Chapter 7 five dogs

animals that change human emotions ★Dog's nature From the earliest known times, dogs have remained very close to the core of human consciousness.They not only herd sheep, drive cattle and protect our homes, but also provide us with emotional treasures and unconditional companionship, making an extremely important contribution to our physical and mental health. Therefore, human beings use art, legends, myths and cognition of the universe Praise them. In ancient Greece, magic was highly valued, and proficiency in magic was regarded as a symbol of wisdom. At that time, the multi-headed dog Cerberus described by Homer endowed the dog with a magical quality.The twelfth task of Heracles is to dive into Hades and bring out Cerberus, the watchdog of Hades.Dogs are no strangers to Hercules. On his tenth mission, he defeated Orthrus, a huge dog guarding a herd of huge red bulls, who later gave birth to lions. Man-faced beast.

Also in Greek mythology, Maera was the dog companion of Icarus. Icarus gave wine to some shepherds. The shepherds thought they had been poisoned, so they killed Icarus and sent her Throw his body down the well.Meera helps the owner's daughter, Erigone, find Icarus' body.Afterwards, Meera was sent to heaven as a messenger.There, it became the most shining star Dog Star (Dog Star), that is, Sirius (Sirius) (among the eleven dogs I have raised, there is a spirit whose name is Sirius, and I also think it is One of the most brilliant and intelligent dogs). In Japanese folklore, the dog is one of the five most remarkable creatures.The content of the story is about a dog who travels with his hostess, and the other companion is a silkworm.On the way, the dog got hungry and ate the silkworm. As a result, a long, long strand of silk was produced from one of its nostrils.After the dog died, the hostess buried it under the mulberry tree and prayed to Buddha for giving her such a good dog. Unexpectedly, the mulberry tree was suddenly covered with silkworms, and the hostess became rich.

In the Chinese story, the emperor decreed that whoever could capture the enemy general who had defeated his own army would be the son-in-law.As a result, no one dared to try, but a dog went, and really defeated the enemy general.When the emperor explained to it that a princess cannot marry a dog, the dog retorted, saying that as long as it was placed under a bell for 280 days, it could become a human.However, on the 279th day, the emperor could no longer restrain himself, and secretly peeped under the bell.As a result, because the conversion process has not yet been completed, standing under the bell is a man with the head of a dog.When getting married, the groom has to cover his head with a red cloth.

Eskimos see dogs as the dividing line between rich and poor; people without dogs are considered poor.Those in the far north believed that only dogs with human names, often named after deceased relatives, had souls.The named dog is brought home and fed better than the other dogs.Local dogs are trained by women, and the training method has its own special secret method. On the American plains, many refined cultures emerged along the migration routes of great bison herds.The men of many local tribes belong to various groups and have great obligations.Members of the Dog Group are dedicated to protecting their people, and they have a very war-like ritual known as the Dog Dance.

Dogs have been found everywhere from pre-agricultural times to modern times.Oddly enough, humans haven't always been kind to dogs, but no other animal we've ever domesticated has held our hearts so firmly.Apparently we and dogs are species meant to be with each other.Dogs wouldn't be what they are today without humans, but it's hard to imagine where we would be without them. ★Origin It is generally believed that the domestic dog is wholly or mostly descended from wolves, including at least the subspecies of the Indian wolf.However, what is certain is that there are other subspecies that are also related, and may even include other canids.The Indian wolf is quite small, basically a desert wolf, and can still be found from Egypt to India.I have heard them howling on the jagged hills in Sinai.Hearing the wolf song echoing through the air was an eerie and wonderful experience; the sound seemed to blend in with the atmosphere around it.The howl of the wolf is a very common sound in the wilderness, and it seems to bring people back to another time and space, another life (However, shepherds rarely appreciate this experience, because desert wolves hunt their flocks) .

