1 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:06,640 Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, Welcome to Houndations. I'm your host, Tony Peterson, 2 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:09,600 Speaker 1: and this first episode is all about our relationship with 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 1: dogs and how that came to be. Look, I'm of 4 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:21,639 Speaker 1: the opinion that we all want a better relationship with 5 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,079 Speaker 1: our dogs, but we might not know how to get there. 6 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 1: You know, that's kind of the gist of this whole 7 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:30,880 Speaker 1: podcast concept, honestly, But it has to start somewhere, and 8 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:33,879 Speaker 1: I don't think there's a better place to begin than 9 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:37,120 Speaker 1: trying to understand just you know, how our coevolution with 10 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:41,159 Speaker 1: wild canines came to be and what that means, not 11 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:45,159 Speaker 1: only for us but for our dogs. It's a fascinating story, 12 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,600 Speaker 1: complete with a hell of a lot of mystery. But 13 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: what it does reveal our clues to how lucky we 14 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: are to have dogs, and how much better we can 15 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: understand them once we know where they came from and 16 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:58,400 Speaker 1: what makes them tick. Now, there's a lot more to 17 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 1: this than most people think, and it's what I'm going 18 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: to talk about, right freaking' nowl I read a quote 19 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: recently that said most humans are far more comfortable with 20 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 1: unquestionable answers than unanswerable questions. We don't like the thought 21 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:21,640 Speaker 1: of not knowing what happens to us when we kick 22 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 1: the old bucket, So it's comforting to believe that we 23 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: are about to get a sweet new robe and float 24 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:29,480 Speaker 1: around on some clouds for eternity. With all of our 25 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:33,960 Speaker 1: old relatives and pets, we tend to develop worldviews that 26 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: fit mostly with what we can know or what we 27 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: have been told from a young age. We like answers, 28 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: and we like working with parameters that make sense to us. 29 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: Our brains are good at imagining distances we can walk, 30 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: but not so great at imagining distances that stretch way 31 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 1: beyond the limits of an evening stroll. Take a light year, 32 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: for example. This phrase gets thrown around a lot by 33 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: space eight geeks like me and you know, normal folks alike. 34 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: But what does it mean? Well, In short, in a vacuum, 35 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: light travels one hundred and eighty six thousand miles every 36 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:13,080 Speaker 1: second over the course of three hundred and sixty five days. 37 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:17,519 Speaker 1: That distance equals roughly six trillion miles. Think about that 38 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:20,119 Speaker 1: the next time you see a clickbait article on how 39 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 1: NASA might have found an exoplanet that could be suitable 40 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:26,959 Speaker 1: for humans and it's only forty light years away. Because 41 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: that's forty times six trillion if you want to get 42 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: that distance in miles, and might as well be an 43 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: infinite number as far as us ever getting there and 44 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,080 Speaker 1: figuring out if we can start building vacation homes and 45 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: Starbucks and stuff. We can't really wrap our brains around 46 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 1: distances like that, but maybe that's an extreme example. Take 47 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:50,639 Speaker 1: your beloved four legged friend. You might think of him 48 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: as a three year old lab or German short hair pointer, 49 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: or a huskier, a chihuahua, which, if you want to 50 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: pronounce it correctly, sounds like chiehuahua. After jokes like that, 51 00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: I like to wait a second so the folks who 52 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 1: want to send me an angry email telling me how 53 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:09,639 Speaker 1: uninformed I am can start looking up how to contact 54 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 1: meat eater. That lovable hound of yours might be a 55 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:17,960 Speaker 1: couple of years old, but she's also somewhere between fifteen 56 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: and forty thousand years in the making. That span exists 57 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: because archaeological sites with hard evidence put dogs in humans 58 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,080 Speaker 1: working together back to about the fifteen thousand year mark. 59 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:31,919 Speaker 1: The forty thousand year mark is more of a guess, 60 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: