or whatever.

Best

CR

[Ramblin Gambler]

But, he offered some ideas that made it unnecessary for me to shoot the dogs. That was good.

 

Now ya got me curious what those tips were.

[Rye Miles #13621]

Howdy,

Id bet on different strains, wolf being only one of many variations.

Remember how many different varieties of dinosaur there are.

And we are probably missing thousands of different ones.

Best

CR

Interesting theory. However I don't think they've found any species of canines older than wolves, at least not yet!

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I just wonder what a dowg thinks when he sees a human peal off a coat or put it back on. Do the they think we can change our fur?

Coat on: Daddy's going to go someplace and maybe I get to go, too.

 

Coat off: Daddy's home and I get a snack and some plat time.

[Rye Miles #13621]

Howdy,

Id bet on different strains, wolf being only one of many variations.

Remember how many different varieties of dinosaur there are.

And we are probably missing thousands of different ones.

Best

CR

You may be right Chili!!

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2540737/Dogs-closely-related-wolves-evolved-common-ancestor-34-000-years-ago.html

[Trailrider #896]

Where do dogs come from? From momma dogs, of course! Now if you need more explanation than that maybe your parent should have had a more thorough talk about the birds and the bees...and doggies, too! BTW, somewhere, many years ago, some "experts" did some DNA studies and found that the closest breed of dogs to wolves were...poodles!

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Now ya got me curious what those tips were.

"Sell your livestock". ??????

[Grouchy Greg, SASS#71981]

I just wonder what a dowg thinks when he sees a human peal off a coat or put it back on. Do the they think we can change our fur?

 

When our two dogs see either me or SWMBO put on our coats, , or grab our keys, or see me put on a hat, they think it's either time to go for a walk or time to go for a ride, and they react with great excitement.