by Jamie Rider

Created on: January 20, 2009   Last Updated: February 01, 2009

Wild dogs are both cooperative hunters and opportunistic scavengers. All it takes is witnessing the hero-worship of your own canine companion as you drop a bag of kibble next to the door to understand how dog became man's best friend. Dogs had and continue to have a rich social life. Humans, perhaps as a by-product of our early years dropping fruit rinds through the leaves, have since our earliest times left scraps of food in trails behind us. It did not take long for dogs to recognize us as a potential source for some easy pickings.

There are a number of theories on how this happened. One scenario is that dog actually started as womans' best friend. In essence, early adoptions had much to do with the similarities in puppy versus child facial features. Once socialized by human rearing, dogs proved useful. Early dogs were likely the first alarm system known, warning of both animal and human intruders.

Over time, we worked it out as a trade. Dogs are faster than us over short distances, have phenomenally better noses, and more acute hearing. We brought tool-using, better eyesight for stationary animals, and larger brains for tasks such as food storage and shelter building. With time, those dogs that were willing to tolerate our presence and even assist us in hunting tended to have more consistent food supplies, and they multiplied. Raised within human settlements, puppies bonded early to humans. To this day dogs are born "programmed" to read human body language like pointing and following a human's gaze, unlike our closest relative the chimpanzee.

On the African continent, with the dogs that are the root stock of the Basenji, hunters will tell you that without their dogs they and their fellow villagers would starve. As we moved from subsistance level hunting to keeping flocks, dogs learned to assist in herding. As the Romans worked to conquor the Western World, they bred dogs of large size and ferocity to aid in waging war. Because of their vast ability to adapt to a new function, dogs remained our partners through time.We continue to act cooperatively in modern activities. This can vary from a walk in the park to tracking down a lost person in an avalanche. The dog's unique talents and willingness to work with us continues to assist us in our ever changing lives.

As we changed, so have they. We study in school for more specialized skills then our Neolithic fathers. Our dogs have been bred for more specific jobs, in some cases purely for appearance. As leisure occupied more human time, so were there dogs selectively bred for their skill at participating in leisure. Yet, to this day that cooperative hunter wells up from inside when the groceries hit the door.

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