but it's an educated guess on how long ago the 61 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 1: first steps of domestication likely started now. If you try 62 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 1: and imagine what life on Earth will be like in 63 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 1: fifteen thousand or forty thousand years from now, you probably can't. 64 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: It's just too far. And the people who are alive 65 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: in that time span, you know, if people make it 66 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: that far, which seems like a big if these days, 67 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: they're going to look back on us the way we 68 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: look back at cave men and women. Now. Now, if 69 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: we could somehow break from the fourth dimension that is time, 70 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: and reverse course for at least fifteen thousand years, we'd 71 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: also see a world largely alien to us. And that's 72 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 1: a good place to start the story of modern dogs, 73 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: provided you want to ignore the millions of years of 74 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: evolution that led up to the wolves, which I do 75 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: because it doesn't do us any good for the show. 76 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: Right now, we have an idea in our head. You know, 77 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: some hairy fellow with a fresh kill, likely a prey 78 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 1: species that doesn't exist anymore, you know, sitting next to 79 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:36,040 Speaker 1: a campfire somewhere, roast and chunks of meat, while wolf 80 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:38,840 Speaker 1: eyes glow at the outer edge where the light meets 81 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,800 Speaker 1: the darkness. Maybe at first he took advantage of the 82 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: bountiful calories and tossed a bone or a chunk of 83 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: tissue or venison toward the wolves. We know canines are 84 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:54,599 Speaker 1: big fans of food, and that act alone could have 85 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: started the journey of us and dogs. The other possibility 86 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: is that old Grug and Aug were out scrounging around 87 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,360 Speaker 1: for some breakfast and found a wolf pupp or two 88 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:07,480 Speaker 1: you know, sitting outside their den, howling pitiful howls for mama, 89 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:09,919 Speaker 1: and they picked them up and brought them back to 90 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:13,800 Speaker 1: the cave to show the kids. Either as a possibility, 91 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:17,159 Speaker 1: and both could be true. There's also an argument to 92 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:20,440 Speaker 1: be made, and it has been made by canine researchers, 93 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,760 Speaker 1: that it wouldn't make any sense for a hunter gatherer 94 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:26,040 Speaker 1: to grab a wolf pup and try to raise it 95 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: to be doglike. We can't fully do that with wild 96 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: wolves today, and we have a hell of a lot 97 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,040 Speaker 1: more knowledge and free time than they did. There's even 98 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:38,280 Speaker 1: an offshoot theory of that that's gaining more traction. And 99 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:39,599 Speaker 1: now I know I'm going off on a lot of 100 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: tangents here, but this one's kind of cool, and it's 101 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: the one that points to the possibility that women may 102 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 1: have played the primary role in encouraging wolves to hang 103 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: around for a handout. If you think about it, while 104 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: the hunter gatherer lines are a lot more blurred than 105 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:58,040 Speaker 1: they used to be, it would make sense that if 106 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,719 Speaker 1: men primarily set out to hunt and women primarily stayed 107 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:05,359 Speaker 1: home to forage and raised the youngsters, trading some meat 108 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: for a guard dog would be a hell of a 109 00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 1: good idea. Now, I don't know if this question is unanswerable, 110 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,480 Speaker 1: but I'm starting to understand why we lean into unquestionable answers. 111 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: How this whole thing came to be is a mystery, 112 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:23,600 Speaker 1: but it did come to be, and to modern humans. 113 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: It's easy to think of a single event starting the 114 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:30,520 Speaker 1: coevolution of us and canines, but it seems clear that 115 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 1: it's a lot more complicated than that. Scientists first mapped 116 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:38,320 Speaker 1: a full canine genome in two thousand and five, which 117 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: was supplied by what I can only guess was a 118 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: very good girl named Tasha who happened to be a boxer. 