There is no doubt that the larger, thicker-furred arctic wolf was used to breed what is now known as the Northern Spitz and the like, including the present-day miniature Pomeranian, the Chow Chow, and the The most powerful sled dogs of the world.The Samoyed from Siberia is included, as well as the Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute, Canadian Eskimo Dog, Norwegian Elkhound, Finnish Spitz and more. Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz once believed that jackals also had a place in the history of domestic dogs.Because Lorenz is such a highly respected person, it is only now that we understand that his idea is not worthy of being so valued.Lorenz later regretted that he had put forward this theory. As a result, under his advocacy, we once again returned to the evolutionary path of wolves. The ancestor of dogs was wolves and another unknown member, which is what people now call recognized theory.However, there are still some complex and difficult questions that we have not yet been able to answer.None of our domesticated animals is so incomprehensible as the dog.

It seems easier to pinpoint where wolves appeared than when when the relationship between humans and dogs was still in its infancy.Somewhere in the Middle East, or between the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, there seems to have been at least one earliest wolf/dog evolution, but when?Some who have studied the subject date dogs before goats or sheep, or at least contemporaneously with them.If this is the case, then the breeding of dogs has already been carried out in some areas between the Paleolithic Age and the Mesolithic Age (about 12,000 to 14,000 years ago). There should be no more accurate inference than this up.In any case, we can be sure that the first dogs were born in caves.The appearance of dogs occurred before humans had buildings; but the evidence does not seem to support this being the only time dogs were domesticated.The earliest geographic distribution of dogs is perhaps the most puzzling subject in the entire history of the human/animal bond.

★Before breeding The relationship between humans and wolves before domestication is easy to infer.Wolves eat by picking up food discarded by humans (and humans force wolves to keep food for them by throwing stones in succession).This is enough to explain the process of human raising wolves.In some cultures, humans eat dog meat, so presumably their cave-dwelling ancestors also ate wolf meat.Early Mesolithic hunters must have stolen newborn pups or pups from wolf dens.In the era without refrigerators, they must have understood that it is more practical to leave some alive for women and children to take care of than to kill all these wolf cubs at once and lose part of their meat due to corruption.Just having these pups in their burrows was enough to spark an innate love for companion animals in humans and start the process of raising animals.Young wolves are always endearing.They play, jump and gallop, bite and lick, and also purr and mock growl.Plus, they're gentle, intelligent, and interactive, with big, straight-ahead eyes like ours.When tired, they curl up and sleep, and the sound of their immature breathing is very attractive to humans.They awaken something within us.Perhaps, these are enough reasons for humans to want to invent dogs.

★Early association with humans If we can clarify the real sequence of raising wolves/dogs and becoming human hunting helpers and companions, then we can also have a better understanding of our own history.Dogs appeared in Germany and Denmark, and soon in Switzerland, before the end of the last ice age, about 9,000 to 12,000 years ago.It is worth noting that by this time, they have already developed into dogs and are no longer wolves.There were dogs in ancient England and Scotland; real dogs in Russia and France by the end of the Stone Age; dogs in Bosnia and Italy, and similar modern-day ones by the beginning of the Bronze Age. The difference between different breeds such as shepherd dogs and German shepherd dogs.Switzerland's lakeside dwellers apparently preferred smaller dogs, suggesting that they kept these small dogs in their elevated buildings at the time.

At least four different breeds or types of dogs originated in ancient Europe.A long time ago, people have used a wolf-like polar dog as a pack animal.In the British Isles, there are the ancestors of the shepherds and hounds mentioned above, and the small indoor dogs that later evolved into 㹴. At the same time, mongrel dogs can be seen in many parts of Africa, India and Southeast Asia (at least in Java).In Asia Minor, the local dogs are still the same as they were about eleven thousand years ago, still resembling wolves in appearance.The leash caves of Persia contained dogs about 12,000 years ago.In western Egypt and Algeria, although the chronological order of when dogs were present here is still unclear, dogs also existed here.In Egypt itself, hounds were deified and guarded the tombs of kings.Ling has been different from other breeds of dogs since pre-dynastic times.At this time, there were similar dogs in Spain, Northwest Africa, Malta, and the Canary Islands.

