Dogs

The intertwined journey of human and dog has spurred the interest of anthropologists, biologists, historians, sociologists, and behavioral scientists. After all, the dog is “man’s best friend,” so it is natural that people have wondered about how, why, from where, and when dogs came to be.

“From where?” seems simple enough to answer—one needs only to look at the dog’s wild brother and, with Darwin’s blessing, conclude that the dog’s origin is the wolf. The rest of the questions are more difficult to answer, because the original assumption has led people astray. Nonetheless, the question this book tries to answer is whether the dog simply a domesticated wolf. If they are not the same, then what is the dog’s true origin? If they are the same, why do human beings traditionally fear and hate the wolf and consider dogs their best friends?

If these questions, as well as others that arise in the process of inquiry, are answered truthfully, then all of the scientific disciplines could be applied without conflict, which certainly has not been the case thus far.