119 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:48,880 Speaker 1: In this process, researchers try to decipher a bunch of 120 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:51,760 Speaker 1: clues as to where domestic dogs came from and how 121 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:54,720 Speaker 1: they came to be what we know of today now. 122 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 1: One of the things scientists have figured out is that 123 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 1: our domestication of dogs didn't follow the exact path that 124 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 1: it did with say, pigs or sheep goats. With pigs, 125 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: for example, genes show that breeding between domestic animals and 126 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:15,480 Speaker 1: wild hogs was rampant for a long long time. Ditto 127 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: for sheep and goats, but not dogs. The working theory, 128 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 1: and it's better than anything I can come up with, 129 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: is that humans had a special relationship with dogs right 130 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 1: from the jump. It wasn't advantageous for them to have 131 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: a dog that went out and had a conjugal visit 132 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: with a wild wolf, because that would halt or at 133 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 1: least slow down the progress of dogs becoming more and 134 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: more bidable and friendly, more like the kind of pet 135 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:47,760 Speaker 1: we want. Interestingly enough, one way this process didn't really 136 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:50,120 Speaker 1: differ from animals that were probably more likely to be 137 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: food than four legged security guards is that domestication seems 138 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 1: to produce tamer behavior and curly tails and floppy ears 139 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: and generally smaller braines across multiple species. It's like domestication 140 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: kind of sets genes to default to cuteness mode, the 141 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 1: unraveling of dog genomes to piece together a fuller picture 142 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: of how they came to be our best friends is 143 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: ongoing with the big brains at Cornell University looking at 144 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 1: dogs from various villages in Africa to see what they 145 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: can learn and to see how it will all tie 146 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 1: together with other genomes and archaeological findings. This is something 147 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 1: that's easy to be dismissive about, but it's actually pretty incredible, 148 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: kind of like how we can use the James Webspace 149 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: telescope to look back in time to at least close 150 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 1: to the beginnings of the universe, or how we can 151 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: use it to see stars and galaxies in various states 152 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:59,240 Speaker 1: of growth or decay to understand how the process happens. 153 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:04,720 Speaker 1: The DNA from domesticated dogs throughout the world, along with 154 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,600 Speaker 1: the DNA from various wolf species, tells us a lot 155 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: like that It lets us look back in time. It 156 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:15,040 Speaker 1: tells us things like that some species of wolves carry 157 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:18,320 Speaker 1: a tiny bit of domestic dog DNA, but modern dogs 158 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:21,600 Speaker 1: don't carry the wolf DNA. That points to the fact 159 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:24,840 Speaker 1: that I just mentioned about how it likely wasn't advantageous 160 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 1: to take the early dogs and their path toward becoming 161 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 1: the dogs we know today and slow it down or 162 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:33,840 Speaker 1: reverse it by letting an untrainable canine contribute to the 163 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:38,640 Speaker 1: soup that makes the next generation. This history is evident 164 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: in other ways too. Take the dingo, you know, the 165 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: Australian wild dogs that have a pensiant fornomming on babies. 166 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: They provide a genetic snapshot, complete with a time stamp, 167 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:54,200 Speaker 1: of when they first left New Guinea with humans as pets, 168 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: and how they eventually crossed a land bridge into Australia 169 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 1: where they rewilded themselves in the outl back. So they 170 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:05,320 Speaker 1: went from wild to somewhat domesticated to wild again, which 171 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: is all written deep in their genes. There are other 172 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:12,360 Speaker 1: ways Mother Nature reveals this curious case of coevolution to 173 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:16,720 Speaker 1: us modern humans, like how somewhere along the way, before 174 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:20,719 Speaker 1: we even figured out basic agriculture, we started burying our 175 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:26,800 Speaker 1: dogs on purpose with intent. In fact, in multiple locations, 176 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:29,079 Speaker 1: the burials of dogs seem to have pretty much been 177 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:32,720 Speaker 1: on par with the way they buried humans, which is 178 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:36,080 Speaker 1: something that's wild to think about. As important as we 179 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:40,320 Speaker 1: view our dogs today, our predecessors, at