There are more than 700 dog breeds that are known to man. Different dog breeds are developed through selective breeding in the course of time. The development procedure for dogs was not as fast and thorough as in the modern times but it was based on the process of natural selection in its earliest period of development. There is a common theory on the evolution of dogs and the modern day domesticated dog being related to the now extinct grey wolf. In this work, I will try to briefly explain the history of the development of dogs and their separation into different groups and formation of different and numerous dog breeds. This is a theory of biological evolution so there will be some biological terms in it, but don’t worry I will try my best to explain this in a very lucrative and easy way.
Dog breeds; earliest human and wolf-like canid association.
The mighty grey wolf is the closest relative to the modern day dog and all the modern day dog breeds trace back their genetic modeling to their mighty ancestor the grey wolf. It’s funny to imagine them as a relative to the modern day Chihuahua or a pug, but in the genetic modeling, it is so. It is long believed that the earliest of the wolf species have shared their hunting grounds with the modern day human during the early stages of the development of civilization. Even before the formation of modern-day society wolf had played a significant role in the evolution of the modern society. Somehow early wolves came to learn that it is easier to scavenge on leftover of a human hunt than to hunt all by them self. They used to assist humans in hunting by encircling the prey and forcing it to more desired locations to hunt. Later in time a give and take bond flourished and association somehow escalated to friendship. This is the time when wolf moved from the hunting grounds to the entrances of caves to accompany humans; such a beautiful turn in the history of mankind. The relation between the man and early domesticated wolf relative developed a give and take friendship. Human used to provide shelter and food and in return, they got protection, companionship and hunting assistance from the early domesticated wolf. At this point in time, the early wolf-like canid that has been domesticated by the humans evolved into early day dog. These dogs were large and shaggy, extremely protective of their family and premises and civilized enough to be a friend. Such give and take relation might have been flourished some 35-30,000 years ago. The earliest recorded evidence of human and dog interaction was recently discovered in a cave located in France.
Yeah, you guessed it right, the Chauvet caves of France. Chauvet caves are a site that is a UNESCO heritage site because it has the most extensive collection of cave paintings. No, there is no painting that is 26,000 years old and depicts dogs and humans but there is something more incredible. A set of footprints of a young human child along with paw prints of a large wolf or a large dog. Can you imagine it! So much of loyalty, dripping out of the evidence; carved by the time in the stone. Overwhelming, isn’t it?
This writes down an important chapter in the history of mankind. The earliest evidence of a bond, that will last for eternity.
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Dog breeds; early development of wolf-like canid.
Previously before the discovery of the footprints of a child alongside a large wolf-dog inside the Chauvet caves of France, it was believed that the evolution of modern-day dog started some 14-15,000 years ago. The above-mentioned discovery had shattered all those beliefs and had marked the evolution of modern-day dog breeds 35-40,000 years back. This means that ancestors of modern-day dog breeds have been domesticated some 35-40,000 years ago making the dog the first animal to be domesticated. I don’t know much about the scientific aspect of evolution but one thing is for sure; both species developed and evolved at the genetic level to become the best thing to have happened to a man. Tough, the atrocities that are being pondered by ignorant humans on dogs and other species are higher than ever and are still rising. This is a different topic altogether, I will take it up some time later in this series, for now, let us concentrate on the evolution of dog breeds.
On the basis of available evidence, it was proposed that the early wolf-like canids were first domesticated in Western Europe and northern Asia. This was apparently the same species spread over the wide Eurasian region. Later in the process of evolution, this early wolf-like canid got extinct giving way to two different subspecies of early dog breeds. The basis of evolution might be the difference in the weather and physical conditions, landscape and different human races with distinct practices and customs. Early subspecies of the domesticated wolf-like canid adapted itself according to the needs of its newfound partner in living. The two separate subspecies developed in the course of time from some 14,000 years to 6,000 years ago. This genetic divergence later resulted in the separation of three distinct subspecies of early dog breeds namely the East and the West Eurasian.
Dog breeds; development of Asian dog subspecies and its influence on modern dog breeds.
This is an altogether different topic that needs a very elaborate discussion but for now, we will limit our discussion to an introductory level and will take up this topic in detail sometime later in this series.
As the time elapsed the eastern subspecies of the early domesticated dog further evolved to shape the ancestors of the Tibetan mastiff. Eventually, this sect of ancient dog breeds was introduced by different means to the European land and influenced hundreds of modern-day dog breeds. Because of this introduction, the East European subspecies were lost but not completely. Even today in the dog breeds like Scottish deerhound, Irish wolfhound, Borzoi etc we can find some traces of east Eurasian subspecies of early domesticated dog breeds.
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The scientific aspect of evolution is very interesting and I am going to explain it in my upcoming posts.Here I would like to conclude this post.Please share your views in comments about this post.You can also comment your questions, I will try my best to answer them.Thanks for your valuable time you took out of your busy schedule to go through my work.More information on different dog breeds is coming in near future so stay tuned.Goodbye from the desk of Kaivalaya’s Ani-Mall.
