Opinions about the origins of man are vague and subject to disagreement. So, too, are those concerning the origins of his friend the dog. Archeological findings dating back 25 to 30 million years are the first glimmerings we have of the presence of the dog on earth. We may therefore say that in the so-called Age of Mammals, alongside the primitive apes there lived a being with canine characteristics. This animal's scientific name is Cynodesmus, and we know (or rather surmise) that after millions of years of evolution -- via an intermediate wolflike animal called Tomarctus -- it was the ancestor of the wolf, the jackal, the fox, the coyote, and all the canines.
The first dog domesticated by man was a wolf. It is possible to date its appearance in most parts of the world to about twelve thousand years ago. The remains found in the Beaverhead Mountains of Idaho and those found in Europe, Asia, and pre-Columbian America all belong to the same epoch. The friendship between man and dog is one of the oldest and most lasting in history. In all the vicissitudes of life -- in peace and in war, in misery and in wealth, in art, hunting, defense, sport, in companionship and in scientific discovery -- man has been accompanied by the dog. Recently, an English philosopher, wishing to confer a long-deserved tribute, defined the dog as "an honorary human being."
Cooperation with man
Human beings and wolves reached such a quick accord because they have
the same social organization and, on the whole, the same instinctive mental
structure. Wolves live in couples and the whole pack cooperates under a
single leader in the hunt. Duties are clearly divided: one wolf picks out
the track trampled down by the prey; another blocks the way; while the
boldest one goes for the throat. If the prey travels in groups, there is
also a wolf whose Job It is to isolate the victim. The leader of the pack
feeds first. When his hunger is satisfied, the rest of the pack is allowed
to finish the banquet.
It is probable that men who lived in more or less settled family groups threw the bones and scraps of their meals to the hungry animals that prowled around the villages. The wolves gradually realized that the men had "superior arms" for catching game: stone tools, arrows, and snares. They sensed his superiority in hunting and began treating him as a leader, following him at a distance during the hunt and returning with him to the villages to get their share of the spoils.
It is easy to presume that In time man began to take some interest in the wolf cubs, that he adopted some, and that in the course of generations individuals developed that took part in the hunt, no longer as observers, but as willing helpers, flushing and isolating the gazelle or the caiman for the man to kill.
In order to domesticate the horse, the reindeer, or the elephant, man had to capture them (that is, conquer them), imprison them, and win them over by force. Alone among animals, spired by animals that called up the emotions associated with the dog acceded to the authority of man without constraint. hunting and appetite. In the caves they decorated, one finds stag, bison, wild boar, and reindeer, while the dog is missing. In some remote villages of Paraguay and Peru, It is still common for a puppy that has lost Its mother to be nursed by a woman. Such practices may have occurred even at the beginning of the dog-man relationship and may have played a major role in cementing the closeness between man and animal.