Some Trivia About Dogs And Their Ancestors ...

The dog has long been regarded with the phrase "man's best friend" - and (according to cave paintings and other sources) it is believed to have been man's FIRST friend from the animal kingdom. The early dog was actually half-wild wolves and jackals and is said to have been domesticated as far back as sixty thousand years ago. Cross breeding in along with domestication helped to rapidly develop their usefulness to man because of their natural hunting ability. The domesticated dog will bark playfully or wag it's tail - the wild dog rarely barks and never wags its tail; yet both share a common instinct - they both howled back in the early days and they still do so today.

Another aspect associated to the dog is their devotion and loyalty to their masters - yet this is actually a bit of a half truth. Though said "a dog never bites the hand that feeds it" in actuality many dog owners are indeed bitten by their beloved "Fido" - and just as many up and leave their masters, disappearing to never return to their "home". This is not in the majority, thank goodness. A particular story about a dog's faithfulness involved Ulysses who had a dog named Argos. For twenty some odd years, good ol' faithful Argos waited patiently for the return of his master - Ulysses finally returned and was attired in a disguise, but Argos instantly recognized his master, even though by now the dog was now feeble due to age, and greeted Ulysses with a happy wag of the tail .... then keeled over on its side, dead as a result of his joy.

So why did the dog seem a logical choice for early man to try to domesticate and utilize? Well even though the dog is color-blind (regardless of what early man thought the dog could or could not see) their hearing is quite advanced - hearing over 16 times the range that man can. This now -known feature of the dog has been linked back to further explain why the dog may howl - since certain sounds (like the howling of a wind or high-pitched musical notes) would easily irritate the dog's sensitive ears and thus he would show this irritation by howling (much like a cat would show irritation by swatting at its tormentor with it's claws).

Over the years the dog had shown it's worth to man thru assisting shepherds with the flocks or hunters - and the dog still is showing its value to man through the aid it gives police officers and the sight impaired. Who knows what is next up the mutt's fur-coated sleeve?

Just as the dog was featured in ancient myths -- so was one of its ancestors, the wolf. In the ancient Roman story about Remus and Romulus (the mythical founders of Rome) that were said to have been suckled by a she-wolf. This story was recalled not so long back as to its possible validity (of sorts) after the discovery of the 2 children who were dubbed as to being the Wolf Children Of India that were reported to have been cared for and raised by the she-wolves in a jungle.

The wolf had also worked its way into our language, even to this day, similar in style that playing cards had. How many of you had heard of the man who "wolf whistles" and heard someone refer to a man as a "wolf" due to his behavior toward women - the ravenous, desiring glances. And how many men could also be accused of using the lure of being a "wolf in sheep's clothing"?

The association of the wolf to men of this type of behavior stems back to Ancient Rome - again. There was a religious celebration held on February 15th and known as Lupercalia. Since the she-wolf was the foster mother to all Romans (due to her nurturing of the twins), the animal was treated with sacred reverence and was also thought to be symbolic of fertility. The Romans didn't deny that the wolf could be quite the reverse in nature - giving in to the ravenous blood-thirsty nature - so had to be approached with great caution. To balance this due-personality and nature of the wolf, the Romans did the same thing as had the Egyptians or Grecians when dealing with an entity or animal that was both sacred but vicious - elevated it to godhood! Animal gods with the duo-roles, had the reputed power to revert at will without warning - so, to help in rectifying this, other gods were assigned to watch over the unmanageable ones. Thus the Romans solved this problem by the development of the god, Faunus. But we are getting sidetracked a wee bit from the "wolfish" explanation of phrases or catchwords ....

During Lupricalia, the priests would be clad in goatskins and made their way through town - striking all the women they encountered with goatskin thongs to insure to the woman fertility and easy delivery. The "wolf whistle" performed by men today when they spy a pretty woman would possibly be the equivalent of the whistling sounds of the goatskin thongs used at the ancient festival by the Romans.

Posted June, 1998 By Secretive aka Carol

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