How did humans gradually domesticate wild canines?

Answer 1

I am not so sure it was gradual. Break a wild horse and that horse is domesticated. Same if you take her colt, domesticated, nothing gradual about it.

Find a pup in the wild and raise it, many do just this, and that dog may have a wilder streak in him than some long domesticated breed dog but, still, domesticated he is.

From personal experience I can attest to both of the above being true.

That having been said, animals (human or otherwise) will revert to 'wild' behaviour when necessary. It is called adapting and it works both way. Perhaps all of the original 'wild' dogs have simply adapted to a life of relative comfort and joyful engagement with humans.

I admire the academic zeal with which these posters have tackled this long standing proposal but for an understanding of our generation and dogs, give "Dogs on the Couch" a quick read.

Answer 2

There are many theories on this. I've often thought that there is no one way that they were domesticated. Different people around the world domesticated dogs and other animals in slightly different ways.

One really interesting theory is that dogs "domesticated themselves." People would throw their refuse outside of their camp and dogs and wolves and jackals (well, whatever local canids were around) would chow down on the snacks.

A person would come out and all the canids would scatter. However, the ones who had a slower flight response got more food and thence passed their genes to more babies. So over generations, dogs became accustomed to people and didn't go charging away just because a person walked up. This wasn't quite a domestic dog, but was very close to the feral dogs that are seen in many parts of the world. From there it was a simple matter for a person to get a puppy and begin domesticating it and shaping it to be a good companion and worker.

ADD: To Liligirl: Domesticated does not equal tame. For example, most parrots are caught in the wild and handfed from baby so that they're tame. But parrots are not domesticated. It's easier for most people to tame parrots than to try to breed domestic parrots. Unfortunate but true. Tame a wolf (if you can), but it's not domesticated. Domesticated means that its genetic makeup has changed so that it's better adapted to humans. Dogs are domesticated.

Answer 3

The new theory is that humans didn't -- they domesticated themselves!
It started with the first settlements - and the accompanying trash heaps. Wolves hung around to scavenge the trash. Which wolf got the best of the trash ?- the one with the shortest flight distance who stayed near the person dumping it, so they selected themselves for wolves that were not particularly person shy -which gradually went to the wolf hanging around the hut looking for the person going to the garbage heap, following the hunt ect... And lo, the village with pro-dogs hanging around the huts had warning of raiding parties by the dogs barks, the hunts with pro-dogs had keen ears & noses noticing game and they begain to be welcomed!

Answer 4

I've heard a few different theories involving this. First one is wolves learned that humans = food and followed the roving bands of humans when they were hunting. Over time they became friendlier and more dependent on human, and humans realized the advantages that wolf offered them. Through breeding of the friendliest wolves dogs eventually came to be. Another theory I heard is that Indian women used to take wolf pups and nurse them when the pups were abandoned. These pups grew up around humans and were very friendly. They were bred and kept around for hunting/eating purposes.

Answer 5

Supposedly dogs domesticated themselves to man...
You ever eat dinner in front of the dog and see all that drool... Well it makes sense to me that they happened upon man eating in the wilderness, and thought maybe they could get something to eat.. When they found that people were laying on comfy fun blankets, they decided that they had to stay.. Much nicer than a den in the ground.. Free food, a nice bed.. Little did they know that man would be so abusive... I wonder if they could use hindsight, if they would go back and not domesticate themselves to man...

Answer 6

some experts say that back in the cave men times, wolves/canids eventually turned to humans. Canids are smart and discovered that humans could provide a food supply, companionship and protection.

Answer 7

Process of domestication
There is debate within the scientific community over how the process of domestication works. Some researchers give credit to natural selection, where mutations outside of human control make some members of a species more compatible to human cultivation or companionship. Others have shown that carefully controlled selective breeding is responsible for many of the collective changes associated with domestication. These categories are not mutually exclusive and it is likely that natural selection and selective breeding have both played some role in the processes of domestication throughout history.

The domestication of wheat provides an example of how natural selection and mutation can play a key role in the process. Wild wheat falls to the ground to reseed itself when it is ripe, but domesticated wheat stays on the stem when it is ripe. There is evidence that this critical change came about as a result of a random mutation near the beginning of wheat's cultivation. Wheat with this mutation was the only wheat harvested and became the seed for the next crop. This wheat was much more useful to farmers and became the basis for the various strains of domesticated wheat that have since been developed.

The example of wheat has led some to speculate that mutations may have been the basis for other early instances of domestication. It is speculated that a mutation made some wolves less wary of humans. This allowed these wolves to start following humans to scavenge for food in their garbage dumps. Presumably something like a symbiotic relationship developed between humans and this population of wolves. The wolves benefited from human food scraps, and humans may have found that the wolves could warn them of approaching enemies, help with hunting, carry loads, provide warmth, or supplement their food supply. As this relationship evolved, humans eventually began to raise the wolves and breed the types of dogs that we have today.

Nonetheless, some researchers maintain that selective breeding rather than mutation or natural selection best explains how the process of domestication typically worked. Some of the most well-known evidence in support of selective breeding comes from an experiment by Russian scientist, Dmitri Belyaev, in the 1950s. His team spent many years breeding the Silver Fox (Vulpes vulpes) and selecting only those individuals that showed the least fear of humans. Eventually, Belyaev's team selected only those that showed the most positive response to humans. He ended up with a population of grey-coloured foxes whose behavior and appearance was significantly changed. They no longer showed any fear of humans and often wagged their tails and licked their human caretakers to show affection. More importantly, these foxes had floppy ears, smaller skulls, rolled tails and other traits commonly found in dogs.

Despite the success of this experiment, some scientists believe that selective breeding cannot always achieve domestication. They point out that known attempts to domesticate several kinds of wild animals in this way have failed repeatedly. The zebra is one example. It is possible that the historical process of domestication cannot be fully explained by any one principle acting alone. Some combination of natural selection and selective breeding may have played a role in the domestication of the various species that humans have come into close contact with throughout history.


[edit] Domestication of animals
According to evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond, animal species must meet six criteria in order to be considered for domestication:

Flexible diet — Creatures that are willing to consume a wide variety of food sources and can live off less cumulative food from the food pyramid (such as corn or wheat) are less expensive to keep in captivity. Most carnivores can only be fed meat, which requires the expenditure of many herbivores.
Reasonably fast growth rate — Fast maturity rate compared to the human life span allows breeding intervention and makes the animal useful within an acceptable duration of caretaking. Large animals such as elephants require many years before they reach a useful size.
Ability to be bred in captivity — Creatures that are reluctant to breed when kept in captivity do not produce useful offspring, and instead are limited to capture in their wild state. Creatures such as the panda and cheetah are difficult to breed in captivity.
Pleasant disposition — Large creatures that are aggressive toward humans are dangerous to keep in captivity. The African buffalo has an unpredictable nature and is highly dangerous to humans. Although similar to domesticated pigs in many ways, American peccaries and Africa's warthogs and bushpigs are also dangerous in captivity.
Temperament which makes it unlikely to panic — A creature with a nervous disposition is difficult to keep in captivity as they will attempt to flee whenever they are startled. The gazelle is very flighty and it has a powerful leap that allows it to escape an enclosed pen.
Modifiable social hierarchy — Social creatures that recognize a hierarchy of dominance can be raised to recognize a human as its pack leader. Bighorn sheep cannot be herded because they lack a dominance hierarchy, whilst antelopes and giant forest hogs are territorial when breeding and cannot be maintained in crowded enclosures in captivity.
A herding instinct arguably aids in domesticating animals: tame one and others will follow, regardless of chiefdom.