least some of them, 180 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:44,800 Speaker 1: seem to have felt the same way. Now, not all 181 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 1: of the dog remains show a pleasant burial of a 182 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:51,120 Speaker 1: good boy. Plenty of sites show that dogs were used 183 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: as a food source, which is no surprise. Some show 184 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:57,880 Speaker 1: signs of ritual sacrifice, which isn't much fun to think about, 185 00:10:58,000 --> 00:10:59,679 Speaker 1: even though we know that humans were the source of 186 00:10:59,679 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 1: play any of sacrificial offerings. Yet for some reason that 187 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 1: doesn't bother us as much, and I bet you can't 188 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 1: really say why. Those archaeological digs with canine remains reveal 189 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,920 Speaker 1: some interesting stuff about our coevolution, with the sites from 190 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:16,760 Speaker 1: about twelve thousand to fourteen thousand years ago showing enough 191 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:21,080 Speaker 1: genetic differences from wolves that researchers are very confident they 192 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:26,199 Speaker 1: are looking at domesticated dogs. They also had morphological differences 193 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:30,600 Speaker 1: like wider eye sockets and shorter faces. Burial sites in 194 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:35,319 Speaker 1: Israel and Germany and Tunisia and Sweden highlight further our 195 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:40,560 Speaker 1: relationship with dogs. Old dogs or dogs with severely advanced 196 00:11:40,559 --> 00:11:45,000 Speaker 1: conditions like distemper have been recovered, which shows signs of 197 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: being cared for even when they were decrepit or ill. 198 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:53,560 Speaker 1: The Israeli gravesite contains a woman's remains with her head 199 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: laying right next to a pup, as if they were 200 00:11:56,280 --> 00:12:00,960 Speaker 1: placed together. This happened about twelve thousand years ago, so 201 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 1: it's impossible to say for certain if that was the intention. 202 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:08,079 Speaker 1: But people smarter than me, who also happened to investigate 203 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:11,079 Speaker 1: the site firsthand, believe it to be true. That's good 204 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:14,720 Speaker 1: enough for me. Some dog corpses have been found with 205 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:19,880 Speaker 1: grave goods just like humans. Deer, antlers, pieces of flint, 206 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:23,480 Speaker 1: and other things that had real value have been found 207 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:26,080 Speaker 1: with dog remains in a way that speaks to intention 208 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:30,960 Speaker 1: and not coincidence. Through the fully mapped genones of more 209 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:34,120 Speaker 1: than two dozen wolves and dogs, we now know that 210 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,920 Speaker 1: by about eleven thousand years ago, there were five different 211 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:42,440 Speaker 1: lineages of dogs spreading throughout the world. Unlike domestication of 212 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 1: other animals, this kind of makes sense. It's easy to 213 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:49,360 Speaker 1: get a dog to go where you go generally, not 214 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:51,320 Speaker 1: so much when it comes to a herd of half 215 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:55,160 Speaker 1: wild cows. Now, while it seems like old school pupsters 216 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,880 Speaker 1: must have covered the land in lockstep with humans, the 217 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:03,960 Speaker 1: genetic story doesn't always match ours, which keeps the mystery 218 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,679 Speaker 1: of exactly where and when domestication happened alive and well. 219 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: Their story doesn't parallel our migration story as tightly as 220 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:14,800 Speaker 1: you'd expect. So it leaves a lot of those pesky 221 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: unanswered questions that we don't have the answer to yet, 222 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,959 Speaker 1: but a lot of people are looking for them. Now, 223 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:24,080 Speaker 1: fast forward if you will, about I don't know, ten 224 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:28,000 Speaker 1: five hundred years from there, which is really glossing over 225 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:31,439 Speaker 1: a lot, I know, but take into account the beginnings 226 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:34,360 Speaker 1: of a breed many of us love dearly, which is 227 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:37,880 Speaker 1: the Labrador Retriever. The lab story is one that is 228 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 1: unique but also kind of not sure. The specifics are 229 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 1: unique to the breed, but the general usefulness of a 230 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:49,280 Speaker 1: dog in a certain situation, mixed with a specific geography 231 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:52,640 Speaker 1: tends to produce a newish breed of dog from time 232 00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:57,959 Speaker 1: to time. The lab story highlights this quite well. About 233 00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:02,599 Speaker 1: five hundred years ago, there they were Spanish, French, Portuguese, 234 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:07,160 Speaker 1: and English fishermen sailing around the Canadian coastline, many of 235 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:11,480 Speaker 1: whom ended