The History of Dogs

The domestic pet dog is faithful and brave, smart and versatile. Useful as well as affectionate, the dog guards people's flocks, has fun with their children, and helps them hunt. A caring animal, the dog is known as a trusted companion.

Wherever people live -- whether in an Eskimo town, a jungle cleaning, or a congested city-- pet dogs live, too. In the United States alone, about 34 million pets are kept as family pets. Some are mongrels. Others are pedigreed-- for through selective reproducing people have actually developed many unique kinds of pets. In North America alone, more than 120 basic breeds are acknowledged.

There has actually always been open warfare in between wild canines and individuals. As carnivores (meat eaters), wild canines frequently compete with people for prey. Individuals may be forced to kill wild dogs in order to protect themselves and their livestock.

If kept in restricted areas contribute more good than inflict harm, it has been only recently that people started to understand that pet dogs in the wild. They assist to control harmful rodents. And where video game animals threaten to end up being too abundant, wild dogs eliminate numerous that might otherwise starve to death. In brief, they play a part in nature's checks and balances.

The majority of researchers think that the wolf is the principal forefather of our domestic dog. Jackals, coyotes, and dingoes certainly likewise contributed their blood to the domestic pet dog.

How did individuals very first tame these wild pets? Countless years ago, primitive people lived in caverns and hunted with clubs, spears, and other crude weapons. Wolves or other wild canines frequently lived near them. Skulking about their campfires, these animals tidied up the bones and scraps of meat individuals got rid of. Sometimes primitive individuals eliminated the wild pets when they tried to steal their meat. At other times they probably got roly-poly wolf or jackal pups as friends for their children.

These puppies matured affectionate and tame. People slowly learned that they made great searching companions in addition to animals. Much later on, people found that they could reproduce their finest searching dogs with their quickest dogs and get offspring with the finest qualities of both parents. Through crossbreeding, various type of dogs started to develop. Ancient sculptures show us that the Assyrians had substantial mastiff-like dogs that they used for lion-hunting in 600 BC. And long previously then the Egyptians had canines that looked like greyhounds.