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Useful Cyprus Information Cyprus Government Websites Currency Converter Cyprus Property News Limassol Marina CyprusNewsReport.comCyprus Pets - The Domestication of The Dog
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To properly be able to understand the psychology and thought process of our dogs, we first need to learn how they ever came to be domesticated in the first place, because this tells us a very important detail about how our dogs learn and process information. There is some dispute as to exactly how long dogs have been domesticated for. There is evidence suggesting that dogs were living with humans up to 30,000 years ago, but this isn’t concrete and is disputed by others. However, there is absolutely solid undisputable evidence that dogs were living within a human environment as far back as 15,000 years ago, when an old burial site was discovered and excavated and canine and human bones were found buried together.
The human / canine relationship evolved quite naturally, from the earlier domestication of the Gray Wolf. The wolf realized that if he hung around human settlements he could scavenge from the leftovers that the humans threw away (such as bones). The human then realized that if he intentionally fed the wolves they would hang around and assist him in hunting and alert him to danger around the settlement. It was a win win situation. And that is how domestication of the dog began.
Through selective breeding by humans over the years, the dog has developed into hundreds of varied breeds, and shows more behavioral variation than any other land mammal. For example, height measured to the withers ranges from a few inches in the Chihuahua to a few feet in the Great Dane; colour varies from white to grey, to black, tan, red, chocolate brown, even blue and everything in between and in a wide variation of patterns. Similarly their coats can be short or long, coarse-haired to wool-like, straight, curly or smooth.
The dog may well have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept. Their varied functions in today’s world include: hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting the police and military, companionship, therapy dogs and much much more. In 2001, there were estimated to be 400 million dogs in the world. Quite an impressive figure.
This impact the modern day dog has had on human society has given them the nickname "Man's Best Friend" in the western world. And aint that just the truth!!
© Lindsay Cowie website
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