By: Kelly Marshall
Submitted: 2009-03-05 16:22:49 | Word Count: 590
Humans have always been aware of the fact that nature has not been as generous to them as she has been to other creatures. We neither possess strength, speed, agility, sight, venom or smell.
However, nature has bestowed us with the intelligence to identify our drawbacks and overcome them. Man overcame many of his drawbacks by domesticating dogs. Man uses selective breeding of dogs as it makes it easier for man to domesticate dogs.
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Why did man choose the dog to domesticate? Following are some reasons which attracted the attention of man towards dogs:
• Dogs are intelligent and instinctively loyal to the pack leader.
• Dogs are social animals and easy to train.
• Dogs are excellent hunters. This was the primary reason why man decided to domesticate dogs.
Other animals like cats are not pack animals. A single man with a pack of dogs at his disposal has much better chances of survival as compared to a group of men who have domesticated a single cat.
Man realized very early that the loyalty of all the dogs towards its pack leader can be exploited to his benefit if he established himself as the leader of the pack. This helped man make use of the assistance of dogs in his hunts.
Wild dogs were the primary competitors of human beings in the quest for food and prey. Canids or wild dogs were better hunters than men. Rather than trying to defeat the canids, man decided to overtake them and became their leader..
Why did man choose to domesticate dogs only?
a. The fox was unsuitable because it was a solitary nocturnal creature. It exhibited no pack order and owe no loyalty to the leader.
b. Coyotes and other jackals do establish permanent pairs. However, they do not proceed to form packs. Neither the fox nor the jackals offered the safety of numbers.
c. Wolves, African hunting dogs and dingoes had well established hierarchies in their packs and the subordinates showed total loyalty to the leader. This was the primary reason why dogs were chosen by men for domestication.
Domestication is not restricted to alteration of behavior alone. It involves alteration of the physical characteristics of dogs. This is done through selective breeding. Selective breeding has helped us ensure:
1. Domestic female dogs come into heat 2 3 times in a year as opposed to wild wolf females which come into season just one a year.
2. Domestic male dogs attain sexual maturity at six to nine months as opposed to wild dogs who require two years.
3. Domestic dogs remain always potent while male wolves are potent only during the breeding season.
Some Common Mistakes Owners Make When Calling The dog.
Many pet owners complain that the recall command never seems to work at all times. The fault may lie not with the dog but with you the pet owner. Think back and try to remember when the dog refused to obey your command. Did you call the dog
• when you were angry.
• for bathing, nail clipping or other activities it does not like.
• to put it on leash when it was prancing around in the dog park.
• to put it in a confined space.
• and offered absolutely no praise until it dog obeyed.
• and offered very little reward for obedience.
Make the dog understand that responding to a call can be a beneficial exercise. Call it, give it a reward for obedience, express your pleasure at its response and let it go back to having fun. This will definitely result in a marked improvement in obedience.
Author Resource:-
Article by Kelly Marshall of http://www.ohmydogsupplies.com, your top spot to buy dog sweaters & sweatshirts online.
