How did we tame wolves and turn them into dogs

Calgary, Alberta
February 9, 2012 2:07am CST
We all know dogs are domesticated wolves and its really amazing how our ancestors gets to tame wild animals. I remember a documentary about the history of dogs. This experiment is what the scientist believes how dogs get to be tamed: In 1948 at Russia some scientist tried to domesticate foxes to be used for making fur(I know it sounds cruel). They selectively breed the least aggressive foxes or the ones who is the friendliest among the puppies. they noticed generation after generation, the foxes gets friendlier and friendlier. Its also noticeable that some foxes developed different colors of fur and some of them started to have folded ears just like dogs. ( that would be the reason why we have different colors of dogs) I think those Foxes are now being sold as pets but they spay them so feral domesticated foxes wont exist. this video compares the difference between domesticated and wild foxes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L58NPPQ5eI Dogs and wolves can actually mate but they have very different DNA. If we think of it, Dogs are not natural animals, humans created them, we have dogs now cos our ancestors got the patience to selectively breed wolves and turn them into dogs. One thing makes me wonder though, how did humans get to make miniture dogs out of those large wolves. did they selectively breed the smallest puppies out of the newborns. sometimes I think not all dogs came from wolves...some of them could be evolved from Coyote, Jackals and Dingoes but that is just my crazy theory.
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6 responses
@urbandekay (18278)
9 Feb 12
Well the size of wolves varies considerably, from huge creatures living in polar regions to small light desert conditions. So there was plenty of natural variance for breeders to take advantage of. As I understand it, the DNA of all dog breeds has been traced back to 5 wolves, sorry I can verify that off-hand, just remember reading it. Much of the behaviour change, and lop ears, have come about by selecting for juvenile traits all the best urban
3 people like this
• Calgary, Alberta
9 Feb 12
I didnt know that there are small species of wolves, that could be the reason why small breeds of dogs existed, the furry dogs could have been from polar and cold regions. I will try to research what are those 5 wolves were dogs came from. I am such a history buff and I will obsessively try to find this out. Domesticated pigs dont have tusks and they pink in color but I heard that when they got feral those pigs develops boar like appearance and develops dark skin and fur.
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@urbandekay (18278)
9 Feb 12
Good, I hope you post here what you discover, it will be interesting to read all the best urban
2 people like this
• Calgary, Alberta
9 Feb 12
if you are interested, this is the experiment Russians did to tame foxes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbcwDXhugjw I believe that is the same process wolves went through that's why they became wolves. The tamed foxes gets to develop different colors of fur. the scientist said tamed foxes seemed to develop a different DNA. so they might be evolving to a different species. Just like how wolves did turn into cats. We noticed that some dog breeds were developed for certain jobs too. How cats evolved is unknown for me cos, cats are still hunters even after getting tamed. I know cats are evolved from wildcats.
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@topffer (42156)
• France
9 Feb 12
When I was a child my parents had a wolfdog. All wolfdogs have a part of wolf DNA, up to 4O%. They are no more dangerous than any other dog, but in my country since 2000 you need a special authorization to have a wolfdog, because it is supposed to be a wolf... except when it is supposed to be a dog ! It needs an explanation : the International Canine Federation has recognized two wolfdogs, the Saarloos wolfdog -- an hybrid between a German Shepherd and a Siberian wolf -- and the Czech wolfdog -- an hybrid between a German Shepherd and a Carpathian wolf -- : as they are recognized, they are no more wolves -- canis lupus lupus -- but dogs -- canis lupus familiaris --. At the question "how a wolf becomes a dog ?" the response is "When it is recognized by the International Canine Federation." Natural selection of animals is a long process, and there were already small and big dogs during the Roman Era... Wolves and dogs are from the same family of animals : both are canis lupus. If you want to hybrid two animals, look first at their number of chromosomes. If it is not the same, it is impossible. By example, a fox has less chromosomes than a dog or a wolf and an hybrid is impossible, but a dingo has 78 chromosomes like a dog or a wolf, and an hybrid is possible.
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@topffer (42156)
• France
9 Feb 12
50 years is not a lot if you think about it. In the past I met a couple with a fennec. Everything was nice until the fennec destroyed a couch during the night. I would not want to adopt one of those "tamed" foxes. We were living in an apartment in a large city when my parents bought a puppy wolfdog. There was already a cat and they were very friendly : the cat has always slept with the wolfdog and they were playing together without hurting each other. I think that the cat was considering the dog like a pet, and there are days where I think that my own cat believe that I am his pet.
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• Calgary, Alberta
9 Feb 12
I think the silver foxes were already trained not to be disasters, they were also not sold as pups, they were sold as adults i think. I have heard Fennecs are not furniture friendly and needs a lot of toys. Cats are not domesticated, they were domesticating us.
