Dogs: A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior and Evolution [Paperback]

Raymond Coppinger (Author), Lorna Coppinger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2002

Biologists, breeders and trainers, and champion sled dog racers, Raymond and Lorna Coppinger have more than four decades of experience with literally thousands of dogs. Offering a scientifically informed perspective on canines and their relations with humans, the Coppingers take a close look at eight different types of dogs—household, village, livestock guarding, herding, sled-pulling, pointing, retrieving, and hound. They argue that dogs did not evolve directly from wolves, nor were they trained by early humans; instead they domesticated themselves to exploit a new ecological niche: Mesolithic village dumps. Tracing the evolution of today's breeds from these village dogs, the Coppingers show how characteristic shapes and behaviors—from pointing and baying to the sleek shapes of running dogs—arise from both genetic heritage and the environments in which pups are raised.

For both dogs and humans to get the most out of each other, we need to understand and adapt to the biological needs and dispositions of our canine companions, just as they have to ours.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Biologists, Breeders and trainers, and champion sled dog racers, Raymond and Lorna Coppinger have more than four decades of experience with literally thousands of dogs. Offering a scientifically informed perspective on canines and their relations with humans, the Coppingers take a close look at eight different types of dogs—household, village, livestock guarding, herding, sled-pulling, pointing, retrieving, and hound. They argue that dogs did not evolve directly from wolves, nor were they trained by early humans; instead they domesticated themselves to exploit a new ecological niche: Mesolithic village dumps. Tracing the evolution of today's breeds from these village dogs, the Coppingers show how characteristic shapes and behaviors—from pointing and baying to the sleek shapes of running dogs—arise from both genetic heritage and the environments in which pups are raised.

About the Author

Raymond Coppinger is a professor of biology at Hampshire College. He is the author of Fishing Dogs and coauthor of Wheelchair Assistance Dogs.

Lorna Coppinger is the award-winning author of The World of Sled Dogs. Together they founded Hampshire's Livestock Dog Project.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226115631
• ISBN-13: 978-0226115634
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Animal Behavior & Communication

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 68 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good in its main parts July 16, 2004

By Bukkene Bruse VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The Coppingers in "Dogs" try to say a few different things. The main topics are how wolves became selected as dogs, what this implies for their behavior and training, and the ethics of pure-breeding and using working dogs as pets. In these core topics, this book is generally well argued and supported in the main, but suffers from hiccups of poor reasoning. In one example, when arguing why bigger dogs are better for the transhumance, the authors state "to cover the distance with half the steps means a longer lasting dog." Well, the bigger dog also takes heavier steps and big dogs are notorious for structural problems. However, these hiccups are minor distractions.

The first core topic that dogs evolved first as scavengers of human waste dumps is interesting. While still largely a speculative hypothesis, this idea is shown fairly well in the book to be more reasonable than the idea that humans got a hold of enough wolves to domesticate them by selecting the tamest ones and tossing the others. This has implications for training in that essentially sedentary dogs foraging at a dump are not going to have wolf behaviors, particularly the widely assumed pack hierarchy.

Another major topic is the discussion on why working dogs, with strongly ingrained motor patterns of behavior, are not going to be well suited for living in a house - unless you like being herded by your border collie. This too is well done and promoting the option of a more "generic" dog as a better household companion will do much good. There is also a section on how assistance dogs suffer by being bred and developed in manners inconstant with what makes for a good working dog. While this has been criticized as an argument against assistance dogs, a careful reading will show that it is a valid critique of how the system can be improved.

The Coppingers' critique of the profound wrong that is breeding for show will upset the most people. But it is also the best and most important argument in the book. And no, breeding for work, for behavior, which doesn't involve closing a stud book, is not just as bad or the same thing as breeding for appearance from a closed stud book.

Throughout the book, the Coppingers also try to discuss what canine evolution implies for Darwinian theories of evolution, but do so in a confused manner by misunderstanding gradualism in the modern sense as being slow, constant changes in morphology (they also use the word "saltation" in a broad and confused way) rather than the actual meaning of continuous, though possibly quite fast, change at the genetic level. They themselves argue that canids have not changed much genetically and that their diversity of form is due to developmental reasons with the needed genetic variation provided by hybridization within the species. Fortunately, these discussions are not central to enjoying the book.

The Coppingers write with a bit of wit, which I enjoyed. But most importantly, this book is unique to my knowledge in trying to be rational, rather than sentimentally anthropomorphic, towards dogs. As such should be read by anyone with an interest in them and their true well-being.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A mixed bag November 2, 2011

By Crysania

Format:Paperback

This book was divided into four sections, each detailing the various ways that people and dogs live and work together. I have very mixed feelings about the book so I'll organize this review (which does have some spoilers though as it's not fiction that may not matter so much) by the section.