Mongrel dogs from Asia and Africa have many similarities to the dingoes that were brought to Australia in ancient times (the dingoes must have been brought over by humans, since no placental-like fossils of canines have been found in Australia).In Australia, the clever Australian dingo has become a deadly natural enemy for primitive marsupials.Dingoes arrived in Australia long before dogs began appearing in Mesolithic Europe and Asia.And perhaps a long time ago, there were many types of dogs in Japan. During my trip to Borneo a few days ago, I had a short time with the Iban aborigines in their long house in the rainforest.It was a single building where two hundred and six people lived with their numerous dogs and game cocks.The dog here has the unique shape of the dingo. The slightly pointed snout is very prominent against the wide jaw joints; the erect ears point straight forward, and the tail posture is very similar to the dingo.Interestingly, in this unique tribe, most of the dogs are black and white, and when I traveled through Sabah and Sarawak in North Borneo, most of the dogs I saw in the local villages were black and white. The coat color is similar to that of Australian dingoes, ranging from golden red to fawn.In any case, although the black and white gene was mixed into this unique gene pool and changed the coat color of the dingo in this gene pool, it did not change the appearance of the dingo. Now comes the problem.Did dingoes evolve from dogs raised by humans between Israel and India, and later transported all the way to Australia by early immigrants, now Aborigines?If yes, how long and how many steps did this process take?Given the distance involved, that seems unlikely.Were these same genes introduced directly into Borneo?Or that the dogs of Borneo were derived from dingoes that traveled north from Australia?Or did the dingo come to Australia from Borneo?Or did the dingo, and the dogs of present-day Borneo, have evolved from non-Indian wolf ancestors through different breeding processes?And if the reason is a different breeding process, were their ancestors wolves, or other true wild dogs?These questions have yet to be solved, and through the study of DNA, we may actually begin to address them.In the end, however, conjectures and opinions are bound to arise. ★New World In the Western Hemisphere, the presence of dogs remains a mystery.In Peru there is a shepherd-type, daches-like dog best known as a bulldog.We speculate that these dogs were brought by tourists, since we generally don't think of South America as a place where dogs themselves started (if dogs were indeed transported to South America thousands of years ago, then we seem certain they weren't in domesticated there, so we can only wonder: who brought them here?). Dog bones dating back at least eight thousand years have been found in a cave in what is now Idaho.How did they come to Idaho from Egypt or India so long ago?This doubt is reinforced when we travel the world and notice mastiffs.The mastiff may have originated in Tibet; but when the Romans invaded the British Isles, they found that the barbarians there had their own mastiffs.What exactly was the migration of early humans?The appearance of dogs does not match what we think we know about human history. When we start raising goats, and thus have the freedom to travel with this living store, when and where do we go?Whatever the answer, when we arrive at our destination, we apparently leave the dog behind, like our fingerprints.And why do we leave again, completely forgetting we were there?Why do we have no circulating memories of those journeys at all? ★From wolf to dog Wolf bones have unique features that allow us to easily distinguish them from those of domestic dogs.Take the Dachshunds, Basset Hounds, and Bulldogs, whose dwarfism and short legs are clearly the result of breeding, and the jostling faces are among the oddities.These traits are traits that are not related to survival.In general, the dog's back is straighter and shorter than that of wolves, the cross-section of the chest is more cylindrical than that of its wild ancestors, and the keel is less pronounced.As a result, the dog's front feet turn outward from the shoulders, giving it its characteristic walking gait.When walking, the wolf's hind feet just step on the footprints of the front feet, while the dog's hind feet step on the inside of the front footprints. The position of the dog's tail is various, but no matter what kind or type it is, its anus will be exposed, but this is not the case for wolves. Archaeologists can verify this point from the shape of the spine.The dog's snout is slightly shorter than that of the wolf, so the dog's teeth are also smaller and more closely packed.As for the brain capacity of a wolf, it is only half that of a dog of the same size.There are at least a dozen other features that can clearly distinguish wolf and dog bones. Overall, neoteny is the most important.Neoteny is the retention of juvenile characteristics into adulthood.Dogs are really young wolves that never grow up.While neoteny can be found in most domestic animals, it is most pronounced among companion animals, dogs and cats. Neoteny is especially important when it comes to the dangers of dealing with species that remain