2 people like this
• Calgary, Alberta
9 Feb 12
I heard that if you have a wolf dog you really need a big land with lots of trees or grass. I heard they were terrorist of the furniture cos they will tear them and rude the other animals and humans they dont recognize. I dont think I can have them if I have a cat and Iguana(unless I want those pets to die) and they were not meant for apartments. I think Ancient China was able to produce miniature dogs too but I dont remember china having small species of wolves so I dont know how they produced those cute critters. I find those tamed foxes appealing,they were said to be like cats but only more affectionate and loving. It took 50 years to tame them. I think when dogs are converted from being wolves, it took centuries. I dont think we really tamed cats, Cats are just taking advantage of us LOL. Its more like cats manipulated humans..LOL those evil cute critters.
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• Malaysia
11 Feb 12
I can only imagine the stress those poor foxes are under. Being trapped in cages. Both the domesticated and wild/fiercer ones... But on to your point. I was aware that dogs had some relation to wolves but I did not know that they were supposedly domesticated wolves that have changed over time. I figured it was similar to how lions and tigers are related to cats.
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• Malaysia
13 Feb 12
LOL yeah I guess until now nobody can actually really control a cat.
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• Calgary, Alberta
11 Feb 12
The dogs took centuries to be domesticated cos humans have no knowledge about selective breeding then, but they were doing it unaware. if you abandon dogs in a forest they will gain back the agression of wolves. Those foxes were originally bred for fur but when they got tamed, they were now sold as pets. They became tame after 50 years. They only use 1 specie of fox, which is the silverfox but because of selective breeding they develop different fox breeds. All Carp fishes use to be silver,but look how many colors carps developed when they got domesticated. Cattles were originally Buffalos and Bisons. Cats dont came from tigers though, Yeah tigers are cats but the cats we have now are evolved from smaller wild cats, we never fully domesticated cats though.They still hunt. They were not as submissive as dogs. Cats actually controls their owners....evil as they can be, I love them.
1 person likes this
• Calgary, Alberta
14 Feb 12
Now I miss my evil pet cat, RIP :( If I am rich I wont mind having a fox, I mean the foxes not adopted will be turned into furcoats, those foxes cannot be sent back to the wild cos they were fully tamed and their instincts were reprogramed for 50 years,. I think after few decades more breeds will develop.
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@Java09 (3075)
• United States
17 Feb 12
I always wondered how there are many different looks to the dogs if they are different sizes and appearances. Maybe they used different types of wild dogs.
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@Java09 (3075)
• United States
17 Feb 12
whoops didn't mean to post twice had trouble with my pc. sorry
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@Java09 (3075)
• United States
17 Feb 12
I haven't been on here in a very long time.I think it's been about two years.I decided to come back and use this site again.I see you got yourself a different account. I thought of that but didn't want to lose all my activity.But anyways that sounds right,there are different types of wild dogs and sizes.I do know they made the Australian Cattle Dog from dingoes in Australia. They're medium sized.
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• Calgary, Alberta
17 Feb 12
Hey, Long time no see. Based on the fox experiment, they used only 1 species of fox and they were able to develop mutations like foxes with folded ears, shorter tails and different colors of coat, that could be the factor with dogs too. I found out that there are small species of wolves too, so those could be the origins of miniture dogs. I wonder if this process is used to tigers thousands of years ago, we could have developed tigers with different colors of coats.
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@Java09 (3075)
• United States
17 Feb 12
I don't have an answer, but it makes me wonder how we got all these different varieties of dogs.They all have different looks and are different sizes.I always gave thought to this question.
@Java09 (3075)
• United States
15 Apr 12
Coyotes are a medium sized looking wolf. They resemble a wolf.
• Calgary, Alberta
14 Apr 12
I just found out that there are small species of wolves existing.
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@pogi253 (1586)
• Philippines
9 Feb 12
Unfortunately, lots of people don't know much about wolves. This leads to an irrational fear of an animal that poses zero risk to man. In fact, there have been no known reports of a wolf killing a human. Wolf pups are lovable. But, they are very defenseless to predators. Wolves have a lot of obligation to defend their puppies. Pups are not allowed to leave the den until they are 1 month old and all pack members are in charge for nurturing their puppies. Unfortunately, the mortality ratio for wolf puppies is 50%. Still, this lets other hunters and scavengers to increase, while restricting wolf inhabitants.
@urbandekay (18278)
9 Feb 12
"In fact, there have been no known reports of a wolf killing a human" Actually that is incorrect, what we can say is that there is no known case of an unprovoked attack on a human in the old world. Though attacks on humans riding horses have been known. all the best urban
3 people like this
• Calgary, Alberta
9 Feb 12
I think some people who adopted wolf pups got attacked by their pets though. they didnt know that it takes generations to fully domesticate an animal species. I think it take centuries for humans to to make dogs out of wolves.
1 person likes this
• Calgary, Alberta
9 Feb 12
wolves in captivity are mess to take care off though, The reason why modern dogs are so tame is that our ancestors selectively breed the tamest wolves out of every batch of pups born. I think lots of wolves die in the wild cos hunters kills them for their fur. That makes lots of wolf species are endangered. what amazing about wolves, they were monogamous and loyal to their mate....domestic dogs.... LOL if they were humans they already have aids due to multiple partners.
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