Less defined stop, yes. But they also compared their skulls and pointed out that dogs' muzzles are shorter than wolves.

My understanding is the the Dingo is a domestic dog gone wild.
Becky

Yes but they are the direct decendants of some kind of extinct wild dog, are they not? Perhaps I might be mistaken.

Yes the cattle dog did come from the dingo, not sure about the kelpie but the cattle dog did for sure.

Yep, and quite crucial to understanding how dogs are different from wolves, when they became domesticated, certainly behaviourally. In the sense that dogs truly are not wolves, they are - dogs

Wus
x

This is a good article, I've copied out a few pertinent bits.

http://www.apbc.org.uk/blog/dogs_wolves

Dogs and Wolves – Different Socks in the Trousers of Evolution
21st October 2009

Do you think dogs evolved from wolves? Do you think dogs behave like wolves? Think again.

.....

In the trousers of evolution, wolves took one leg and dogs took the other. Now, wolves are an itchy grey school sock whilst dogs are a variety of multi- coloured, patterned, ankle, knee-high, over-the-knee, woolly, sheer and even specialised socks with five individual little toes. Okay, they’re still in the same trousers, but you can’t make a matching pair of socks from dogs and wolves.

.....

Dogs and wolves share the same ancestor (probably some kind of robust mountaineering sock) but neither is still the same.

....

So, when people say that dogs evolved from wolves, it is only true in the sense that dogs evolved from the dog/wolf like creature that existed at the time (probably in the region of 15,000 years ago), not that they descended from animals with the characteristics of present day wolves.




Wys
x

Link to the important Silver Fox experiment if anyone's interested :

(nice piccies)

http://www.hum.utah.edu/~bbenham/251...Experiment.pdf

Wys
x

so going on that.. do you think the 'saarloos and the csv' are in a want for a better word wrong?

Who, me?
I honestly don't know enough about the breeds to comment. I am not sure I'd say any breed is ever "wrong" - as long as the dog concerned is happy living in a domesticated setting.

Do you feel they are?

Wys
x

This is making for excellent reading

Funny this thread should pop up just as I'm working my way through a book on canid evolution.

Humans are apes, doesn't make us chimpanzees, we share a common ancestor way back when and theoreticly we could hybridise, some people make me wonder if we haven't already lol.

The point is, that in a fassion we are to chimps what dogs are to wolves, a close cousin that shares similarities but also has enough differences to define them as species in their own right.


P.s.
"Robust mountaineering sock"...love it.