in the wild.In many cases animals are easier to manage when they are young than when they are adults.Submissive animals, begging juveniles or even adults, can attract us, and presumably our ancestors, and this was another factor in their domestication. If we accept that the sole ancestor of all the domestic dog breeds in the world is a certain subspecies of wolf, then we should be able to proceed easily on this argument, except for the early migrations of man himself.But it is worth pondering that, in fact, there is still room for discussion.Is it possible that from a now-extinct non-wolf wild canid (some extinct in our time) bred mongrel dogs such as the dingo, and further spawned some of the current breeds of domestic dogs?If so, wolves are but one of the contributors to a new species of manageable and vigorous animal, the dog.This statement still needs to be proved by time, but various reasons show that some kind or some subspecies of wolf should be the ancestor of dog.However, the possibility remains that dogs are descended from wolves and some other true wild dog (or some), and if so, then the current domestic dogs should be hybrids. Just how many times of cross-breeding it took to create the hundreds of breeds of dogs today has always been a mystery.Furthermore, there may be another species besides wolves that also contributes to the surprisingly tame nature of dogs.There is no other animal in our pantheon of domestic animals quite like the dog, from the three-pound Chihuahua to the two-hundred-and-twenty-pound St. Bernard and Newfoundland.Try to imagine a Yorkshire Terrier standing next to an Irish Wolfhound, Borzoi or Scottish Deerhound; now, they are all one species. After 20 years as master of ceremonies at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show), I sat at the judging prize table and watched dogs of all breeds certified by the American Kennel Club (AKC) .Every year I take a closer look at the astonishing diversity of these dogs while ruminating on their origins.Although contemporary conventional wisdom tells us that all dogs descend from a common ancestor, I couldn't be more convinced.The so-called traditional wisdom, I am afraid, often also means the traditional fallacy. ★The instinct of herding We still don't know exactly when and where humans were first able to rein in the natural aggression of wolves, dogs, and other species and transfer it to herding.However, when it happened, it also opened the door for the economic growth that followed the first goats under human control.It probably didn't take long for humans to keep sheep, and dogs became an indispensable helper.Some dogs evolved to be protectors of goats and sheep from wild predators, others guarded and guided the flock.As for the dogs that attack their own flock and become herd killers, as at present, they are quickly identified and culled, and the remaining non-herd killer dogs continue to survive and breed the same offspring as them . In the original gene combination of the wolf, the original has the instinct of herding.Uniquely herding livestock and isolating easy prey is one of their hunting techniques.Humans have enhanced this skill of wolves to produce the most intelligent and amazing shepherd dogs of all breeds.When the number of goats, sheep, and cattle increased greatly, the economic value of sheepdogs, guard dogs, and driving dogs was often inestimable.Even now, in places like Australia, New Zealand and Scotland (as well as many parts of the Middle East, Asia and Africa), the loss of sheepdogs can have a huge economic impact. I currently have many dogs at home, one of which is a border collie.Watching this dog was like taking a class in animal behavior, and he was unlike any other breed I've ever known.Herding, controlled aggression, is an irrepressible behavior; as many owners of this dog have pointed out, it will graze bathtubs, washbasins, and toilet bowls if there is nothing for it to graze.After running all day, they are exhausted at night.Our dog Duncan, a very Scottish name, is responsible for herding our llamas, alpacas, horses, donkeys, cats and other dogs, especially our geese.It's an amazing instinct that he never touches these animals while grazing.Thinking of such a dog but living in a small apartment, can't help but feel aggrieved for it. ★Guard dogs and hounds Wolves are naturally territorial and protect their food and pups.It is not difficult to transform this gene into a dog that used to guard caves and now patrols military bases.Wolves bring food back to their dens to feed their pups, and perhaps hunting dogs that assist in retrieving prey were bred for this trait.Because wolves are organized, obedience training is fairly easy.In fact, the wolf contains our perfect companion dog, and all we need to do is to discover this trait, release and shape it.Whether they are self-reliant or need our help, selected breeds have proven to be very well adapted to our way of life.Of course, if there were other unknown ingredients involved in the evolution of dogs, then other questions would arise.And what is the relationship between these mysterious other species and wolves and the current dog? We have already discussed the dizzying variety of dogs in the world today.In the United States alone, the main