Dogs Are Man's Best Friend

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Introduction Sixty-three percent of American households have a pet. Of that sixty-three percent, thirty-nine percent of American households have a dog. How many times have you heard dogs referred to as “man’s best friend?” Anybody who has ever owned a dog can attest to the truth behind that title because dogs are some of the best companions a person could ask for. Dogs also serve many purposes to humans aside from just being pets. History/Evolution The first element of research is the history and evolution of the dog. When humans emerged from the evolutionary process, they were greeted by a wag of the tail and a lick on the face. It seems like that sometimes. In fact, we evolved together, and our special relationship with canines has existed since prehistoric times. According to Darcy Moray, zoo archaeologist from the University of Tennessee at Martin, the oldest convincing case occurred in Germany, about 14,000 years ago. Not only was the dog buried, it was part of a human double grave (Honeycut). The oldest evidence of this human-canine bond in North America is between 9,000 and 10,000 years old, with dog burials documented from every major landmass in the world except Antarctica (Lobell). Animal DNA research studies show that man’s best friend, the dog, slowly evolved from wolves around 15,000 years ago after humans began selectively breeding wolves. The dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf (Honeycut). The dog was the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in human history. The widespread belief is that wolves evolved into dogs when our ancient ancestors recruited canines into human society to take advantage of its superior abilities, in particular its acute sense of smell and ability to travel and navigate long distances. Some, however, argue the change happened while wolves were

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