Mike Irwin
Staff
Eyes,
Dogs certainly were essential to man's cultural evolution given that by protecting flocks, herds, and fields they helped, and probably greatly eased, the shift from a gatherer-hunter society to an agricultural society.
It's no coincidence that the first widespread evidence of canine domestication toes in very nicely with the rise of agriculture.
That also had an effect on the dog, as well. With the need to constantly forage for food cut back considerably, there was more free time, which allowed some breeds of dogs to transition from predominantly working members of the "pack" to, eventually, predominantly non-working pack members, or the first "pets."
With pets came a greater understanding of the functional connections that are inherent between humans and the rest of the natural world.
Now days the toughest work my two dogs do is to hold the bed down when I'm at work and occasionally bark and growl when they hear a noise outside.
Several millenia of selective breeding, though, is tough to get rid of. My Border Collie is an inveterate herder. She herds me, she herds her sister, she herds other dogs at the dog park, she even started herding my mother's Greyhounds last time we were up.
Dogs certainly were essential to man's cultural evolution given that by protecting flocks, herds, and fields they helped, and probably greatly eased, the shift from a gatherer-hunter society to an agricultural society.
It's no coincidence that the first widespread evidence of canine domestication toes in very nicely with the rise of agriculture.
That also had an effect on the dog, as well. With the need to constantly forage for food cut back considerably, there was more free time, which allowed some breeds of dogs to transition from predominantly working members of the "pack" to, eventually, predominantly non-working pack members, or the first "pets."
With pets came a greater understanding of the functional connections that are inherent between humans and the rest of the natural world.
Now days the toughest work my two dogs do is to hold the bed down when I'm at work and occasionally bark and growl when they hear a noise outside.
Several millenia of selective breeding, though, is tough to get rid of. My Border Collie is an inveterate herder. She herds me, she herds her sister, she herds other dogs at the dog park, she even started herding my mother's Greyhounds last time we were up.
