Dogs and Wolves

I have learned a lot, in my recent travels, about dogs and wolves, canines in general.

Dogs and wolves are not the same. Dog is canis familiaris and wolves are canis lupus. Both are also, of course, of the canis genus - canines, which also includes foxes, coyotes, dingoes, etc.

Dogs started hanging out with man anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 years ago, depending on who you listen to. Some say earlier. Some say more recently. A recent Swedish-Chinese study claims to have proof that dogs were first domesticated 16,500 years ago in what is now China.

The familiaris qualifier has only been established for dogs in the past 20 years. It has been debated as to whether it was necessary. It stood because it simply cannot be debated that dogs, due to their centuries of affiliation with men, now have a psychology and physiology distinct from wolves. Yes, they are still more similar than dissimilar. But they are different. Dogs rarely survive the wild. And wolves never make good pets, or adapt to domestication well.

Yes, there is that Russian project, started in the 1950s, that shows that foxes can be domesticated in just a few generations, as few as three. But those are foxes, not wolves. Their smaller size and tendency to live alone makes them more apt candidates for domestication.

Dogs did not derive just from wolves. They also derived from the other wild canines, such as foxes and coyotes. Think that chihuahua derived from a wolf? Think again. And there are likely numerous canine species that are now extinct that were original sources for dogs.

One of the big debates amongst dog-focused archeologists is whether dogs were first attracted to and drawn to man by fire or by the trash dumps. I favor the trash dump theory. Canines are equal hunters and scavengers. Once they got used to eating man's leftovers, near man, it was a done deal. Lassie was not far behind.

When turned out, dogs can revert to their wild nature, which, like humans, is right under their domestic veneer. Success also depends on the breed. Shepherds and pit bulls have a better chance of surviving on their own. Cocker spaniels and bassett hounds, not so much.

Dogs can kill. They can adapt. But it takes generations for a dog line to become truly wild again. A wild dog, if rescued, will be just that, rescued. He will prefer the domesticated life. A wolf will not. He prefers the wild. Domestication for him means death. Cats, of course, are very different. They can go feral in one generation, hell, one lifetime. But those are cats, not dogs.

Dingos are indeed an example of dogs gone wild (not to be confused with Girls Gone Wild). But it did not happen over night. (In the case of GGW it usually does happen over night.)

One thing I find interesting is that even though dog is man's best friend, being called a dog is an insult, in most cultures. The wolf, on the other hand, which humans have long feared and have tried to hunt to global extinction, is held in high regard. I used to work with a smallish and roundish programmer who had "Lobo Solo" tattooed on his left pec. He was very proud of that tat, would show it off for any request. I also have known quite a few people who were into Native American traditions and claimed to have a wolf spirit guide. I have never known, or heard of, anyone who claimed to have a poodle spirit guide. Go figure.

All this is distinct from werefolk, of course. Weredogs and werewolves split off from other canines a long time, several million years, before homo sapiens ever even stood up on two legs and started strutting their stuff. Ah ha! you might say. How did weredogs precede dogs? Good question. There is an even better answer, and it is quite simple. But that will have to wait.