The Goldendoodle...a Proto Dog?
Author: Dee Gerrish
For years, scientists theorize that dogs might not have descended from wolves at all. Then there are many who believe they did. Many people also believe wolves are scavengers living amongst human societies. Perhaps it was the animals who were able to get closer to humans, who had better access to their food supply and that is why they were the ones to survive the best. Dogs, centuries ago, were not hybrids, mixed breeds or purebred. They were simply wild canid that probably descended from some original proto-canid that is an ancestor to every dog we know of, today.
Sometimes a mixed breed dog will resemble a wolf and sometimes your dog may remind you of a wolf with the way they behave or act. It has been largely debunked, the notion that humans plucked wolf cubs out of a den and domesticated them. It is much more likely that the first dog types decided to start living around humans because their food supply was easier to obtain. It is also doubtful that our ancestors took the time to socialize wolves and put so much effort into raising dogs as we do in today's society. More than likely dogs of yesterday were tolerated and played with. Some may have even run away after they grew up. People back in the day did not put so much emphasis on their canine pets as they do today.
In the 1950s, a Russian geneticist by the name of Dmitri Belyaev, proved that within 20 generations, Russian silver foxes that were kept in captivity on a fox farm, developed traits that very closely resembled dogs. They had floppy ears; Piebald coats and had a tendency to bark entirely more than wild canine.
The history of dogs is a hotly debated topic. So much so that there are literally forums where people do nothing but argue in circles. Sort of like which came first? The chicken or the egg? Although your Goldendoodle may not realize what all the commotion is about, he or she has come quite a long way since the early 1990s. "Designer mutt" isn't really the correct way to think about the Goldendoodle. They aren't designer dogs. They certainly are not a mixed breed dog. They are hybrid dogs that come from two different purebred dogs even if both parents are a Goldendoodle. All Goldendoodles originate from the Poodle and the Golden Retriever, when all is said and done.
The Goldendoodle dog has been evolving since early 1997. With the first known mixes coming out of Australia, it is hotly debated whether the first known Goldendoodle mix came from Canada or Australia. But there is no need for argument. I am very positive Golden Retrievers have bred to Poodles since both purebred dogs have been in existence. They just didn't have a cutesy "doodle" name attached to them. Dogs themselves have been evolving for thousands of years. Why purebred fanatics become so angry over the idea of the Goldendoodle dog, is beyond me. Every purebred dog known today began as a mixed breed dog.
They had been perpetuating themselves based on survival, but dogs of mixed heritage are actually closer to the original dog than purebreds. In the wild, dogs and wolves do not chose to breed to each other on their own. They are, after all, a different species. While I am not sure why many people believe the wolf came first, I am sure all dogs can eventually be found to come from a common ancestor. Whom that ancestor is…well, that's a big question isn't it? We will never know for sure which came first. We will never know for sure who that original common ancestor is.
Over 10,000 years ago, small wolf like canine ranged far and wide. Some scientists have named these small wolf like creatures "Canis Lupus". According to Janice Koler-Matznick, she says the only reason they were named "Canis Lupus" is because no one thought the dog could be that old. Fossils from early canine are approx. 25,000 to 100,000 years old and they are entirely smaller than wolves. Koler-Matznick believes one or some of these fossils may even belong to a domestic dog. She believes that there are a lot of ancestor candidates out there that we have yet to investigate.
**About the author: Dee Gerrish has been writing about the Goldendoodle dog since 1999. She is one of the founding breeders for the Goldendoodle in the southern region of the United States. This article is copyright protected March 30, 2010. It may not be copied, redistributed or changed for commercial or private purposes without the written expressed permission of its author, Dee Gerrish.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/the-goldendoodlea-proto-dog-2075526.html
About the AuthorDee Gerrish has been a private, professional breeder for 14 years as of Jan. 2010; She was a respite and foster care provider in Mannheim, Germany and won many community awards for her dedicated service. Dee has written very popular Goldendoodle articles that are listed across the internet.
**Photo courtesy of Robin Marks, a Goldendoodle World customer. **