up in Newfoundland. Those sailors from various corners 236 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 1: of the world brought dogs with them, and on the 237 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 1: island of Newfoundland, they did what dogs do, and they 238 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: co mingled. Out of those canine trists eventually appeared to 239 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:23,040 Speaker 1: Saint John's dog, which came in a couple of sizes, 240 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:26,760 Speaker 1: with a smaller one developing a serious affinity for water 241 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 1: while simultaneously becoming pretty useful to humans, many of whom 242 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:34,280 Speaker 1: weren't nearly as fond of retrieving dead fish between their 243 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:38,560 Speaker 1: teeth while swimming and freezing cold saltwater. Those dogs learned 244 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: to die for fish, retrieved fishermen's hats that had blown 245 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:45,040 Speaker 1: into the swells, and could even die for cod that 246 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 1: had flipped off the hook and were trying their best 247 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 1: to get back into the safety of the depths. Fishermen 248 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 1: at the time had plenty of dog options, but given 249 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: the frigid conditions, they bred for the shorter coated dog 250 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:00,720 Speaker 1: to keep them ice free. Now imagine that you're a 251 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:03,120 Speaker 1: dog with a long coat to keep you warm, and 252 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:06,680 Speaker 1: some assholes decide to take your bloodline and essentially force 253 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:09,160 Speaker 1: you to live with a hooded sweatshirt versus a down 254 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: filled parka, all while asking you to jump into thirty 255 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: four degree water all day long. Those dogs were black 256 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:20,080 Speaker 1: with white markings on their face, chest, and feet. Today 257 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 1: you still occasionally see labs with white chevrons on their chest, 258 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:26,520 Speaker 1: but they aren't as popular as solid coated dogs because 259 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:30,680 Speaker 1: most people think they aren't pearbred. The first labs were 260 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:33,560 Speaker 1: so good at retrieving things in the water that fishermen 261 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 1: were inclined to show off their skills when they were 262 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:39,160 Speaker 1: back at home, which led to a market for them. 263 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:42,400 Speaker 1: Breeding ensued, and when they made it back to England, 264 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:44,880 Speaker 1: they eventually became the first batch of ingredients for what 265 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:49,240 Speaker 1: would become flat coats and curly coats. Over a couple 266 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:52,960 Speaker 1: hundred years, the Saint John's dog would disappear completely and 267 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,400 Speaker 1: the Labrador Retriever would become what it is today, a 268 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:59,880 Speaker 1: sporting breed that is almost universally loved and is used 269 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:02,400 Speaker 1: for so much more than retrieving something in the water, 270 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 1: although if that's a core component of why you want 271 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:08,280 Speaker 1: a dog, you'd have a hard time finding a better choice. 272 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: Their jobs vary from sniffing for illegal narcotics at the 273 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:15,320 Speaker 1: airport to keeping people calm when they're about to have 274 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:19,320 Speaker 1: a panic attack, you know, to helping the sightless navigate 275 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 1: the world safely, to so much more. And that's just 276 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:27,359 Speaker 1: one breed. Maybe it wasn't as important to our survival 277 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 1: as a species is figuring out how to chip certain 278 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:33,560 Speaker 1: stones into crude arrow or spearhead, or how to summon 279 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:35,880 Speaker 1: the light of the sun and a small batches from 280 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:39,280 Speaker 1: a piece of flint to create a fire for warmth 281 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:43,040 Speaker 1: and security, and the opportunity to make more food more 282 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:46,760 Speaker 1: useful to us. Maybe it wasn't as beneficial as looking 283 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:49,440 Speaker 1: at a weed like maize and over time developing corn. 284 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 1: Or the first human who probably didn't understand how easily 285 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: his spine could snap in two, who happened to probably 286 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:58,280 Speaker 1: on a dare, hop on the back of a wild 287 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 1: horse and hold on to its main until it finally 288 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:05,080 Speaker 1: stopped bucking. Maybe there were more important advances in human 289 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:08,520 Speaker 1: understanding and technology along the way throughout our history, but 290 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:11,359 Speaker 1: it sure seems like the blending of man and beast 291 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:14,679 Speaker 1: in what was surely one of the first harmonious times 292 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:18,119 Speaker 1: that happened, changed the course of our existence for the better. 