Yep, the dog! I posted a warm story last week of a dog finding an abandoned baby and protecting it until someone could rescue it…..a heart tugging tale…..but since we all agree that a dog is man’s best friend…….when did that association begin and how?
I have one answer….there are many……
(Newser) – Dogs have been hanging out with humans way longer than thought, a new study suggests. UCLA researchers say the first ones were ancient wolves that started following hunter and gatherers around Europe between 18,000 and 32,000 years ago, reports the BBC. The finding, which contradicts previous theories that domesticated dogs first appeared in the Middle East or Asia about 13,000 years ago, is based on DNA analysis of fossils and comparison with modern dogs. Two of those fossils were more than 30,000 years old, notes phys.org.
“The initial interactions were probably at arm’s length, as these were large, aggressive carnivores,” one of the researchers tells the LA Times. “Eventually though, wolves entered the human niche.” The two species probably helped each other—the wolves got carcasses of woolly mammoths and the like, and the humans got an alarm system around their nomadic camps. One thing common in all the coverage of the study in Science: Nobody expects this to be the final word in the debate.
All my life I have been with dogs…Hell when I was younger dogs would sleep with me to keep me warm……very little heat not night back in those days……and they have always been my security alarm for the house and yard……..you could NOT find a better friend……..there is always a place for dogs in my life…..how about you?
They look into your eyes like no other animal, as if they can read your thoughts.
Larry, there is an old Apache tale…..in the beginning there were many animals but no humans…the Great Spirit decided that some animals were to become the first humans and he chose the wolf (dog) to be the first to change but when he tried all that would become human was their eyes…they refused to be changed any further…,..hence they became his messengers on earth….that is why they howl….reporting to the “Big Guy”…..
Even the ancients knew.
They knew so much and we did not learn from them….so it is just sad…..
I, too, have had dogs around my entire life… One of them we had when I was young taught both me and my sister to walk… She, Butch, (there was some confusion about gender at first… 😆 ), would stand next to us as rugrats, let us hold on to her to stand, then move slowly forward, making us walk alongside her… It worked great!… Butchie was a mongrel, looked a lot like a cross between an Airedale and a Benji… big and disheveled, but was the best family dog ever… I’ve had dogs around ever since, though my latest old partner just passed on in 2012, at age 18… Noah was an Aussie heeler mix, and the smartest PERSON I’ve ever met…. Glad to have found your blog, my friend, I’ll be back…. I live in a lot of pain, so it may not be often, but, I’ll get here….. Take care, & Blessed Be… Oh, great post, btw…. 😉
gigoid…..thanx for the visit, comment and the follow……After Katrina my leg was crushed….if not for my dog that I found the day after the storm all muddy and scared, I would not have made it thru the rehab….she kept me on my toes and working hard to keep up with her….best thing that6 ever happened to me was Jaz….she chose me of all the people around to bond with….she is my heart and my best friend……chuq
Dogs are, to my mind, our mentors, teaching us about honor, and loyalty, and all the finer ethical qualities we need so badly to learn…. They have fulfilled their part of the pact we made many thousands of generations ago, much more fully and much more consistently than have most humans… I learned most of what I know to be true about honor from two sources… One was my father, and the other was every dog I’ve ever known… 🙂 I’m glad I found your site….
I agtree…..my dogs have been everything to me….the most important humans were my mother, grandfather and uncle….after that all my dogs were family…….and thanx I am glad you chose to follow hope to see you more…..chuq