Section 1 discussed a concept called commensalism - a symbiotic relationship that is good for one species but does nothing for the other. This is, ultimately, how the author believes dogs developed from wolves. The common idea is that humans took wolf pups from the wild, tamed them, and made them pets and working dogs. But Coppinger sites a lot of evidence to the contrary. He believes that dogs basically domesticated themselves once human beings turned to more agricultural pursuits be becoming the sort of village dogs you see in some cultures (he studied the island of Pemba, off the coast of Africa) feeding off the dump. The wolves who had less of a flight response to humans could feed more often and were able to produce while the others did not. Eventually they ended up as these 30 lb village dogs. In some ways, it makes sense. People have tried taming and domesticating wolves in sanctuaries and it never really works. They have to tame each generation and they're only just barely habituated and definitely not domestic. I thought this was really the best section of the book.

Section 2 discusses a concept called mutualism -- a relationship where both members benefit. He discusses three major "jobs" dogs can have: livestock guarding, sled pulling, and herding. He seems to have the most respect for the livestock guardians, who are bred to do nothing more than stay with the sheep and bark when an intruder (usually a coyote or wolf) begins to stalk the sheep. They travel with the flock and the shepherds, get plenty of food from them, and plenty of chances to reproduce. As a sled dog trainer, he seems to also have a fair amount of respect for sled dogs, again because they're simply bred to have the proper body shape and with it, they can pull sleds for thousands of miles. He definitely got my ire up when he came down a bit hard on herding breeds. He does do some sheep herding and has some border collies, but he doesn't seem to really like the dogs and spends a lot of time stressing their behavioral conformation and possible neuroses. Overall this isn't a bad section if you can get past some of his personal biases. I'm a Border collie kind of person, so I found his dismissal of the herding breeds a bit much.

Section 3 discusses a concept called parasitism -- a relationship where one organism obtains a benefit at the expense of the other. You might be surprised that this is the section discussing pet dogs (or, as he calls them "household dogs"). As the owner of a pet dog, I took a lot of offense and found a lot to disagree with in this section. Much of his argument is based on what has been done to purebreds, especially breeds like bulldogs and pugs whose faces are so flat that they have a hard time breathing and regulating body temperature and some even have a hard time reproducing properly. I agree that some of the purebred breeding programs are pretty detrimental to the dogs involved, but those are not the be-all end-all of household dogs. Some of his argument is also based around the fact that we put out a lot of money for these dogs and get "nothing" in return. If by nothing he means companionship, protection, exercise, love, and affection, then I guess he's right. While I really took issue with his assessment of pet dogs as parasites (and the idea that the dogs are necessarily treated poorly), I really took issue with his assessment of service dogs (including dogs for the blind, deaf, and various illnesses) as slaves. Yes. Slaves. In other words, they're forced to do their jobs, unhappy, and the person in charge of them gets all the benefits. I understand his issue with some of the way dogs are raised in some places and I understand his issue with the person who is getting the dog not being involved in the dog's raising and socializing, but ultimately that does not make them slaves nor unhappy to do their jobs. Have I seen unhappy service dogs? Yes. Have I seen really happy ones? Yes. It probably depends on the person they're paired with more than the job they are raised to do. Overall, I really had a lot of problems with this section and it sort of ruined the whole book for me.

Section 4 discusses the issues surrounding the naming of the dog Canis familiaris (as of writing this book they had not been reclassified as Canis Lupus familiaris, though there was talk of it), the age of the dog (which varies in reports from 135,000 years to 12,000 years), and why dogs come in such a variety of shapes and sizes and how to change those shapes and sizes. The material in this section was alternately fairly dense or rather glossed over, but it was a fitting conclusion to the questions asked in the book.

My other main issue with the book was that the author tended to repeat himself. A lot. Sometimes within the same paragraph. I think a rewrite to make it more succinct was in order, though I ultimately wouldn't really recommend the book even if he did. His conclusions about dogs being parasites and slaves is just wrong, in my opinion, and therefore the book is not quite worth the read.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your ordinary dog book. July 3, 2006

By Will Barratt

Format:Paperback

This is a book about dogs as a species, not dogs as pets. This is a science book, and a really good one. The author is a full-time biologist who knows genetics, environments, dogs (Canines), and field work. Starting with the question "Why are dogs different from wolves, coyotes, and jackals when they are genetically the same?" the author takes the reader along for field work, studies, and a look at working dogs, pet dogs, and village dogs. The work reads like a collection of after-dinner stories told to regular people, all woven together around the central point.

The reader will have to set aside bias about dog 'breeds' as canine genetics takes front seat. Further, some issues about 'breeds' run counter to what many people believe about their fine registered pet. This is often what happens when science bumps into belief.

This is an excellent read for anyone with an interest in humans, dogs, science, and the planet. It just happens to be about dogs.