“He listens to me with a stare so cute!
He tries to catch his tail like a race!
He may not tell me what is going on inside his mind!
But I know what my pet feels; just look at his face!”
In the whole history of Human civilization, the Homo Sapien has the distinct honor of domesticating fully only one animal! Of course other animals are also domesticated but the complete domestication means that this animal has the life and time completely dependent on the human!
Yes! The dog! The menace of stray dog notwithstanding which is a different matter altogether, all said and done, many of the modern dog species cannot survive without a human feeding clothing and vaccinating! Cats do come close but you can never actually ‘Tame’ a cat or ‘bell’ a cat! In fact in one of the recent comments by an experienced observer was of a sketch of a cat and the first thing which was asked was how did the cat allow the ‘collar’!
Both Yuval and Desmond in their books have mentioned about this the way how these wild species finally became the best friend of the man (or woman!) is an interesting story!
It is not certain exactly when our ancestors first began to domesticate this valuable animal, but it appears to be at least ten thousand years ago!
The wild, wolf-like ancestors of the domestic dog must have been serious competitors with our hunting forebears. Both were co-operative pack-hunters of large prey and, at first, little love can have been lost between them. But the wild dogs possessed certain special refinements that our own hunters lacked. They were particularly adept at herding and driving prey during hunting maneuvers and could carry this out at high speed. They also had more delicate senses of smell and hearing.
If these attributes could be exploited in exchange for a share in the kill, then the bargain was a good one. So an association with them would be beneficial to both! A perfect symbiosis if there ever was one!
Somehow an inter-specific bond was forged. It is probable that it began as a result of young puppies being brought in to the tribal home base to be fattened as food! Yes! Even the cute dog puppies you like to love and cuddle nowadays would have been eaten by the early Homo Sapien!
Then the value of these creatures as alert nocturnal watch-dogs would have scored a mark in their favor at an early stage! Those that were allowed to live in a now tamed condition and permitted to accompany the males on their hunting trips would soon show their paces in assisting to track down the prey. Having been hand-reared, the dogs would consider themselves to be members of the naked-ape pack and would co-operate instinctively with their adopted leaders!
Selective breeding over a number of generations would soon weed out the trouble-makers and a new, improved stock of increasingly restrained and controllable domestic hunting dogs would arise. Basically the old adage of get in line or get out!
It has been suggested that it was this progression in the dog relationship that made possible the earliest forms of ungulate prey domestication. The goats, sheep and reindeer were under some degree of control before the advent of the true agricultural phase, and the improved dog is envisaged as the vital agent that made this feasible by assisting large-scale and long-term herding of these animals!
During more recent times, intensified selective breeding has produced
a whole range of symbiotic dog specializations. The primitive all-purpose hunting dog assisted in all stages of the operation, but his later descendants were perfected for one or other of the different components of the overall behavior sequence. So now we have specialized dogs, their contribution being confined largely to their skill sets like rounding up of domesticated prey are the sheepdogs while others, with a superior sense of smell, were inbred as scent-trackers (hounds). Then again we have the those with an athletic and were employed to chase after prey by sight have now become racing dogs like the greyhounds!
Another group were bred as prey-spotters, their tendency to ‘freeze’ when locating the prey being exploited and intensified (setters and pointers). Yet another line was improved as prey-finders and carriers (retrievers). Small breeds were developed as vermin-killers (terriers). The primitive watch-dogs were genetically improved as guard-dogs (mastiffs!)
Now you also have the guide dogs and the K9 units all over the world who aid their best friends in many possible ways! Of course the most common ones are the cute and cuddly ones who are just happy to see you and wag their tail and fetch! With their keen sense of smell and the relation with the humans these amazing creatures are truly the super star of pets! A true super star of the Telugu Film industry also was birthday celebrity Ghattamaneni Siva Rama Krishna Murthy aka Krishna! If you think Mahesh Babu looks good, you must check out his stylish and smart father Krishna and you will realise that the apple did not fall too far from the tree!
Now check out some old Krishna hits (actor or God, your choice!) and Sleep!
Shubh ratri!
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