From Wolf to Woof

yellowstone-wolfpairLess than 14,000 years separates the wolf (canine lupus) – the dog’s ancestor and the canines we now have living with us of which there are hundreds of breeds of today’s Canis familiaris.

The co-operative relationship of both transformed wild canids into the first ‘domesticated’ animal – the tameable and incredibly variable dog.

A Mutual Connection

About 12,000 years ago hunter-gathers in what is now Israel placed a body in a grave with it’s hand cradling a pup. Whether it was a dog or a wolf cannot be known. Either way the burial is among the earliest fossil evidence of the canines’ domestication.

Scientists know the process was underway by about 14,000 years ago but do not agree on why. Some argue that humans adopted wolf pups and that natural selection favoured those less aggressive. Others say dogs domesticated themselves by adapting to a new niche – human refuse dumps.

Personally I believe that if a free meal is offered without having to hunt 20 miles, without risking your life and you don’t know where your next meal to survive is coming from, the opportunity to eat easily from cave dwellers leftovers was a bonus in favour of the wolf.
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Dog Listeners in Yellowstone

yellowstone1sIt has taken me 53 years, my past mistakes and some pretty dodgy advice given, I add, with the best intentions, to be selective about where and from whom I seek my education these days.

My mistakes thankfully have taught me and I’ll be forever grateful for the uneducated advise, which led me to follow a path to gain true & educated knowledge. I believe – “You have to realise where you don’t want to be, before you know where you do want to be.”

For the purest canine interaction in its freest form I needed to research and study correctly in order to gain true knowledge to offer help to owners of and for our dogs.

Sitting in classrooms studying canine behaviour from a human perspective didn’t offer me correct answers – only human thinking solutions to symptoms developed by a human perspective.

The basis of Amichien® Bonding comes from the studies of free canine packs which not only have the ability to choose their leaders but the privilege of freedom without any human intervention and include not only Wolves but Coyotes, African wild dogs, Dingo’s and many other free canines that form packs to survive, provide and protect themselves and are able to make choices for themselves.

Jan Fennell has also worked and successfully used Amichien® Bonding with other species see her website, www.janfennellthedoglistener.co.uk linking the techniques employed by Dog Listeners the world over to aid understanding of the power to choose with positive results.

“You can take the dog out of the wolf but you can’t take the wolf out of the dog.”Jan Fennell.

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