WALL OF DOGS

Our son came over for one of his visits last Sunday.  Always enjoyable and a few hours goes far too quickly, and am always grateful for them, never taking them for granted.  One of the very best gifts can be the giving of your time, whether it's with a loved one or a friend, don't you think?  

He shared these photos he had just taken, as he had stopped off at our local coffee shop to pick up a coffee for me (his Dad is not a coffee drinker). These were posted on the wall and he knew we would enjoy these dogs.  He was correct and I asked if I could share them today.  Thank you son!

“Scratch a dog and you’ll find a permanent job.” 

~Franklin P. Jones~ (humourist)

As usually happens when I see a photo, whether I take one myself or as in this case those from our son, my curiosity goes down a very long tunnel.  This one led me to finding out about the history of dogs.

The following shares are from various articles I found over a few days.

Domestic wolves, it was originally believed, appeared around 15,000 years ago in the Middle East. New evidence, however, suggests it was much earlier than that. Swedish geneticist Pontus Skoglund published a study in 2015, in the journal Current Biology, describing his findings of a 35,000-year-old Siberian wolf bone. He concluded that canine domestication may have happened 27,000 to 40,000 years ago.

Archaeological evidence and DNA analysis make the Bonn-Oberkassel dog the first undisputed example of a dog. The remains, a right mandible (jaw), were discovered during basalt quarrying in Oberkassel, Germany in 1914. First mistakenly classified as a wolf, the Bonn-Oberkassel dog was buried with two humans around 14,220 years ago.

According to genetic studies, modern day domesticated dogs originated in China, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. According to Greger Larson, an archeologist and geneticist, gray wolves were domesticated by humans somewhere in western Eurasia. He surmises people in the East were also domesticating wolves at the same time.

Scientists believe wolves were first attracted to human camps to scavenge for leftover food. Over time, some wolves started traveling with the nomadic humans and a sort of natural selection for domestication occurred, Dr. Stephen L. Zawistowski, science adviser emeritus to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), told ABC News. Women may have been the first to make these wolves a pet, according to Katherine M. Rogers, professor emerita of English from Brooklyn College, in her book "First Friend." It takes six to eight generations to domesticate a canine, according to a 40-year experiment that began in the late 1950s by Russian researcher Dmitri K. Belyaev."

Additional evidence suggests that around 15,000 years ago, early dogs moved out of Southern and Central Asia and dispersed around the world, following humans as they migrated.

When did dogs first become pets? There’s even more dispute about the timeline of the history of dogs and humans. What most scientists and canine geneticists agree on is that dogs were first tamed by hunter-gatherers between 9,000 and 34,000 years ago, which is such a wide timeframe that it’s hardly useful.

More recent studies suggest humans may have first domesticated dogs some 6,400-14,000 years ago when an initial wolf population split into East and West Eurasian wolves, which were domesticated independently of each other and gave birth to 2 distinct dog populations before going extinct."

A few more interesting facts:

Service and assistance dogs have proved for centuries that dogs are good for more than hunting and protecting property. In the 1750s, dogs started to undergo instruction as guides for the visually impaired in a Paris hospital for the blind.

Greyhounds win the prize for being the fastest dogs on Earth: they are able to run at speeds up to 45 miles per hour. Interestingly, there are indications in tombs that Greyhounds were kept by the Ancient Egyptians.

Every Dog Has a Unique Nose Print.  One of the most fascinating dog facts reveals that a dog’s nose print is as unique a pattern as a human’s fingerprint. If you take a magnifying glass and look closely at a dog’s nose, you will see a series of bumps and ridges that are completely different than any other pet. (Cats also display this unique characteristic.)

The largest breed of dog is the Irish Wolfhound which can grow to a minimum of 105 pounds (sometimes up to 180 pounds), and stands at least 2 feet, 6 inches tall. The smallest breed, on the other hand, is the Chihuahua, which is closer to the size of a cuddly toy. They typically weigh between 2 and 6 pounds and can be around 6 to 9 inches tall. A more average-sized dog weighs between 20 and 60 pounds. Their height ranges between eight inches and 27 inches.  I borrowed my photo below.

Dogs are descended from a 15-Million-Year-Old Species.  It is thought that all the different types of dogs on Earth are descended from a species called Tomarctus that lived 15 million years ago. The oldest known specific breed was called Saluki. These dogs were pets belonging to the Ancient Egyptians. The earliest dogs are thought to have emerged at around  the same time as human hunter gatherers.

The dog's scientific name is Canis Lupis Familiaris, which means friendly dog wolf.  This makes reference to the fact that dogs are actually descended from wolves, as mentioned before.

The Norwegian Lundehund is the only dog that has 6 toes on each foot. 

A Border Collie named Chaser has the largest vocabulary of any other known dog. Chaser has been taught over 1022 names of items and can recognize and categorize them according to function and shape. Something a human learns to do around the age of 3. 

The fastest breed is the Greyhound. They have been known to hit record speeds of 44 miles per hour. 

The oldest dog breed is the Saluki. Just like the oldest Cat breed, the Saluki originated in Ancient Egypt around 329. B.C.E. 

Dalmatians are born completely white. As they age they start to develop the spots that make the breed so famous. 

The Basenji is known as the 'Barkless Dog'. While they don't bark they have been known to yodel.

Walt Disney's Dog, Sunnee was the inspiration behind Lady and The Tramp.

The most successful search and rescue dog was a St. Bernard named Barry. Born in 1800, he saved around 40 people in his 12 years and has become a Swiss National Hero! 

I hope you have found these facts interesting.