purebred dog registry, the American Kennel Club, certified 155 breeds and breeds in 1996; Kennel Club, UKC), certified 166 breeds; Canadian Kennel Club (Canadian Kennel Club, CKC) listed 155 breeds; and the British Kennel Club also listed There are 186 varieties.There are about 450 to 850 breeds of dogs in the world. It is certain that hundreds of other breeds have been eliminated in this millennium after breeding and development in the past.Certain species are also currently on the verge of extinction, and their disappearance seems to be expected.The disappearance of an animal breed represents a loss, and a chapter of our own history, a realm of aesthetic and practical character, disappears with each breed.What is happening to wild species is happening to domestic dogs at almost the same rate; biodiversity is shrinking.Humans haven't learned enough about having goats to manage.The destruction of biodiversity is the greatest mistake humans have ever made, and in the future, cultures wiser than the present will be shocked to find records in our present caves and traditions. ★deep concern At present, too many, too many domestic dogs are born every day in the world.With such a large birth volume, it is impossible for every puppy to become a pet and be well cared for.At best these puppies are euthanized as redundant dogs, at worst they are left to face their fate alone in a hostile world.Their impact on wild animals is even beyond estimation.Frustrated by this tragedy, some have proposed that all dog breeding should be delayed.Although the intention of this proposal is good, it also needs to be considered that more than 90% of the vast majority of so-called redundant dogs are the product of random mating and mixed ancestors.These dogs are as sensitive, loving, and caring as any purebred dog, and like companion animals, they are as dedicated to their human beings. Revenge on irresponsible dog owners by exterminating purebred dogs is not the solution.If all purposeful and deliberate breeding were stopped immediately tomorrow, within eight or nine years, dogs of the Mastiff breed, such as Mastiff, Bullmastiff, Great Dane, Newfoundland, Great Pyrenees, , Kuvasz, Komondor, Bernese Mountain Dog, Rodweiler, and other shorter-lived breeds, including various other giant dogs such as Bloodhounds, Scottish Deerhounds, Irish Wolfhounds, Borzoi Dogs, etc., may all disappear.Within five or six years after that, all other purebred dogs would follow suit. This will cause incalculable losses to our culture, tradition and aesthetics. A more sensible solution would be to spay or castrate all randomly mated dogs before they are fertile.According to the basic tenets of domesticated animals, the best bloodlines in purebred lines should be identified and bred, but only within the limits of human society.Those who are poorer in purebred strains should be treated humanely to make them sterile.All domestic animals are bred for two main purposes: in the short run, to obtain offspring that can be used immediately, and in the long run, to preserve the best possible gene pool. Dogs have always been used as guards for the military and the police, as watchdogs at home, as guardian dogs for babies, as pack animals in peace and war, as messengers, as detection dogs for drugs, firearms and explosives, and as widely used to drive away animals. Cattle, sheep herding and guarding the flock.They guide the blind, guide the hard of hearing, and assist the handicapped in daily life.They can track or find young children, lost campers and escaped prisoners.Pack hounds, pinschers, spaniels, setters, terriers, and retrievers are often extremely useful animals in all forms of hunting.But the main job of most dogs is to accompany humans.Dogs have indeed been of considerable economic value for a long time (especially as cattle and herding dogs), but their greatest contribution, and for which we are most grateful, is that they are still fully and uncritically friendship with the heart; this ability has made an extraordinary contribution to human history. Humans have created dogs, animals that are quite different from us, to depend on us, interact closely with us personally, and love us intimately. This natural relationship has proven to be of great psychological and physical benefit. . The role that dogs play in human families and cultures has only recently begun to be appreciated rather than taken for granted.Dogs provide living role models for children, demonstrating bravery, loyalty, courage, intelligence, and other cherished social values.It is generally believed that a responsible parenting relationship can lead to a good parent-child bond, and the companionship of pets has also been shown to have significant therapeutic effects. While cat lovers and certain ornamental birds have been of considerable benefit to human emotional states for over four thousand years (horses have long been one of our favorites), none of our domesticated animals can Compete with the role played by the dog.The literature on this subject is enormous, ranging from quasi-neurotic poetry to psychoanalytic studies, showing that close interdependence is of great benefit to human beings.Dogs are almost derivatives of ourselves, and for most of us there is absolutely no doubt about that.