Evolution

1. Dogs today are descended from an animal called the Miacis which lived around forty million years ago.
2. The Miacis in fact evolved into another animal called the Tormarctus, which itself later evolved into the genus Canis.
3. It is believed that dogs actually first domesticated themselves; when humans began to build settlements around fifteen thousand years ago, wolves were attracted to east sources of food, warmth and comfort and evolved their behaviour to be friendly towards humans.
4. The humans of the time are thought to have ‘accepted’ the wolves into their communities as they would have been extremely useful for hunting.
5. Amazingly, we now think dogs were domesticated before horses, sheep, chickens, cats, goats and even cattle.
6. We believe that initially, younger wolves (even perhaps young babies) would have been the first to interact with humans. Over time, people would have bred them - or at least ‘allowed’ them to breed.
7. Over a few thousand years this would have happened, with the people in the community killing and offspring that showed the more violent or aggressive tendencies that wolves can display. Thus a form of selective breeding occurred and over time the wolves that lived around these settlements became very different to those that stuck to the wild.
8. This process would have happened in many communities, not just one. Each settlement would have hunted in a slightly different way due to their environment, and the wolves - now essentially dogs - would have developed to reflect this.
9. It is then thought that humans from various settlements began to trade with each other; dogs would certainly have been traded, with specimens being chosen for their particular qualities and suitability.
10. From this, the many different types of dogs evolved: Scent hounds, sight hounds, working and sporting dogs, terriers and more would all have been selectively bred to assist humans with various tasks.

A Schnauzer