Original Escape Evasion

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The Origin Of The Dog - Trace The Line Of Man's Best Friend

Right in the earliest days of our existence on this planet, we forged a strong bond of friendship with some original form of the modern dog. Because the dogs protected us and our cattle and other animals from wild beasts, we gave them shelter and a portion of our food. We learned to trust the dog and take care of it.

Who Was the Original Dog?

The original dog must have been a gentle jackal or even a sick wolf that was thrown out of its pack. In the course of its search for food and shelter, it must have met some hunters. Imagine the bond that must have developed between this helpless whelp and the children and women at home who tended to it. Thus introduced into a human home, dogs grew to regard themselves as nothing less than family members.

Dogs in the Ancient Past

Signs of indigenous dog families are found almost all over the world except in places such as West Indian Islands, eastern isles of the Malayan Archipelago, Polynesian Islands, Madagascar, and New Zealand. In these places, there are absolutely no signs of any fox, dog, or wolf that might have existed in an ancient past.

In ancient Oriental countries and Mongolia, the dog remained a wild, neglected creature for several hundreds of years. It moved in packs, thin and half-starving, just as it moves now on the streets of several eastern cities. Nobody made any attempt to invite it into human company or to give it an easier life. However, the records of the greater civilizations of Egypt and Assyria show some distinct, better varieties of dogs.

What the Bible Says about Dogs

The dog was commonly looked down upon in Palestine. Both the Testaments refer to it in derogatory terms and contemptuously call it an "unclean beast." A tone of contempt can be observed even in the familiar passage of the Book of Job that refers to a sheepdog: "But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock."

The only Biblical passage that raises the dog to the position of a man's companion can be found in the apocryphal Book of Tobit: "So they went forth both, and young man's dog with them."

A Common Ancestor

When one considers the large number of breeds in dogs and the large number of differences in their sizes and general appearances, one would be unable to understand how they could have had a common ancestor. After studying the differnces between the Mastiff, the sophisticated Pomeranian, the Miniature Black and Tan terrier, and the Japanese Spaniel, one will naturally wonder how such a mind-boggling variety of dogs could have had a single point of origin.

Dog breeders, however, know better. They know it is quite easy to create a variety simply by cross breeding selected categories of dogs. The vast difference among breeds of dogs is really no stranger than the differences between the Pygmy and the Patagonian; the Kerry cattle and the Shorthorn; and the Shetland pony and the Shire horse.

How the Dog Resembles the Wolf

To properly understand the common ancestry of all breeds of dogs, you should make a special note of the indentical skeletal structure of the dog and the wolf. A comparative study of the skeletons of the wolf and the dog reveal the astounding fact that they resemble each other so much that it is not easy to spot any difference between them.

Their spines comprise seven vertebrae in the neck, seven in the loins, twenty to twenty-two in the tail, thirteen in the back, and three sacral vertebrae. Both the wolf and the dog have thirteen pairs of ribs, nine true and four false. Both have forty-two teeth and five front and four hind toes. The wolf's outward appearance resembles that of a large dog.

The habits of the two also resemble. The wolf naturally howls; but when confined with a few dogs it learns to bark. The carnivorous wolf also eats vegetables, and when it is sick, it eats grass. A pack of wolves that are in the process of hunting follow a systematic division of labor; some tracking the quarry while some cut off its point of escape. In short, the pack exhibits a lot of careful planning, a trait that is commonly exhibited by teams of hunting dogs and terriers when they are in action.

There is yet another point of similarity between the Canis familiaris and the Canis lupus. Both have a gestation period of sixty-three days. A wolf's litter normally comprises three to nine cubs, which remain blind for twenty-one days. The mother suckles them for two month, and then the pups learn to ingest the half digested food that one of their parents disgorge for them.

In every region, the native dog bears a strong resemblance, in form, size, color, and habit, to the native wolves. This is such an obvious fact that it can neither be ignored nor overlooked. According to the writings of Sir John Richardson, "the resemblance between North American wolves and the domestic dog of the Indians is so great that the size and strength of the wolf seems to be the only difference."

Only one major point has been used to argue against the above-mentioned observation: while all domestic dogs bark, the wild wolves express their emotions in howls. However, it is a weak point of difference. We are all aware of how the cubs of wild dogs, jackals, and wolves, reared by bitches, quickly learn to bark. On the contrary, domestic dogs that remain in the wild for a long time forget how to bark, while some take time to learn how to express their feelings.

The question of the ability to bark cannot really be taken into consideration while studying the origins of the dog. We finally forget this one great point of difference between a dog and a wolf when we agree with Darwin, who said: "It is highly probable that the domestic dogs of the world have descended from two good species of wolf (C. lupus and C. latrans), and from two or three other doubtful species of wolves, namely, the European, Indian, and North African forms; from at least one or two South American canine species; from several races or species of jackal; and perhaps from one or more extinct species."

It cannot be denied that the blood of wolves, in some cases mixed with other breeds, flows in our own pets at home.

About the Author

Abhishek is an avid dog lover and he has got some great Dog Health Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 80 Pages Ebook, "How To Take Care Of Your Dog's Health" from his website http://www.Dog-Tale.com/192/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.

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