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Minsong Hsu
Professor McClure
Writing 39C
1 August 2015
From The Woods To The Living Room Floor
The dogs that accompanied early European hunter-gatherers from well over 10,000 years
ago are the very same kinds of dogs running around in the comforts of our homes right now.
Though the emphasis on these dogs guarding and hunting skills is no longer a necessity in most
cases, one can most certainly consider that dogs have been mans companions ever since their
relationship was formed on the basis of mutual benefit for food and protection. They have come
a long way since their wolf ancestors, taking a much different, but equally appropriate path than
their cat counterparts and remain unique from other domesticated animals. I shall review the
progressive evolution dogs have experienced and analyze the changes in behavioral and physical
traits that transpired as time went on. In addition, I shall emphasize the early domestication of
these dogs and how they compare to that of other domesticated animals, like cats, that were
familiar with today to establish a point of familiarity. History describes how humans play
favorites when theres a cultural dimension involved where we tend to sympathize with
animals were comfortable being around no better example exists today than the average
housedog. This reviews purpose is to show mankinds domestication of dogs and how over a
long period of time, the physical and behavioral traits of these animals drastically changed from
predator to house pet.
The companionship between man and wolf was never as friendly as we would think
given our friendly counterparts, but our need for each other made us a powerful combination.

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Our European hunter-gatherer ancestors were the first to interact with these unique creatures who
did their best to avoid human interaction at the time (Freedman). In fact, the deeper origins of
dog domestication is still trying to be scientifically justified from researchers all around the
world; were faced with thousands of years in the past to which we can attribute some of our
oldest pets and for an extensive period of time we attributed our first dogs to be in the range of
around 16,000 to 32,000 years ago (Yirka). But with findings we have traced its history up to
more than 32,000 years and just recently up to 40,000 years as of now (Freedman).
Anthropologists are content with the progress they have made of slowly narrowing this
information to more specific time ranges, but in no way are they satisfied with stopping there.
In an investigation into the still poorly understood history of the domestication of dogs,
Adam Freedman studied the three wolf genomes from historical centers of origin of these
animals: the Basenji, Dingo, and Golden Jackal; the results showed that the wolf lineage
translated into dog lineage anywhere from 11,000 16,000 years ago due to a bottleneck of
wolves in many areas near Europe (Freedman). The gray area of what we can consider the
crossover between wolf and dog is technically subjective; traits of what we now know as a dogs
can be similarly interpreted a quality of a wolf as well. This lack of distinction leaves room for
error when researchers are responsible for estimating timeframes in these animals history. It also
should be known that the wolfs diet is what brought it and man together to go on hunting trips;
had the wolf been less of a carnivorous predator, the two species would have most likely never
needed each other and thus would have never crossed paths like they have now.

(Figure 1) According to researchers, dogs may have not been around as long as we
wouldve thought. These 3D plots of the evolution of modern dog suggest that what
we believed to be a domestic dogs bones back 31,680 years ago was actually that of
a wolf where dogs would only emerge 15,000 years later.

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The vast expansion and boom of these early dogs were only attributed to their
compatibility with human interaction. Our likelihood to sustain a species and even selectively
breeding a specific species relies highly on our appeal to that certain animal. Melinda Zeder
explains how humans increase the genetic fitness of target populations by intervening in their
life cycles and enabling them to increase in numbers to give us a bigger picture of how
influential we have made ourselves to animals and their existence (Zeder). Moreover, Jeffrey
Kluger explains that the necessity for these dogs in early history is what established humans to
develop selective breeding and thus dogs vast expansion as a species to reach all types of
different genomes (66). Human intervention is by no means meant to be apart of nature, but to
this day it has become a necessity for life to be sustained when our actions can lead to
consequences that influence animals everywhere in a chain reaction.
We can trace the oldest of gray wolves to be the closest, and most relevant ancestors that
could be derived from our now domesticated dogs, but thousands of years ago they acted in a
much more wildly aggressive manner. Though as time went on and the hunter-gatherers no
longer needed an aggressive and territorial dog anymore, human selection played a large role in
keeping those with reduced aggression so dogs could be more of companions rather than hunting

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tools (Zeder 140). Adam Freedmans research mentioned earlier also revealed that dogs may
have been characterized by a more carnivorous diet than their modern day counterparts and that
their time with these hunter-gatherers influenced their species when they no longer were
necessary for work (Freedman). We can consider this process of choosing selective qualities to
conform to our necessities over a very long period of time as natural selection; by no means
does something this large and important to our own species occur quickly (Irvine). In fact,
careful selections to what we wanted these animals to conform to as our domesticated animals in
terms of companionship, loyalty, and affection took thousands of years to achieve with
generation after generation hoping to breed the best dogs we could while maintaining the same
trustworthiness that still makes dogs so special today. Our hearts and minds are loyal to our pets
and weve accepted them into our lives sometimes to the point of treating them like family
members its this bond that engages us to build companionships with these animals in a much
easier way than our ancestors had to deal with.
Our compatibility and affection for them to this day is indicative of our historical bonds
with these animals, but to put into perspective, most people wouldnt think that dogs were one of
the very first animals that humans domesticated. As previously mentioned their necessity to our
benefit was crucial when compared to different animals who did not necessarily need our help or
vice versa. Cats are a popular topic to compare dogs to when it comes to domestication in the
animal timeline; today, we can put them hand in hand as our regular house pets, but back then
things were much different. It can be argued that cats have not been fully domesticated yet; the
32,000 years the dog species has on cats is quite dramatic considering we only started
domesticating cats about 9,000 years ago (Montague). Just as what happened with dogs, the long
process of breeding and domestication takes just that long for it to come full circle so it is no

