History of Dogs in a Nutshell

Modern humans first appeared more than 200,000 years ago, and since then, they have built cities and villages all across the world.

However, they were not acting alone.

Today, wherever you locate homo sapiens, there's a good chance that Canis lupus familiaris is also present nearby. The sheer variety of domestic dogs is astounding, whether they are herding, hunting, sledding, or just lounging around. However, the fact that they all descended from a creature frequently regarded as one of our first foes—Canis lupus, or the gray wolf—makes the tale of man's closest buddy so unexpected.

About 100,000 years ago, when our Paleolithic ancestors first arrived in Eurasia. One of their biggest competitors at the top of the food chain were wolves able to bite with a bone-crushing force of more than 300 lbs. These fearsome predators had little competition, being able to sniff out prey from more than a mile away.

They lived and hunted in sophisticated social groups made up of a few nuclear families, much like human hunter-gatherers, and they used their social skills to cooperate and take down larger animals.

By employing these collective strategies, they were successful persistence hunters who pursued their prey until they were worn out rather than outrunning it. But wolves found themselves at a fork in the road when matched against the comparable strengths of their invasive new neighbors.

These developing bipeds posed a serious danger to the territory of the majority of packs. However, some wolves, especially those without a group, found fresh chances at human camps. Wolves that were less hostile to people were more likely to approach their camps and eat scraps. Additionally, when these less violent scavengers outlived their more aggressive relatives, their genetic features were passed on, eventually producing gentler wolves in regions with dense concentrations of humans.

These placid wolves served a variety of purposes for people over time. They may have functioned as sentinels to watch camps and sound the alarm for oncoming attackers in addition to helping to track and hunt game. Their similar social structures make it simple for them to integrate into human families and pick up on their rules.

They eventually made their way into our houses from the periphery of our societies, becoming the first animal that humans domesticated. These Proto-Dogs, also known as Wolf-Dogs, are thought to have first appeared around 33,000 years ago and would not have distinguished themselves greatly from their wild counterparts in appearance.

They were distinguishable primarily by their smaller size and shorter snout, which had relatively fewer teeth. However, as human cultures and professions diversified and became more specialized, so did our friends. Large, chiseled dogs for guard duties; long, lean dogs to chase badgers and foxes out of tunnels; short, stocky dogs to herd sheep by nipping their heels.

These canine kinds were standardized into breeds with the advent of kennel clubs and dog shows in Victorian-era England, with many new ones being produced solely for appearance. Sadly, even though artificial selection has produced all dog breeds, some are healthier than others.

Many of these aesthetic characteristics come with underlying health problems, such as respiratory issues or a propensity for spinal injuries. The longest controlled evolution experiment in human history has had unexpected and unintended consequences. More youthful and submissive features that were appealing to humans have been favored over the course of generations of selection for tameness.

Neoteny, a process where animals choose characteristics associated with youth, is common in many domestic animals.

Even molecular bonds may have formed between us through thousands of years of coevolution. In addition to being able to read our emotions and body language, dogs and people that connect also release oxytocin, a hormone that is frequently linked to sentiments of love and protectiveness.

It might be hard to imagine how each Pomeranian, Chihuahua, and Poodle is a direct descendant of ferocious wolves. However, the link that led to the diversity of breeds we see today existed before cities, agriculture, and even the extinction of our Neanderthal relatives. And it's encouraging to know that, given enough time, even our worst enemies can turn into our staunchest allies.