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MANKIND’S FIRST FRIENDS

by Barbara "BJ" Andrews, Member SAAB

Dogs were the first animals to bond with humans thus enabling the domestication of sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, elephants and horses in that order.

Archaeological records depict our incredible relationship with the creature we know as “dog” began about 15,000 years ago.

Why a wild canine elected to become friends with early humans is not known but the first “written records” (scratches on stone) clearly indicate a wolf/canine coming to us of its own accord.

Feeding wolf-dogs has been depicted in archaeological records as a prominent part of the domestication of “wild dogs” but dogs protecting livestock (sheep, pigs and cattle) is thought to have occurred about 4,200 years ago in what is now Ukraine and West Kazakhstan.

There are lots of theories about domestication of the dog but they are supposition, guesswork based on a bone.

If domesticating a carnivore was as simple as feeding it a bone and scraps from your fire, then you should trust a tiger not to eat you. People feed animals every day and yet, every day someone gets bitten, gored or trampled. Only the dog seems to remember genuine kindness.

Looked at another way, animals happily accept food from us but only the DOG will stay when the food runs out.

I know because I’ve done 5 minutes of research. It really didn’t take that long but I persevered in order to be able to cite 99 experts for anyone foolish enough to disagree about the devotion and loyalty of the dog. The real question in case you never thought about it, is how much do you trust your other best friends, the human ones?

It’s a good thing dogs can’t read newsprint or they’d learn how deceitful some humans can be. Or perhaps they do know but being sent here with a purpose, dogs trust us anyway. The accounts of a “bad person” becoming “good” when attached to a dog could fill a Library…

Perhaps that’s why animals, dogs in particular, are here… to show us the way to humility, honesty and love in its simplest and most enduring form.

Putting history in print does not automatically make it credible but we can be sure that the dog made domestication and management of “livestock” as possible as it was practical. And for every nay-sayer, there is a blind or badly handicapped person who will just shake their head and caress their best friend…

There is no clear evidence of horse domestication in the archaeological record until nearly 5,000 years ago. One of our Science Board Members ^{{Ref #1}} observed that we humans had to feed our brains a lot of meat before we figured out how handy camels and horses could be.

The record of the largest animal used by mankind is held by the elephant. Images of the giant beast are depicted on soapstone by the Harappan culture some 4,500 years ago. They lived in the Indus Valley in what is present-day Pakistan.

It is worth noting that the elephant is second only to the dog as the two earliest examples/evidence of human-animal relationships. The human-elephant partnership clearly pre-dates the horse/human relationship, plus most elephants LOVE their Mahout and suffer greatly by the death of their mahout.

That said, let’s do some research on elephants, their loyalty, usefulness and memory for a new article.

If you have comments on mankind’s first friend or other animals you feel are remarkably useful and devoted to humans, please send comments or your article directly to Barbara "BJ" Andrews and note which article you are referring to OR if you are submitting a sample article for consideration. We welcome your opinion or information on our Facebook page too!

Reference & Related Article Information: {1} Science & Advisory Board  ~  Awakening With My Dogs

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