How the Dog Became the Dog: From Wolves to Our Best Friends [Hardcover]

Mark Derr (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 27, 2011

That the dog evolved from the wolf is an accepted fact of evolution and history, but the question of how wolf became dog has remained a mystery, obscured by myth and legend. How the Dog Became the Dog posits that dog was an evolutionary inevitability in the nature of the wolf and its human soul mate.

The natural temperament and social structure of humans and wolves are so similar that as soon as they met on the trail they recognized themselves in each other. Both are highly social, accomplished generalists, and creatures of habit capable of adapting? homebodies who like to wander.

How the Dog Became the Dog presents domestication of the dog as a biological and cultural process that began in mutual cooperation and has taken a number of radical turns. At the end of the last Ice Age the first dogs emerged with their humans from refuges against the cold. In the eighteenth century, humans began the drive to exercise full control of dog reproduction, life, and death to complete the domestication of the wolf begun so long ago.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In his latest book, renowned author and dog expert, Mark Derr, shows that one can be scientifically rigorous and still write a highly engaging and accessible account of how the dog became the dog. Derr shows how shared sociability and curiosity drew wolves and humans together resulting in a close and enduring relationship of mutual utility. If you have to decide which dog book to read among the many that are available, this clearly is the one to choose because of its scientific accuracy and easy-to-read style."

(--Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals )

"Mark Derr has produced a remarkable narrative on the origin of the domestic dog. Using the latest findings from such varied fields as genomic research, archaeology, comparative anatomy, and paleontology, Derr is able to piece together what is the most likely narrative for the story of how the dog became the first domesticated animal. His findings clearly show that widely held assumptions about the supposed integral role of neoteny in the domestication process are likely erroneous. Such findings are likely to be controversial, but Derr has compiled so much evidence that one will think twice before repeating the line that dogs are nothing more than juvenilized wolves. Because of this book looks at domestic dog origins from so many different perspectives, it may be the most important book written on the subject since Konrad Lorenz wrote Man Meets Dog in 1949. This book will fascinate anyone who has ever loved a dog."

(--Scottie Westfall, author of the Retrieverman blog )

"Derr's research spans the globe and considers mythology and literature alongside more scientific evidence as he explores the stories of Romulus and Remus and of Odysseus and his dog, Argus."

(--Sacramento News and Reviews

)

"Derr's richly detailed, well-sourced research, however, offers a full plate of choices and razor-sharp analysis to help you connect the dots while not undermining the authenticity of the big picture."

(--Seattle Kennel Club

)

About the Author

Mark Derr is the author of Dog's Best Friend and A Dog's History of America. As an expert on the subject of dogs, he has appeared regularly on The Charlie Rose Show, and in documentaries for A&E and The Discovery Channel. He writes regularly for Atlantic Monthly, Natural History, Smithsonian and The New York Times. He lives in Miami Beach, Florida.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover; 1 edition (October 27, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781590207000
• ISBN-13: 978-1590207000
• ASIN: 1590207009
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #469,303 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Animals > Dogs & Wolves

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Knowledge November 13, 2011

By Kevin Behan

Format:Hardcover

If one wants to understand the nature of dogs, this is a must read. First of all, beware critical reviews that fail to address the specifics of the argument Derr is making, which he backs up with the latest science woven into a logical train of speculation, the connective tissue in any theory, and which is clearly delineated as such. These critics use a vague complaint in lieu of critical argument. Expect a lot of resistance to Derr's thesis due to the current state of political correctness in dogdom which is trying to write the wolf out of the domestic dog's makeup, most especially to counteract the media phenomenon of Cesar Milan. (Ironically several years ago Mark Derr wrote an Op Ed piece in the NY Times entitled: "Pack of Lies" rebutting Milan's approach.) This is straight science by an accomplished scientific journalist and if you're willing to consider a fuller as well as the latest findings on how the dog became the dog, this book should sit right next to Coppinger's "Dogs" in your library. And then let them have at it in your mind.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Did this book have an editor? November 29, 2011

By Spot

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

...I think not.

