The origin of dogs

The BBC has produced a program on wildlife in Arabia. A camera crew visited the south-east corner of the peninsula, where the tankers turn left to enter the Persian Gulf. This mountainous terrain is part of Oman. It is inhabited by herdsman of domesticated goats and a large range of wild animals. These include a rare leopard and the Arabian wolf.

These were filmed at night, with special cameras that react to movement, as the wolves are very shy and the leopards even more so. The Arabian wolf is much smaller that the Alaskan or Siberian wolves. Few weigh more than 40 pounds ( 18 kilos). They look exactly like Maria our Podengo Medio. The hair is perhaps a little shorter. the tail a little bushier. But the summer temperature reaches 45C (113F). Like Podengos, the wolves shed hair in summer and grow it longer in winter. They are fine,night hunters and can run very fast. Cleasrly we have here the ancestor of the Podengo Medio, a member form of Lupus Palepes or the pale-footed wolf family.

The other interesting inhabitants of this locale, are the humpback whales. They are unique amongst whales, as they do not migrate to colder waters, to feed, as all other whales do. Instead they rely on the Monsoon storms to throw up colds water from the deep, bringing lots of fish for them to fees on.

Some years ago, the BBC produced a program about how wolves became dogs. It consulted experts from England, Germany and Russia. The film set out to explain just how wolves were transformed into modern dogs, with such bewildering varieties. It started by showing cross breeding between a female gray wolf and a poodle. Presumably the breeders had deliberately selected the least wolf-like dog. The litter bore no resemblance to either parent: behavior was between that of wolf and dog. Hair was black like the poodle, but rough like the wolf.
The next generation showed throwbacks to both wolf and poodle.

Next they showed an experiment in Siberia, started in the Soviet era. Ts was to take wild Siberian siiver foxes, to see it they could be tamed. They carefully selected from hundreds of foxes, the male and female that were least frightened of or aggressive to humans. After eight generations of repeated, selective breeding, cubs were born that nuzzled humans from birth.

The experts explained that man valued the wolf in hunting, for its superior speed and sense of smell. The combination suited some wolves also because of human`s ability to set traps, which the wolves could drive the prey towards. This was an easier hunt. Over time some wolves opted to live close to human settlements. Most dogs in Africa, Asia and Latin America still live a semi-wild existence, but close to human habitation.

It was not long, before, humans started to breed their dogs, selectively. The most important aim was to reduce the wolf`s ferocity. But once this was achieved, other attributes were encouraged. Thus the Labrador was bred in the British colony of Newfoundland by Portuguese fishermen to help with their nets. Later, British sportsmen bred them to retrieve birds, which they had shot. The Scots and Australians bred Collies and Heelers to herd sheep and cattle. The Germans bred the Shepherd and Boxers and the Swiss St Bernard`s for mountain rescue work.

The Podengo is sometimes called a primitive dog because it does not seem to have been bred. But actually that is because the Portuguese and Spanish decided to keep it for its original function - catching rabbits. Who can doubt that the Iberians kept their best hunters to breed, so that the Podengos became better and better at their natural role.