Evolution of Dogs

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The grey wolf has been transformed into what we, today, call a dog. After years of traveling with humans, the wolf began to change and became adapted and tame enough to socialize with humans. The environment it was placed into was one of the causes for change, and another was the role it played for humans.

The most likely scenario for wolves beginning to coexist with humans is that a human hunting party came across a very young wolf cub and decided to take it with them. The wolf cub would have been very puppy-like at an early age. The reason that humans would ever take a wolf cub is because the cub would be seen as a valuable resource to humans back then. The wolf cub would become a sort of tool for humans since it is a better tracker, has keener senses, and is faster then humans. The hunters would have figured they and wolves were both hunters and hunted in packs. The humans would share their food with the cub and protect it from being hunted by outside animals, but they would also use the cub to keep them alive by having it track down prey for food. Also, they would probably watch to see if the cub sensed danger in the nearby area so then the hunters could avoid it, too.

However, the hunters would not keep all of the wolves that grew up from the cubs they had. Keeping a wolf that became overly aggressive towards them, or if it had little practical use, would have been both pointless and dangerous to their group. They most likely would have killed those types of wolves or left them behind to fend for themselves. The hunters would have chosen semi-tame wolves and those with the most desirable traits and abilities and bred the two together, repeating the process until what resembled a dog today. The first bones found which ...

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...ll also keep adapting just as it has been doing for centuries, as long as people and the environment where it lives continue to change. The common dog will always trace its roots back to the single wolf cub that was taken in by humans so long ago.

Works Cited

Beltz, Pat. “Police dogs – Police K9 - Bomb dogs.” http://www.policedogtrainers.com/. Working Dogs International. Web.11/17/2010.

Dibble, Susan. “Service dog changes life for multi-needs boy.” http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110208/news/702089899/. February 8, 2011. Daily Herald. Web. February 22, 2011.

Perry, Tony. “Afghanistan’s most loyal troops.” http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-war-dogs-20110208,0,2428332.story. February 8, 2011. Chicago Tribune. Web. February 22, 2011.

Postlethwait, John. Modern Biology. Austin, Texas. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2009. Print.

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