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surprise that cats cannot match up to the advanced domestication dogs were able to have. The
personalities of these two different animals are also what set their fate for domestication. Cats
were much more independent and served no need to humans for the reasons humans needed dogs
to be around. Cats today share a more similar resemblance to their wild ancestors than dogs do
and its no wonder considering their differing personalities and timeline history of domestication
In conclusion, the public is still faced with uncertainties about the origin of our first
domesticated dogs; the first gray wolves that paved this path have been traced as far back as
32,000 years ago, but as new research arises we can be sure that our certainties will continue to
increase in accuracy about their history. The domestication of these animals served to be a long
time coming for the pets that we know today; through human intervention and selective breeding
we are experiencing the type of dog that our ancestors desired. But from our research into the
origins of these dogs its simply too far-fetched to attribute humans as the sole purpose that these
wolves were transformed into domesticated animals. Dogs still contribute to human needs and
we work together just as well as the early European hunter-gatherers who first interacted with
them. We still experience the same helpfulness and mutualism that their companionship entails,
but what we must make sure of is to return the favor to these dogs. We cannot continue to feel
empowered enough to be able to abuse our pets or feel that we have a right to leave them on the
streets because were their owners. The simple fact is that 32,000 years ago we treated each
other equally and gave each other the respect that both mankind and nature needed to co-exist.
The least we can do now is think back to those times where we needed these animals and return
the favor of giving them the benefit of the doubt that their lives mean just as much as our own.

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Annotated Bibliographies
Freedman, Adam. Genome Sequencing Highlights the Dynamic Early History of Dogs. PLOS
Genetics. Web. 17 July 2015. Adam Freedman is a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard
University who takes advantage of this article to highlight the history of dogs through his
research of DNA genomes that have been traced back into late history. He constructs this
research-backed article complete with an abstract, summary, and research support
information sections for easy access for his audience. Freedmans audience can be
narrowed down to be more technical in their research as his article about genomes can be
considered quite specific for dog domestication research.

Irvine, Leslie. "Them and Us." If You Tame Me Understanding Our Connection with Animals.
Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2004. 33-56. Print.

Kluger, Jeffrey. Why Cats and Dogs Think Differently About You. TIME Magazine. Print.
Jeffrey Kluger, a senior writer at TIME magazine, writes these animal articles to give us a
broad spectrum of the behavior, treatment, and history of animals around the world. He
constructs these magazine articles to be informative for the public, but backed by many
credible researchers in the animal science committee. In order to support his arguments
for his many different topics, Kluger refers to several different researchers and their work

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to overlap in the point he tries to make for each. His audience is quite general given that
TIME is popular and can attend to most of the general publics interest.

Montague, Michael. Comparative Analysis of the Domestic Cat Genome Reveals Genetic
Signatures Underlying Feline Biology and Domestication. Web. 17 July 2015.
Michael Montague was a researcher for the Department of Anthropology at New York
University where he contributed to this compilation article on the research of the
domestic cat. Montague pursues the brief history of how the genomes of cats influenced
their formal interactions with humans like today. His audience is attentive to a more
concentrated area of the public who are interested in perhaps comparing other
domesticated animals to cats or merely learning more about the history of them.

Ramanujan, Krishna. "Study Narrows Origin of Dogs | Cornell Chronicle." Study Narrows
Origin of Dogs | Cornell Chronicle. Web. 17 July 2015. Krishna Ramanujan is a former
NASA science research writer and currently writes science articles for the Cornell
Chronicle near Ithaca, New York. He worked on this article about the origin of dogs to
pursue the deeper interest the public has of more recent findings about the domestication
of dogs. Ramanujan gives a brief overlook into the recent reports and findings narrowing
the origins of where the first dogs came from in this article for the Cornell Chronicle of
his. He gathers information from research made by PLoS Genetics and even a professor
from Cornell itself. Krishna Ramanujan's audience can be associated with local viewers
within the New York area who read his article column, but is not limited to it, as an
online medium posted on the internet is accessible to a much more general audience.

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Yirka, Bob. Study Shows Dogs May Have Been Domesticated Far Earlier than Thought. Web.
19 July 2015. Bob Yirka has a Bachelor of Science Degree and makes contributions to
this science article with the information he has accumulated on narrowing the estimation
of when dogs were first domesticated. He works to convince the reader through research
analysis from Chinese street dogs that the earliest dogs have been traced at least as far
back as 32,000 years ago and potentially even further back. His audience consists of a
broad audience who may come across this article due to its easy accessibility on the
internet.

Zeder, Melinda. Documenting Domestication: The Intersection of Genetics and Arcaeology.

Web. 16 July 2015. Melinda Zeder is a Senior Research Scientist and Curator of Old
World Archaeology who contributed her research to this article that divulges into a very
detailed explanation of recording domestication in a general view for animals. She does
so by referring to multiple full lists of contributors whose research coincides with the
points she makes about domesticating our animals. She insists on doing so through this
online article that is sectioned off into summary, full text, and references she makes
throughout her article. Zeders audience can be considered broad, but in a sense for those
who still do not know everything about domestication, this is a good start for those
seeking knowledge about it without necessarily a full idea of what it is all about.

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