How did a man manage to tame a wolf and turn it into a dog

A dog is the most ancient human pet. No one knows exactly when and to whom it first occurred to get a four-legged friend. But it is known for sure that in order to get a devoted assistant, people had to tame wolves. How did this process happen and why are dogs so strikingly different from their predatory ancestors?

Some scientists suggest that the dog was domesticated by 10-14 thousand. years ago in the Neolithic era. Others are sure that it happened much earlier, 32-26 thousand. years ago. As proof, they cite the imprint of a wolf's paw and a child's foot found nearby in the French Chauvet cave (Chauvet).

No one knows where the man who first domesticated the wolf lived. Most historians are sure that this happened in the oldest centers of domestication in East Asia and on The Middle East.  Finnish scientist Olaf Talmann from The University of Turku and a group of like-minded people carefully studied the genetic material and came to an interesting conclusion.

By examining the tissue materials of 18 ancient dogs and comparing them with the genes of 148 modern animals, including 49 wolves, 77 dogs and 4 coyotes, Talmann surprised the scientific world. He stated that dogs were not domesticated at all in India, and on the territory of Europe. Modern dogs have been found to have "relatives" among the wolves of several European regions.

Since the domestication of the wolf took place before the advent of writing, it is not known exactly how this difficult process took place. It is likely that simple domestication took place before domestication. Animals attracted by the smell of food came to the places of residence of our ancestors. People fed wild animals, and they began to visit regularly. Such an alliance was mutually beneficial. Wolves were close to people and protected them from medium and large predators.

Over time, the puppies began to be taken out of the den and raised in human society. It was not very convenient, because if the animal was dying, you had to go to the forest and catch a new puppy. After that, it was necessary to start all over again — to teach the cub not to rush at people, not to run away and perform security functions. To simplify everything, animals began to be bred. There were a lot of "dogs" in the settlements to ensure sufficient offspring.

It is well known that an animal born in the wild will never completely get rid of its instincts. And the next generations of descendants, in fact, will remain wild animals. It is not known exactly how many generations of wolves lived with humans before the dog appeared. It probably took hundreds of years, but the process was still completed.

Now such domestication is easier and faster thanks to science. Academician D. K. Belyaev proved that it is fashionable to make a wild fox friendly to a person with just one selection in 25 years. However, this does not mean that the fox becomes domestic. She becomes tamed and no more.

It is important to separate the concept of a tamed and domesticated animal. You can tame a variety of creatures, from parrots to crocodiles. Some researchers claim that ancient people were able to tame the most unexpected animals. There were even giant sloths and cave bears among them. But they never became permanent companions of man.

It is well known that wolves howl and dogs bark. Some dog handlers believe that the reason why the ancestors and their descendants have different preferences lies in breeding. People needed a good watchman with a clear and well-recognized voice. Therefore, puppies that bark, not howl, were selected from the litter.

There is a version that when the dog became completely domestic, she forgot how to hunt. Being near a person, often on a leash, the animal had no need to worry about its food. Of the hunting tools, the dogs had only a sharp nose. With his help, the dog easily tracked down prey, but when approaching it, it began to bark.

Such dogs were not suitable for hunting in the forest. They were left at home, and pets were selected for hunting, capable of chasing an animal or bird silently. So there was a division into guard and hunting dogs. By the way, the fact that dogs have forgotten how to hunt, taking food from their owners, turned out to be in the hands of hunters. The animal, having caught the prey, did not eat it, but brought it to the person.

It remains to add that hunting dog breeds appeared thousands of years later than guard dogs. This happened after the Neolithic revolution, when, in addition to hunting and gathering, people began to engage in cattle breeding and agriculture. There was much more food and it became possible to keep more dogs for different purposes. After that, new breeds began to appear one after another and the process of their breeding continues today.