Dog1

Where and when did domestic dogs meet up with humans?

In 1758, the lovable, dependable domestic dog was classified by Carolus Linnaeus as Canis familiarus domesticus (canine-familiar-domestic). This name made a clear distinction between the domestic dog and any wild relatives, like wolves and coyotes. In 1993 though, the Smithsonian Institution and the American Society of Mammalogists made such negative ancestry more obvious, when they reclassifiedCanis familiarus domesticus to Canis lupus familiaris (canine-wolf- familiar). The name change was meant to better reflect the mounting evidence showing that our domestic dog was actually a subspecies of the gray wolf Canis lupus. The domestic dogs can produce viable hybrid offspring with wild wolves, so, by definition, they didn’t deserve separate species status.

Still, an adult dog, by no means, is an adult wolf. In fact, dogs share many traits, not with adult wolves, but with wolf pups. Big eyes, less elongated rounder skull, shorter teeth, a playful nature, a desire to make friends with humans and lacking the skills to kill are wolf pup characteristics. Many scientists now feel that dogs represent a form of Canine neoteny, the retention of juvenile characteristic in the adult. Maybe being “stuck as a pup” was one of the important factors to bond humans to dogs. Every human loves a puppy, but when did the mutual attachment first occur?

It happened more than 50,000 years ago it turns old. Fossil bones recognizable as a dog have been obtained from human archeological dig sites in Belgium (31,700 years old), in Russia (15,000 years old) and in the Middle East (12,000 years old). There is even evidence of “walkies” dating back 26,000 years. In Chauvet Cave in France, there are ancient foot prints of a child being accompanied by a dog. Just from this evidence, humans and dogs had a very close relationship dating back even before the domestication of plants 10,000 years ago. Dogs and humans were together when human society was still at the hunter / gatherer stage which actually makes sense since both species are pack hunters. Recent (2010) genetic evidence supports an older date, putting the split of the domestic dog from the Middle Eastern Wolf somewhere in the range of 140,000 - 50,000 years ago.

With dramatic advances the speed of genome sequencing, two different breeds of dogs have now had their entire DNA sequence determined, a female Boxer and a standard poodle. These complete dog genomes have been compared with each other and with specific chromosome regions of 85 other breeds. From these complex analyses, three geographically distinct ancient breeds of dogs were determined; an Asian group (dingo, New Guinea singing dog, chow chow, Akita and Chinese SharPei), a Middle Eastern group (Afghan hound and saluki) and a northern group (Alaskan malamute and Siberian husky) as being distinct from modern domestic dogs. When these ancient breeds were compared with the genetic profiles of 225 wolves, the DNA sequences clearly show that the earliest dogs were derived from Middle Eastern Wolves. These early dogs then migrated into Europe and Asia by following modern humans.