Dogs Descended from Wolves??

The other day I was reading a book about different dog breeds, and it included a section on wolf hybrids. Naturally the book said wolves are wild animals and can't be tamed. That got me thinking. Didn't the modern dog come from a wolf? I don't think so. If man today, who is supposed to be so intelligent and technological, can't tame a wolf, what makes us think 'cavemen' could? No, dogs were created by God as dogs, for a specific purpose: to work for us, play with us, and just be a good companion. They were made to be 'man's best friend'.

Wolves weren't tamed they were domesticated over thousands of years, that's how it's done!

Yes, cavemen didn't 'tame' the wolves, they learned, as did the wolves, that there was a mutual benefit in being together. I think the technical term is 'symbiosis'

I was going to make the exact same comment Mahooli, also there is archeological proof that cavemen DID live alongside the wolf, thus the modern day dog did descend from wolves.
Many species of dog, you can still extract wolf DNA from them.

Sorry but 'god' didnt do this one.

The dog is indeed just 0.2% different in DNA terms to the Grey Wolf...The dog is the Grey Wolf's closest ancestor - domestic or wild...The Grey Wolf's closest wild 'relative' - the Coyote, is 4% different in DNA - which shows how closely related dogs and wolves are.

The difference that we have is in terms of outward looks due to peoples funny ideas...lol...and in behaviour which has been shaped to fit a domestic situation. But underneath it all they all came from the wolf

Wow!! I didn't expect that! I apologize if I offended anyone, but I honestly thought most dog lovers, like myself, would rather believe that a loving God created dogs for us to be our companions, than that dogs are the result of a bunch of chance mutations.

Firstly not everyone believes in God and we all respect each others belief's and secondly the bible clearly states that the world and it's contents were there for man to have dominion over, no mention of creating an animal as a companion for mankind.

No, I was not offended by your blog at all, but being a logical sort of guy I prefer the 'symbiosis' thing. If you believe God created everything, there's nowt wrong with believing two of those things (Man & Dog/wolf) finding it mutually beneficial to team up together.

As a scientist and religious person myself I choose to believe a mixture of science and religion. I undoubtedly believe that, yes, the modern dog we know today was domesticated over thousands of years. It's just like breeding. Due to random changes in DNA, some wolves were born with traits that made it easier to have a relationship with man. Man of course isolated these wolves that were "different" and bred them together. Much like us humans today recognize that the offspring of a lab and a poodle is an animal with similar personality traits to the beloved lab, but also has hypoallergenic attributes associated with a poodle. Thus we purposefully alter breeding patterns so we can have labradoodles! Of course my religion leads me to believe that such domestication of wolves would not be possible without God who created a plan for the creation of the domestic wolf, AKA what we refer to today as "man's best friend"!! Meaning He created humans to be able to recognize when an animal (or a plant) can be domesticated, and He knew that man would eventually domesticate the wolf.

Why is it difficult to believe that changes over many thousands of years alowed a ancestor of wolves to gradually change into something like a huskey
But that in at the most a few hunderd years man can manipularte dog to as many different destinct breeds as a pug and a bernese and a poodle??
I am not a religious person myself but my father was a church of scotland minister and also had a science pHd - he had no trouble in belieiving in creation followed by evoluiton

Domestication happens, it has happened to dog and then it had happened to many food animals, companion animals and useful animals

You know, as a dog lover I am actually more comforted by the idea that a group of wild animals over time chose to live with us, and we worked together to the benifit of both species