293 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:22,000 Speaker 1: While that's pretty cool in and of itself, it's also 294 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:24,880 Speaker 1: worth understanding as a dog owner and a dog lover, 295 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,960 Speaker 1: and yes, as a dog trainer, which you might not 296 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:31,159 Speaker 1: think you are. But if you are a dog owner, 297 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:34,760 Speaker 1: then that's kind of your default setting, whether you acknowledge 298 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:39,760 Speaker 1: it or not to understand, at least on some basic level. 299 00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:44,200 Speaker 1: The sheer volume of years Tucked into our coevolution with dogs, 300 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:48,240 Speaker 1: along with the importance of their predecessors to ours, is 301 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:50,359 Speaker 1: to peak behind the curtain on how to have a 302 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:56,200 Speaker 1: better relationship with your dog today. Our largely symbiotic relationship 303 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:59,359 Speaker 1: has set the stage for not only the lovable pets 304 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 1: we have to, but for what we can do with 305 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:05,560 Speaker 1: them and how we can forge a better path forward, 306 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:08,320 Speaker 1: whether that's in a duck blind with a lab or 307 00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:11,119 Speaker 1: in a crp field with a short hair, or just 308 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,000 Speaker 1: about anything. In everything we do with our four legged 309 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:18,320 Speaker 1: besties on a daily basis, their history is ours, and 310 00:18:18,359 --> 00:18:21,360 Speaker 1: it informs how we choose puppies, how we train them 311 00:18:21,359 --> 00:18:23,720 Speaker 1: to sit or stay, or do double blinder trees in 312 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:27,800 Speaker 1: a national field trial championship. It tells us, as if 313 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 1: we need a reason why it's so easy to swipe 314 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:33,720 Speaker 1: the credit card when our dogs need some veterinary care, 315 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 1: or why it rips from us a piece of ourselves 316 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:40,520 Speaker 1: when their criminally short lives come to an end, and 317 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:43,200 Speaker 1: we can empathize with those folks of a past life 318 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:46,360 Speaker 1: who bury their dogs in just such a way as 319 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,040 Speaker 1: if they were sleeping and with a dear antler to 320 00:18:49,119 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 1: chew on as they run nose to the ground into 321 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:54,960 Speaker 1: the afterlife to wait with wagging tails for us to 322 00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: join them eventually. Look, all I'm saying is that dogs 323 00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:01,960 Speaker 1: are badass, and once you start to understand how they 324 00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:05,160 Speaker 1: got to be what they are, you understand how we 325 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:08,160 Speaker 1: got to be what we are too. That knowledge helps 326 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:11,159 Speaker 1: us be better together, although it mostly tell us a 327 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:13,399 Speaker 1: little bit about how to work with our dogs to 328 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:16,160 Speaker 1: ensure that they know what we are asking and in return, 329 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:20,199 Speaker 1: they know how to ask us for something. Now, I 330 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:22,840 Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed this podcast and that you come back 331 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 1: for more, because the next episode is going to leave 332 00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:28,280 Speaker 1: the past behind and focus on the present task of 333 00:19:28,359 --> 00:19:31,399 Speaker 1: learning how dogs communicate with us and how we should 334 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: communicate with them, which goes way beyond just giving them 335 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:37,880 Speaker 1: a command and hoping they understand it enough to give 336 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:42,120 Speaker 1: us the desired behavior, which is really the foundation scratch 337 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:47,160 Speaker 1: that the houndation of having a great relationship with your dog. 338 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,120 Speaker 1: That's it for this week of Houndations. I'm your host, 339 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,240 Speaker 1: Tony Peterson. I just want to say thank you to 340 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 1: every single person who tuned in for this. We hear 341 00:19:56,119 --> 00:19:58,959 Speaker 1: a meat eater truly appreciate your support. It means the 342 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 1: world to us now. If you want to get some 343 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 1: more info on dogs or white tail hunting, or trapping 344 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:06,800 Speaker 1: beavers or whatever, you can head on over to the 345 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:09,879 Speaker 1: mediator dot com to check out all of our video 346 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:12,960 Speaker 1: series and our podcasts, our articles. Maybe you'll find a 347 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,239 Speaker 1: new recipe there you want to try out. Maybe you 348 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:19,400 Speaker 1: want to go shopping and treat yourself at the Mediator Store. Whatever, 349 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: go to the mediator dot com and check it out.