Where does your dog really come from?

 

 

 

 

 

Many evolutionists including Charles Darwin previously thought that the domestic canine was probably a result of several wild species or even a modified version of wolves, jackals, coyotes and foxes. It’s easy to see how such a deduction could be made.

Since then, molecular genetic evidence has proven that it is indeed only the wolf related to the pooch on our couch. Domestication has taken its own kind of evolutionary journey on several continents at the same time but dog breeds, as we know them today have come about through the interference of man and not natural selection. The variety of sizes and differences in the appearance of our pet fido has come about astonishingly fast compared with developments in other species.

Genes tend to shuffle rather than blend, and the emergence of our domestic canine breeds has come about by breeders capturing certain mutations or combinations of mutations. Desired characteristics can be repeated when there is a strict criteria for which dog breeds with another. Take breeds with very short legs for example. In the wild this would be a disadvantage but man decided to harness this to benefit himself and continued to breed dogs which could fit into confined spaces, down a burrow or be closer to the ground in order to track scents.

Leah & Angela O’Meara

Hound Dog Day Care (Specialists in Dog Minding & Dog Boarding, Pet Sitting Brisbane & Doggy Day Care Brisbane)