From Wolf To Dog

I have been thinking a lot about dogs and people and how the two species fit into society together.  I have investigated the most popular theories about how dogs came to live with people as pets, and it seems that they chose us, as opposed to us having chosen them.

Wolves started hanging around the outskirts of human villages and waited for the people to toss out their edible garbage. The process of domestication seems to lean most of its weight on something called "flight distance". Flight distance is how close an animal will let a human get to them before they run away. The wolves that stayed the closest to the human "taking out the trash", were the closest to the food once the human was gone. They got to eat more; therefore increasing survival, and therefore increasing breeding. The wolves with short flight distances bred with each other and created puppies that started out a little more comfortable around people than their ancestors.

There are other traits that are genetically linked to short flight distance which happen to be traits associated with dogs and not wolves. They are: flopped over ears, mixed coat color and barking!

This genetic discovery was originally uncovered on a fox farm that bred foxes for their fur. The people started selectively breeding the "nicer" foxes that didn't bite, because they were easier to handle. Within ONE human lifetime, the fox's ears drooped, their coats started showing up blotchy black and white and they started barking!

Imagine the ancestral human watching the wild wolf transform right before their eyes into a relatively domestic dog. No wonder dogs have historically held some spiritual and mystical value to us. Dogs have repeatedly been found in ancient graves buried with humans, often facing each other, paw-in-hand, literally. Perhaps they were sacrificed, or were buried as a guardian of the human's soul. Sounds about right to me.

I have come across plenty of information about wolves turning into dogs and how the process happened, behaviorally and genetically. But what about what is happening to us, genetically and behaviorally, considering dogs have been living with people for anywhere from 14,000 to over 100,000 years? Are WE programmed to live with dogs?  

I come from a "dog family".  Both sets of grandparents had dogs when I was a kid and we always had a family dog.  During holidays my family would gather at the dinner table and reminisce about dogs they had in the past, growing up.  We are "dog people".  Is my connection with dogs genetic, as a result of my "tribe" living with dogs for generations and generations?

Dogs started hanging around humans for the advantage of easy food, and humans soon found benefit in their presence as a guardian, predator alarm, garbage disposal, hunting partner and eventually, a non-judgmental family member. If dogs are genetically programmed to live with us...are we likewise genetically programmed to live with them? To me, it sure feels like it!

About the author: Julie Forbes is a dog training, behavior and nutrition specialist in Seattle, and owns Sensitive Dog. Julie also created and hosts The Dog Talk Show, a talk radio show all about dogs.  Julie holds a degree in Animal Science from the University of Vermont.  Find her at www.sensitivedog.com, www.dogtalkshow.com, and www.dogclassforkids.com