Where dogs come from and what that means

Every book, video or website talking about dogs has to have a section about the origin of dogs. However, I rarely see an explanation of the impact of that information on the dogs of today! Let’s have a look at that.

As everyone knows, dogs descended from the wolves. Or – do they? Actually, a more precise phrasing is ‘dogs and wolves have common ancestors‘; and that makes a big difference. It would be like saying that humans descended from monkeys …

Wolves, just as any other species, evolved over time, and the wolf that existed those thousands of years ago when the dogs first appear in history records is not the one we know today.

So, if dogs didn’t descend from wolves, then what, and why does it matter?

Back in the time, there was the before-wolf, hunting and generally probably behaving rather like the wolf of today. Some of those before-wolves then decided to renounce to this way of living and decided that life is easier if they just eat what humans leave over from their prey instead of hunting with their fellow before-wolves. Those individuals developed into what we know today as our dogs.

The important consequences that come from this information are

dogs are no hunters, they scavenge

dogs are the individuals that preferred to stay with humans over staying with their fellows

the more ‘successful’ dogs from an evolution point of view were the ones that could read humans and their intentions

There are lots of other differences concerning dogs and wolves, but they are not of relevance here.

Claiming that dogs are no hunters, I immediately feel like clarifying that point: Of course, hunting dogs have been bred, who like to hunt and are very good at it. But their ‘hunting’ consists in pointing out prey silently without attacking it or bringing back prey unharmed, both of which are utterly useless for the survival of the dog. This hunting procedure also is a highly coordinated task between dogs and humans and has nothing to do with a dog gone wild hunting down whatever comes before his nose. So, as a species, dogs do not hunt, as is easily observable in street dogs: They go through the trash and look for food in the streets, but they do not actually hunt their food, even less in organized group structures like wolves.

The second point is backed up by science that tells us that dogs actually really prefer the companionship of a human to that of other dogs. This reflects in their hormones as oxytocin (happiness hormone) is produced when dogs interact with humans, and cortisol (stress hormone) is reduced when a dog is with his owner as opposed to when he is left alone with other dogs.

The third point has been proven in an impressive manner by Brian Hare who showed that dogs can understand human facial expressions and other manifestations of our communication intentions, like pointing. Dogs are very fine-tuned when it comes to observing humans and drawing the correct conclusions. It is this result of evolution over a long time span which makes communications with our dogs so effective, as opposed to other animals.

Naturally, there are also lots of characteristics that the dog inherited from its wolf-ancestor. The most important one for the dog of today is certainly the need for a stable and well-defined social structure, but we will get to that later in more detail.

There is one more interesting species I would like to point out, which is the Dingo. It is the only wild dog that has descended from the domestic dog. They basically did the opposite of what the dog did on its wolf-like ancestor! There are various other wild dogs too, but they split off in the evolution tree before the domestic dog developed, so they are further away from the domestic dog than the wolf.

So, of course, dogs will enjoy a good game with some fellow dogs; and they will enjoy hunting the neighbourhood squirrel from time to time, for the fun. However, overall, they will prefer to be with their owner. So, next time your dog seems inseparable from his buddies, remember that deep down he still enjoys your companionship more!