Dogs have been domesticated for at least 14,000 years, which means they have been domesticated for all of recorded history. amirite?

They have been domesticated for wayyyy longer than recorded history. Like 3-6 times longer when taking proposed dates into account.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

Right, the timeline is insane when you think about it. We had dogs figured out like 30000 years ago but only invented writing like 5000 years ago. Shows what our real priorities were

by Anonymous 3 days ago

Surviving?

by Abbottchristian 3 days ago

No, good boys

by Anonymous 3 days ago

Just because I'm bored at work and like looking things up: The oldest absolute 100% for sure domesticated dog is this little guy, who was buried with humans about 14,000 years ago. According to this there's evidence of domestication as far back as 36,000 years. And then the end of prehistory varies by region and people, but the oldest date was about 5,200 years ago. So, if you pulled that "3 to 6" out of your ass, can you have it pick me some lottery numbers? The actual answer appears to be "2.6 to 6.9"

by Anonymous 3 days ago

True. It just blew my mind that we have no record of dogs prior to domesrication.

by maurine13 3 days ago

Why would it be odd when domesticating dogs was an integral part of us moving from an hunter gatherer to a settled civilisation? Domestication of dogs led us to recording history not vice versa.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

Recorded history is exceptionally short in the grand scheme of things. Recording realistically takes written language which is only about 5000 years old at its oldest and far younger in most locations. You've misplaced your wonderment onto the dog aspect. What you are really remarking about is how short of period writing has existed versus the length of times humans have.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

Op I get what you're talking about. The guy you're talking to is just being dense.

by Lonely_Vanilla4817 3 days ago

I give a similar but even more insane time fact. We've been cooking longer than we've been humans.

by marcelle21 3 days ago

Lol, that's a great one! Mind blown!

by maurine13 3 days ago

There are theories about dogs being a type of scavenger like a fox initially, and they grew and evolved as we did to become what they were when we started recording things.

by Kutchearnest 3 days ago

My favorite theory is that smart ones realized that humans throw away food and just followed them around It goes that humans had like general dumping piles and the would be dogs would stay around it without people realizing and if other bigger predators came to eat it the dogs would bark to alert the humans that it was around Eventually they just became used to each other

by Loud_Yesterday_5826 3 days ago

Oh very interesting!

by maurine13 3 days ago

They were wolves. They still are, cladistically. And they didn't evolve like that, they were selected for by humans.

by Sad_Cut_6827 3 days ago

This is a yes but also no answer. They are descendants of a now extinct species of wolf that evolved into them. They were never like the wild wolves we have today.

by Kutchearnest 3 days ago

No they were a different species. They were not grey wolves. There is grey wolf genetic markers in dogs, but it is due to interbreeding between the species, not evolution.

by Kutchearnest 3 days ago

Indeed! I didn't say 30,000 years ago because those findings are disputed, but I believe fossilized remains of that vintage were found that included people and dogs. I think the dog was even lame, which further supports the notion that the people cared for it.

by maurine13 3 days ago

This fact has long made me wonder if some dogs' fear of fireworks is a trait that made them more likely to survive living with us - the ones that retreat to a den when mortars start firing were more likely to reproduce.

by nicolettemuller 3 days ago

Oh very interesting. Seems like there's merit to that idea.

by maurine13 3 days ago

It's odd, when I lived near a military base, the gunfire from the range could be heard but my dog doesn't care (or when they test bombs out, which was louder boom). But a firework at the same volume, he cries and "retreats to his den" They sound a little different, but they're close!

by Giovannatowne 3 days ago