Thoughts on the evolution of dogs, according to the Coppingers, Derr, Pierotti and Fogg.
The Coppingers, Laura and Ray, led the way. At least in public pronouncement, about how wolves probably self-domesticated, and man likely did little or nothing.1 Up until the 1980's, the common presumption was that man somehow managed the domestication process. Somewhere around the 80's or 90's, people actually started looking into the archeological and anthropological records to figure out what dogs were, and how they got here. In retrospect, it seems almost odd, but very little research had been done, earlier than that, about what dogs were, and how they came to be domesticated. A research black hole, if you like - certainly something of a vacuum. Since then everybody and their brother has been rushing to fill the gap.
The Coppingers' primary thesis on the evolution of dogs is that, (a) dogs are wolves who adapted (evolved) to fit into the space alongside human communities, and (b) that this was precipitated by humankind's development of permanent communities at the dawn of agriculture, and (c) that it was the wolves themselves who evolved to fit this niche environment (not humans, shoehorning wolves into domestication). All animals, including people, are opportunistic. If they see a niche they can occupy safely, they do. So the Coppingers think that some wolves saw the opportunity to live alongside man, and live off the easy pickings of mankind's scraps and leftovers.
But some people don't like that idea2. Most notably to date, Mark Derr, who published, ten years after Coppingers' first book, How the Dog Became the Dog: From Wolves to Our Best Friends. Derr is vehemently opposed to the idea of dogs as "dumpster-divers". And, he presents a lot of good arguments that the domestication process, or, at the least, a mutually beneficial commensal relationship, began prior to mankind's establishment of permanent communities at the dawn of the age of agriculture.
Pierotti and Fogg's more recent book, The First Domestication. How Wolves and Humans Coevolved (2018) expands on Derr's thesis. They take it in a slightly different direction, and they expand on Derr slightly, going so far as to speculate that wolves and mankind entered a mutually cooperative relationship at some point in the stone age. (That's paleolithic and mesolithic if you prefer 25-cent words. )
My book review on GoodReads:
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Another entry in the "dogs are wolves" category, this book suffers from extreme bias and mischaracterization of other scientists' recent work. In particular the authors represent the Coppingers' views as 180 degrees opposite of what the Coppingers said. For instance, on page 21, they represent the Coppingers' views as "the process of domestication began with wolves being dominated by humans", when the Coppingers' view was precisely the opposite - wolves self-domesticated into an opportunistic commensalism with humans, i.e. taking advantage of leftover human resources. At a couple of points, they represent the Coppingers as arguing for the scientific reclassification of dogs as wolves, when Ray Coppinger was precisely opposed to that move. It makes me wonder if the authors have treated others of their sources, with whom I am less familiar, as cavalierly.
They also oversimplify and generalize both "Eurocentric" or "western" influence and conquest, and indigenous peoples. Neither of those categories were culturally monolithic, but the authors would like you to believe they are.
However, one of their ultimate points is that the domestication of dogs began prior to the advent of agriculture and permanent communities, and in this regard, there is science that backs them up. This is pretty much the same thesis that Mark Derr proposes in his books and articles on the topic. And, while they are both dismissive of Coppinger, they both propose a similar conclusion - it was not man who domesticated wolf, but wolf who domesticated himself into dog.
Pierotti and Fogg, and Derr all suffer from ignoring, or attempting to ignore, the elephant in the room: the village dog. Whether the process of domestication began 250,000 years ago, or 10,000 does not change the fact that the physiology of dogs changed markedly at about the same time that mankind began inhabiting permanent villages. And our dogs of today, even if they still occasionally crossbreed with wolves, are not wolves, but dogs, and they come to us through the filter of the village dog. Every dog that we call dog today exists primarily because of village dogs. The occasional interbreeding that Derr, Pierotti, and Fogg would like us to believe is of primary concern are minor eddies on the banks of a great and massive river.
My conclusion and recommendation: take a pass on this one. It adds little to the conversation, although in some ways Pierotti and Fogg do a better job of persuading the reader than Derr. If you are determined to learn more, it can be worth reading, so that you have some idea of the breadth of viewpoints that are currently out there, but be mindful that this is only one. If we revisit this topic in ten years time, I believe there will be other books, with better science on the topic. Just as an example, Science magazine published an article in 2015 on how dogs utilize the oxytocin feedback loop (and wolves don't). There is serious and major science going on in this field right now.
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One corrollary question I did not address in detail in the review (avoiding TLDR), is why I am so sure that dogs are dogs and wolves are wolves, and while the twain shall meet, they are NOT the same.
First of all, that Science article I mentioned in the review, back in a 2015 issue, on the oxytocin loop and dogs? I have a strong hunch that is a groundbreaking study, on defining what dogs ARE. One of the reasons cited for revising the scientific classification of dogs to wolves (subcategory dogs), was the inability to put a finger on what made dogs different. Dog vary widely in body types and behavior - and the argument goes "With all those body types, what IS a dog?". Well - that oxytocin loop may just provide the answer. It's not the size of the dog in the fight . . .
TO BE CONTINUED!
1. You'll find a review of his books earlier in another blog post, found here.
2. "Oh, there's a big surprise!" -- Iago, the parrot