The concept is fascinating, but the writing mostly poor. And there is blatant lack of editing. Some sentences are unintelligible even after several tries. The books is almost painful to read as each page seems to have some kind of error ranging from the obvious (e.g. "146,000 to 123 years ago") to awkward wording.

I did read the whole thing although parts of it were repetitious. I feel like he went thru the same ice age 20 times. But still, there is a very interesting premise that dogs and humans co-evolved and it certainly is a new idea. I look forward to more research in this area.

The description of how dramatically different dogs' lives are now vs. even a few hundred years ago, especially in the first world, is quite enlightening. I had never thought about how we now control every aspect of the dogs' existence whereas before they were much more independent (and still are in poorer countries).

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Slapdash and Sloppy Work January 10, 2012

By J. Libourel

Format:Hardcover

I found this to be a disappointing book. (I had eagerly anticipated it.) It starts out by discussing the tracks of a boy and a wolf or "dogwolf" found in association in the famous Chauvet Cave. The author sets much store on this supposed association. He completely disregards the possibilities mentioned in Werner Herzog's recent documentary on the cave that wolf might have been stalking the boy...or that the tracks were made thousands of years apart.

I am not a trained paleontologist or paleoanthropologist, so I do not feel fully qualified to critique the major hypothesis of his book--that dogs arose from a very ancient hunting partnership between wolves and humans or even pre-humans. However, when I find numerous errors of fact in things I do know about, I tend to be distrustful of an author's assertions about matters where I can't claim expertise. For instance, on page 68 among the animals mentioned as part of the massive dying off of megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene, he includes the aurochs. In point of fact, the aurochs made it through that period just fine. Some were tamed by our Neolithic ancestors to become our domestic cattle. In their wild form, they were familiar to the ancient Hebrews, Greeks and Romans (they were favorites of the Roman arena) and only became extinct in A.D. 1627. On the same page, the author evinces an old-fashioned prejudice against hyenas. In point of fact, hyenas can be very tame and affectionate if raised from cubs and can do almost anything a dog can as well or better. Although author Derr states, "There is no evidence that any human group tried to befriend them," in fact the ancient Egyptians did try domesticating them. The hyena's downfall as a human partner is their enormous appetite--they simply eat too much.

Again, on page 196, he mentions among the New World megafauna that were wiped out around the time of the arrival of humans, "giant rhinos" and "flightless rheas." There were no rhinos, giant or otherwise, in North America in the Pleistocene. The rheas still seem to be thriving over a large part of South America.

As I said, I am not a paleontologist. However, I do have a Ph.D. in ancient history, and I have studied the matter of dogs in antiquity somewhat intensely. On page 230, he says, "By the sixth century BC the Greeks recognized four groups of dogs: strong Laconian, or Spartan, hunting dogs; slow, powerful Molossian guard dogs; Crete dogs, crosses of Laconian and Molossian; and Melitan, a small, long-haired, short-legged dog." Now how do we know this? There is nothing notable on dogs in Greek literature before the fourth century. Since the Molossian dog was used for running down hares, it could not have been a "slow, powerful guard dog." This misidentification of the ancient Molossus dog with the mastiffs was the work of Renaissance humanists . Much of the rest of what he says about dogs in the Greek and Roman world is a mere regurgitation of 19th century romantic nonsense. I have been able to find no evidence that the Romans practiced dogfighting or used dogs against large carnivores in the arena.

In all, the book strikes me sloppily researched and poorly documented.

A final bit of evidence of the pervasive sloppiness of this book can be found on page 230, where the author attempts a sort of paraphrase of Homer and refers to "Emmaus, the swineherd for Odysseus." The faithful swineherd's name can be transliterated as "Eumaeus" or "Eumaios." Emmaus is a village in Judea mentioned in the Gospel of St. Luke! This may be nit-picky of me, but if the man is going paraphrase Homer, he ought at least to get the names right! I have to wonder if the copy editor was also asleep at the wheel!