Of all the large predatory mammals on earth, only one, the domestic dog, can safely live in an intimate relationship with humans. All other mammals of this type are likely to see humans as a food source or grow too temperamental as their wild instincts come to the fore as they mature. Dogs are different. They see humans as their leaders, as their partners, and as their teachers, and because dogs place so much trust in us, we cannot help but love them as if they were our best friends. This relationship has its basis in the evolution of the dog from the wolf. The dog would later develop certain adaptations to allow it to endear itself more closely to humans. It is because of these adaptations that the dog became man's best friend. One wonders, though, as we both become more and more estranged from nature, if we are truly being the dog's best friend.
Dogs have been selected for thousands of years to bond as strongly with people as they do with other members of their species. Some dogs even prefer people to other dogs. The first wolves that came in contact with our hunter-gatherer ancestors were probably curious about us. Later, as we became efficient hunters, some of these wolves learned to scavenge off our wastes. A population of wolves grew up dependant upon humans for their sustenance, and it is from these wolves that domestic dogs evolved.
Those wolves that were more curious about humans and took an interest in their daily lives were rewarded with more nutritious food, like whole pieces of meat and marrow-filled bones. These wolves were probably treated in the way Carl Lumholtz, a Norwegian ethnographer, described the relationship between the dingo, a semi-wild breed of dog, and the indigenous people of Queensland, Australia. These people cherished their dingoes, keeping several as pets. They groomed their dingoes from fleas and even kissed them. The dingoes hunted for their own food but still hung around their camps, searching for food and soliciting affection from the native people. It stands to reason that the wolves that eventually became dogs were much like these dingoes, hunting for their own food but still remaining deeply attached to humans who were beginning to love them.
As agriculture gave rise to civilization, dogs were selected to do certain tasks and to follow directions and rules. Dogs that could do this were rewarded with more food and better opportunities to breed. What humans were actually selecting for in choosing dogs for these tasks was the ability to communicate with humans. In Hungary, studies show that dogs have an innate ability to read human body language. Dogs are better than chimps at following a pointing gesture, and they are better than wolves at it. Even young puppies exhibit this tendency. Because of their ability to communicate with us, dogs appear almost human in their intelligence. It is because of this that we think of dogs as man's best friend.
Dogs have transferred their close social relationships from other dogs to humans. Wolf pups must be taken from their mothers at an early age and often must be kept separate from other canines, including dogs, in order for them to form a close relationship with people. Dogs can form relationships with both other dogs and humans with relative ease. Dogs can even form relationships with cats and livestock, protecting them as if they were members of their own families. Countless shepherds have relied on sheep-guarding livestock dogs for that very purpose.
Evolution has given the dog all it needs to survive with humans. In fact, the dog uniquely ingratiates itself upon its human benefactors, whose ancestors once celebrated the dog's guarding ability, hunting skills, and warmth on a cold winter's night. Today, we celebrate the dog for its loyalty and its loving nature. The dog is written about as a hero and portrayed as that archetype in film. It has become celebrated as a thinking animal in much of Western culture. As a result, a vast enterprise of dog-related products and services has taken advantage of the dog's new status. Expensive designer collars and air-conditioned dog houses are just a few of the things that can now be purchased for the upwardly mobile dog.
Do dogs need all of this pampering? No. The dog has lived for thousands of years with us, through the good times and the bad. It has evolved to live with the lean years of famine and with cultures that view the dog as an unclean species of vermin. Some of this pampering and coddling denies the dog its own nature, which is wolfish though somewhat toned down from the wild beast. If we really loved our dogs as our best friend, we would try to understand them on their terms rather than trying to impose our views of them as furry children. Henry Beston wrote in The Outermost House, a series of essays on nature in the dunes of Cape Cod:
"We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour (sic) and travail of the earth."
The dog has become man's best friend, because it is one of the few species of our ancient past that has followed us into civilization. It has adapted its nature to fit our world of large cities and suburban monoculture. For any species to perform this fea is truly remarkable, especially for a large predatory mammal. The next time you watch your dog run off lead, think of the millennia in which dogs and people have shared this world together. Think of the generations of dogs and people absorbing their environment, with the dog smelling what the humans cannot see and with the human seeing things beyond the dog's narrow horizon. Perhaps, you will feel truly humbled to share your world with such a remarkable species.