Dogs and Their Humans ... the Long Bond
We have been shaping each other for 16,000 years. We're still at it.
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The moment you bring a dog into your life you begin a journey of mutual affection and understanding that is unique in the Universe. The love we humans feel among ourselves is always complicated and subject to highs and lows and even bitter ends but the love between us and our dogs is simple, direct, steadfast and unchanging. It is truly one of the greatest gifts to evolve out of our prehistoric past.
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Dogs were the first animals to take up residence with people and the only animals found living with people in all cultures around the world. They have an amazing ability to adapt to the needs of the humans with whom they live.
Moreover, dogs have an uncanny ability to “read” our emotions, to detect good people from bad ones and to comfort us in times of stress.
I once tried an infantile prank, changing my facial expressions to trick my floppy-eared friend, Pepper. To my contorted “happy face” he sat there, unimpressed. But when I changed that to a look of enraged fury he looked me square in the eye, tilted his head to one side and then the other as if to ask “what in the hell are you doing?” He was not fooled but he made me feel like a fool.
Dogs are vital in warfare, rescue efforts, guard duty and police work, they are healing influences in autistic children and are successfully able to guide blind people through congested cities. They are good hunters and exceptional trackers. And they can be the closest and dearest of friends.
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We go way back!
In 1914, workers quarrying basalt in the town of Oberkassel, a suburb of Bonn, Germany, discovered the remains of what was indisputably a dog. Laboratory tests on the animal’s teeth revealed that this dog was a 28-week old puppy who had suffered from canine distemper. Far more remarkably, this puppy’s remains were found buried sequentially between a male and a female human with strong dental evidence that they cared for the dog and helped to extend its life. The burial was dated to 14,220 years ago. This is the earliest evidence we have of a dog being part of a human family.
Dogs obviously derive from wolves. At some point they broke off genetically to become separate from wolves, probably by the time they had evolved the ability to digest starchy foods which were the remains of hunter-gatherer meals. Wolves remained exclusively carnivorous while prehistoric dogs took up residence near ancient campfires and enjoyed the easy pickings their humans discarded. It was a short step from that to curling up with your family’s mutt on a cold winter night. And perhaps giving him or her a name.
People have been telling dog stories since civilization began. Native American peoples included dogs in their mythology, along with canine cousins, the coyotes and wolves. Dogs probably pulled sleds across the Bering Land Bridge for the first people who migrated to the North American Continent.
One of the best episodes about dogs is from the heroic expedition to the South Pole by the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen. Thanks to his dogs, he and his team were the first people to plant their flag there on December 14, 1911, five weeks ahead of the competing British expedition led by Commander Robert Scott.
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Scott and the men who accompanied him on that fateful journey all died after planting their flag at the pole five weeks after Amundsen. Perhaps the most significant reason for that tragedy was Scott’s insistence on using mules and gasoline-powered sleds for his expedition. They were finally forced to haul the sleds across the ice themselves. Amundsen, who had long familiarized himself with the ways of Eskimo survival and their use of dogs in the northern Arctic, made it in relative comfort and safety. You can read about this remarkable feat in Roland Huntsford’s excellent book; “The Last Place on Earth.”
The dog pictured below is “Chips”. He was a German Shepperd-Collie-Malamute mix. He doesn’t look at all mean or aggressive but he was one tough American combat fighter in World War 2. On July 10, 1943, Chips and his handler were pinned down on a Sicilian beach by an Italian machine-gun team. Chips broke from his handler, darted off and jumped into the pillbox, attacking the gunners. The four crewmen were forced to leave the pillbox and surrendered to U.S. troops. In the fight, he sustained a scalp wound from a pistol shot. Later that day, he helped take ten more Italians prisoner. Chips stayed with the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division until the war in Europe ended in 1945. He was returned to his original owner in Lawrenceville, NY, who had loaned him to the Army for the duration of the war.
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The late comedian, George Carlin, once said what made dogs so special was that they had eyebrows. They used these as a form of sign language. Indeed, dogs have faces full of character and a range of facial expressions, eyebrows included, which can be good indicators of what the dog is thinking or feeling.
“Man’s best friend”
In 1870, a farmer in Warrensburg, Missouri, shot his neighbor’s dog. The neighbor sued for damages. In the court case which followed, the plaintif’s lawyer gave an impassioned speech to the jury which included the now famous phrase. It persuaded them to find in his favor. A statue of the dog, whose name was Old Drum, stands today outside the Warrensburg Court House.
“The Speed of Life”
(A personal rememberance)
We picked Pepper up at my son’s house when he was 11 weeks old then drove him a thousand miles back home in the car, alternating between Judy’s lap and some pillows in the back seat. By the time we pulled into our driveway the little fellow had adopted us.
Over the years I would take him with me everywhere I possibly could for the dual reason that he loved going anywhere in the car and that he wanted to be with me every minute. He followed me into the bathroom, slept on my bed and curled at my feet at suppertime.
He made it for 15 wonderful years and then he died in my arms when his old heart finally gave out. I’m glad he knew I was with him and I tried not to reveal that my heart was broken. It occurred to me then that if you really want to know how fast time flies just get a puppy. They are never with us long enough.
But oh, let me tell you it is so very much worth it!