> Ray Audette wrote:

>Although the earliest anotomical dogs are dated about 12,000 years ago, DNA
>sugests that they separated from wolves about 120,000 years ago. ( How long
>is a dog generation?)


Hi, Ray; I do dogs. Most now accept that there is no difference in DNA
between wolves and dogs. The many shapes and variations are genetically
identical, but created by precariously balanced breeding. Dogs will revert
to a "protodog" type within a very few generations. A dog may breed at
seven months, so a dog generation is about that long, minimum. OTOH, a sire
may function his whole life long, which can be a good many years if the
diet and circumstances are good. My dog was sired when his dad was 13.

I think the first "dogs" were just those who looked to a human for pack
leadership, perhaps "rejects", or low status animals from a wolf pack, or
responding to some intuitive clue from a human that incited their loyalty.

Wouldn't the Egyptian dogs have predated 12,000 years? Are there not dogs
in the Lascaux cave pictures? Do you have any idea how the "dogs" were
anatomically differentiated from the "wolves".

ginny

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