The history of relations

The theories of human origin are unclear and contradictory. There is also no single opinion about the origin man's best friend. Archaeological excavations have shown that dogs existed on the Earth 25-30 million years ago.

The wolf domesticated by the man became a dog. Scientists estimate that this happened in several parts of the world simultaneously, about 12 thousand years ago. Friendship between the man and the dog started long ago. The dog accompanies the man always and everywhere, in war and in peacetime, in wealth and poverty, in art, hunting, sports, scientific research, etc.

People and wolves found mutual understanding so quickly because they have the same social structure and common mental organization. Wolves live in pairs, but during the hunt they are led by the leader. Their duties are strictly discriminated: one of the wolves finds the trace, another blocks the way of the future prey, and the bravest ones attack. While attacking a herd one of the wolves is to cut off the future prey from other animals of the herd. The leader eats first. The rest can start eating only after the leader is satiated.

We may suppose that people who lived in more or less settled communities, threw bones and remains of food to hungry wolves, prowling around the settlement. Gradually wolves realized that people have more sophisticated types of weapon: stone tools, arrows and traps. They felt their superiority as hunters and started to treat the man as the leader, accompanying him at a distance while hunting and returning with him to the village to get its share of prey.

We can assume that over time people began to tame young wolf. As a result in a few generations appeared wolves, which took part in hunting not as observers but as assistants.

To tame horses, deer or elephant, people should at first catch them, put in a cage and suppress their will by force. The dog was the only animal that submitted to the human power without resistance. It was a friendship on an equal terms based on mutual interest – hunting.

Thus, the dog is a domesticated wolf, the oldest of pets. The evolution of four-footed friend happened very quickly. According to some reports, there are now more than five thousand breeds of domestic dogs, which got their physical and psychological qualities owing to the wolf or random mutation.

To make sure that dogs really existed in ancient times, and understand what social function they served, you must look at the drawings made by the ancient man.

However, prehistoric artists were more inspired by animals, representing an object of hunting. In the caves we can find pictures of different animals, but there are no dogs among them. Perhaps dogs were so habitual that they were not particularly interesting for the ancient artists. But later in the so-called prehistoric art a change occurred. Approximately in 4500 BC appeared the first image of the dog. It doesn't resemble any of existing breeds of dogs.

dogs resemble modern ones on Egyptian paintings.

Dogs are so firmly entered the human life that in some countries they have become the object of worship. For example, in Egypt they placed gravestones in memory of deceased dogs, on which they wrote a sad epitaph. Man, who killed the dog, was subjected to severe corporal punishment, and those who demonstrated brutality against these animals were subjected to death penalty. Persians also considered killing dogs as a crime. Persian laws described the dog as "watchman of herds and defender of man."

In pre-Columbian America after a man's death his four-legged friend was also killed and buried together with the owner.

As for ancient Jews, they weren't engaged in hunting and didn't feel drawn to dogs. In the Old Testament dogs are nominated 'the lower creations', who feed with waste on the roads. In the Bible, they are mentioned about forty times, and almost always pejoratively.

Wherever in order to survive, have to hunt or it was necessary to protect themselves from uninvited guests, people used dogs, constantly improving and creating new breeds and providing them with proper nutrition.

Since ancient times, dogs were used in war. Thus, the Romans used liaison and fighting dogs. They were put metal dog-collars on the neck with blades. On seeing such dogs enemies often escaped, not even joining the battle. But the worst of all was the fate of so-called liaison dogs. Military orders were placed in a small copper cylinder, which was swallowed by the dog. When it arrived to destination, often it wasn't time to wait for the cylinder to be got naturally, so it had to be killed.

In the first decades after the fall of the Roman Empire during the barbarian invasions dogs were forgotten, and they returned to the primeval state.

In the Middle Ages dogs, unlike cats, weren't accused in witchcraft and links with the devil. However, during this period people disgusted these animals. Yet in the Middle Ages dogs continued to serve as hunters. The more people were engaged in hunting, the more aware they were about the fact that they need an assistant, capable of hunting in the woods and swamps, which where so much at that time. During this period in England a good hunting dog valued as much as a slave.

In the Middle Ages dogs were kept in monasteries as guards, perhaps they helped monks to brighten up their lonely life.

This period was marked by the beginning of hunting dogs' specialization. They were used for searching the prey; dogs with good scent scared deer. Small dogs began to be used for hunting foxes and hares.

In the civil, military and sporting life dogs began to play a greater role. At that time there already existed treatises on caring for the dog, which recommended keeping dogs in heat, if they return tired from hunting, combing them out every day, clean their dishes, told about proper nutrition of dogs, etc.

In the Middle Ages, veterinary science was very undeveloped. At the same time, dogs were used to treat human diseases. Thus, it was considered that the white dog's blood can cure madness, and black could help in difficult delivery. The first knowledge of veterinary science and surgery came from Arab countries to Europe.

Over time, medieval customs softened, more attention was paid to dogs. Obviously, cruelty towards animals, which we can sometimes see in our time, is a heritage of the Middle Ages - the period of poverty, ignorance and superstitions. In the beginning of the Renaissance having a dog considered a manifestation of snobbery. People continued to hunt, but many people kept dogs for accompanying them during walks.

Women, especially aristocrats were not interested in hunting and preferred to keep small decorative dogs. They pampered them and decorated with ribbons, thus creating a fashion for expensive decorative dogs. It often happened, that for reaching the favour of noble ladies, it was necessary at first to be met with approval of her small favourite.