Learning about the History of the Friendship between Dog and Human

     Dogs have been man's best friend for thousands of years. Their companionship and friendship has saved hundreds and hundreds of lives as well as being a great help in less dire circumstances.

The oldest discovered dog skull was found in Goyet Cave in Belgium. The Goyet cave collections were discovered and excavated in the middle of the 19th century.

These collections were once again reexamined and the skull was dated back to 31,700 BP through Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Radiocarbon Dating. The skull is closer in shape to prehistoric dogs.

The wolf shaped head appeared later in the history of the Earth. Other prehistoric dog skulls have been discovered in Chauvet Cave and Mezhirich.

However, these skulls only dated to 26,000 years BP and 15,000 year BP. After closer archeological studies, the oldest skull is believed to be a mix between the wolf and domesticated dog.

It is believed that this was a wolf in transition of becoming a domesticated dog. The biggest change between the wolf and the domesticated dog was that the snout is much shorter.

Archeologists believe that the skull is shorter because of changes in diet, probably due to a budding relationship between the dogs and the humans. Some archeologists believe that the relationship began by the dogs following humans as they hunted and eating the leftovers from the hunt.

The first piece of evidence suggesting that dogs and humans were actually spending time together and sharing a life was discovered in Germany in a burial site known as Bonn-Oberkassel. It was in this burial site that both human and dog body parts were discovered.

These parts were dated to 14,000 years ago. Another domesticated dog was found in China from the Neolithic Jiahu site.

This site is located in the Henan Province and the dog was dated to sometime between 5800 BC and 7000 BC. Other sites were also located that date to more recent times in Europe.

Skateholm is one of the Mesolithic sites in Sweden that have dog burials. These burials show that these dogs were cared for and very important to hunter gatherers.

In addition, Danger Cave in Utah features dog burials as well. These dog burials date to 11,000 years ago.

While it is still being debated, it is generally believed that the domesticated dog originated in the Middle East. This has been decided based on the discoveries of bones and the observed evolution.

It took a long time for dogs to become truly domesticated. It is generally believed that dogs began to become domesticated over 30,000 years ago.

It was not until 14,000 years ago that this relationship became strong enough to be a working relationship based on the information that archeologists have.

Today domesticated dogs serve in a variety of purposes. There are dogs that work as service dogs, others are pampered friends, others help provide food to the family through hunting, and so forth.

Other dogs have aided farmers in herding, put their lives at risk to save humans, pulled sleighs, and performed innumerable other tasks. Their loyalty and friendship is invaluable to humans today.

Dogs are also an important part of human therapy and rehabilitation from illness and injury in a variety of situations. Dogs are often seen in prisons.

Some of the dogs are guard dogs and others are service dogs. Some dogs are in prison to be cared for while they are found a loving home to adopt them.

Prisoners are provided the opportunity to have something else to do as they train and care for these dogs. Often these prisoners are eager to prove they can be released on good will and treat these dogs very well.

Dogs are also very therapeutic for the lonely, sick, and elderly. It is very important for all humans to feel accepted and like they are loved.

Dogs can often provide this reassurance because they do not judge. They are cheerful animals and they specialize in making humans cheerful as well.

The American Heart Association has also discovered that stress levels lower when a dog is present for only ten to twelve minutes. The lower stress levels result in lower blood pressure levels and lower production of bad hormones and chemicals.

Dogs provide innumerable services and undying devotion to humans as long as they are treated well. The benefits dog provide to humans are invaluable.

Dogs have certainly saved human lives in more than one way. Their friendship will last long into the future.