A Case Study: Domestication of Dogs

Human-Animal Relationship ANTH 2301 A Case Study: Domestication of Dogs Both wild animal species and those that rely on them for survival are interacted with and related to by humans. Most animals that are reliant on humans are products of domestication. There is evidence that early people quickly grasped the principles of selective breeding, promoting the mating and procreation of animals with similar chosen traits. The capacity to get along with conspecifics, or members of the same species, a calm temperament, a smaller physique so the animal could be gathered or herded in larger numbers, and an attachment to or tolerance of humans were among these desired features. Rainer Lippert's "Hundschlittenrennen, 6" modified by Ritchyblack/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain It is thought that dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) were among the first animals to be domesticated, if not the first. There is debate on the origins of the domestic dog. The majority of experts concur that wolves—specifically, Canis lupus pallipes, or Indian wolf, and Canis lupus lupus, or Eurasian wolf—are the ancestors of dogs. The great diversity of dog breeds suggests that other subspecies of wolves were selectively breeding as well, resulting in the animal hybrids that exist in modern dogs. Wolves are great candidates for domestication because of their diverse innate tendencies. Their social structure is hierarchical and includes status and submission within the pack. As highly social scavengers, they could have grown up with human settlements and food handouts. These characteristics would make them more likely to submit to human dominance and direction. The genetic difference between modern dogs and certain of their ancestral wolf subspecies is just about 0.2 percent. People have benefited historically and culturally from their ties with dogs in a variety of ways. • Protecting and defending. Dogs are intensely sociable and territorial animals by nature; their heightened awareness of their group and physical environment is a result of both their biology and behaviour. Because people carefully raised animals who were especially devoted to their families and careful with their belongings, the instinct to defend and protect was a genetic feature that was readily managed in the species. Dogs who showed a bark-howl reaction when startled were chosen by humans throughout the domestication process, which is why domesticated dogs bark whether they are worried or happy. Wolves only utilise their bark as a first warning (Yin 2002). Unlike dogs, wolves do not draw attention to themselves. • Going hunting. The domestic dog, descended from a wild predator, is a skilled hunter and retriever. There are several advantages for humans while hunting with a trained dog. Certain indigenous communities, like the Chono in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, taught their dogs how to fish for seals by diving. Dogs were utilised by the Tahltan people of Canada to hunt bears. Borzoi dogs were used to hunt wolves in czarist Russia. • Gathering. The emergence of pastoralism, a method of sustenance centred on herding animals, was greatly aided by dogs. Dogs were used as shepherds by many pastoral communities to care after tamed herds of sheep, goats, cattle, and even poultry. A dog may be a formidable protector and guide for animals foraging away from human settlements after it has been trained to recognise and defend its herd. Herding dogs that have received training may keep their flocks on a steady path without the need for continual human supervision. Dogs use a series of actions known as eye-stalk-chase-bite to focus on another animal while hunting, an impulse that selective breeding has tempered. Dogs may lead and guard another species by keeping the animals together and away from danger thanks to this restrained instinct. Dogs are still seen as essential to the majority of pastoral civilizations, even if they are not used by all of them (see the Ethnographic Sketch at the conclusion of the chapter). • Mode of transportation. Dogs have historically been used as beasts of burden, particularly in societies without bigger domesticated animals like cows, horses, or donkeys. Dogs were frequently utilised by Indigenous peoples to transport small children or belongings. Assiniboine, Apache, and Inuit civilizations in North America were among the Indigenous groups who have historically relied on dogs for transportation. Certain groups invented tools like the travois and the sledge, which enabled them to attach a dog to a platform that held objects that needed to be transported. Meat. Domesticated dogs are a reliable supply of meat in several cultures. In Hinds Cave, Texas, an ancient rock shelter site has some of the oldest evidence of dog feeding. Geneticist Raul Tito and his colleagues discovered domesticated canine remnants in human coprolites (fossilised faeces) at the Hinds Cave site that date to 9260 BP. Preclassic to late Postclassic (2000 BCE–1519 CE) periods in what is now Dogs were farmed and eaten as a source of protein in Mexico by a number of Indigenous societies, including the Olmec, Zapotec, Aztec, and Maya (Thompson 2008). Eventually, these cultures produced the hairless breed of dog currently known as the Xoloitzcuintli. In the sixteenth century, this breed was present in Mexico when the Spanish came. Dogs continue to play vital parts in a variety of human activities, despite being predominantly kept as pets in modern civilizations. Dogs are utilised for many different purposes, including as therapy animals for a variety of human needs, narcotics investigators at airports, and guides and assistants for those with physical disabilities. Dogs are still employed as guards, herders, and hunting partners.