In an article written in the National Geographic Magazine in March of 1919, there is a story by Ernest Harold Baynes. In his fancy he talks about how man stood on one side and the other animals stood on the other side of the 'gulf'. As man looked upward at the sky, all the other animals walked off and went about their business except the dog.
The little dog sat on the very edge of the widening gulf with is tail wagging thinking that he wanted to go with man. As the pig grunted and the sheep nibbled and the cow chewed her cud, they all said he, (the dog) could not make the jump.
The friendship between the dog and the man started, according to the author when the dog did make the jump and man was there to help him off the edge of the gulf.
It is said there are primitive graves with dogs buried with their masters. Perhaps it wasn't always like that. Perhaps dogs band together and hunted man. Maybe man learned to throw rocks at dogs to keep them away. But one thing is certain, if one captures a wild puppy and gets a few generations away from its ancestors, it will, become a friend. The more generations, the more the wild is bred out.
My question about that remains. Do we really think that dogs have been bred and in bred so much their is nothing left of the dingo, the jackal, or the wolf, all of which interbreed with domesticated dogs? Then, silly me because if dogs STILL turn around three times before they lay down, something must be internal for them to make the grass flat before resting, even if they are reposing on satin pillows in someone swank apartment high above the parks.
But let's go back and think about man, yes OUR ancestors, living in caves. All things considered, or better said imagined, would lead us to believe that man was untidy, maybe even filthy, (except for my mother, of course). So let's say that caveman was eating his food off a bone and once finished, tosses it outside. Now, that seems more likely that wild dogs, wolves, jackals, and dingos in search of food would smell out the area and have their own meal.
Now if this be the case, then, the more bones the caveman tossed outside, the more the dogs would come and get free food. Are you with me? And as this went on, the wild dogs are accustomed to man and get a little sloppy about where they are hiding their den and new pups.
With that in mind, isn't it possible that man snatched up the pups and brought them home for their children to play with? Yes, they did have children then, imagine you child crawling around in a cave? Perish the thought.
It is possible man may have even eaten some of them. YUCK? Well of course, YUCK. Yet in our society, starving means, "gotta have pizza" NOT nothing to eat. So, my ancestors ate a few dogs, it is still common in some parts of the world. Well, all ancestors except Mother, of course. Nevertheless, the point is, we couldn't walk over to Inga's and have a hot roast beef.
I would venture to say after fire was invented those wild dogs came into that comfort as well. And I do maintain that caveman could discern between a swift runner and a lazy dog and culled them out and used them for work in hunting. What did they do with the lazy dogs? Probably ate them. Are you grossed out yet?
I would like to think that dogs where different in different parts of the world and came to be so because of climate and use. Don't agree? Think about this: You never saw a long haired double coated dog on the walls of the tombs in Egypt, did you? Nor did you see a sleek coated hunting dogs carved on the walls of Assyria in Newfoundland, rather what would become Newfoundland.
And, isn't it possible that as tribes moved about, the dogs interbred and caused new 'looks' to be formed? Are the dogs in the chase picture Mastiff like?
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