{"id":33479,"date":"2014-11-23T07:00:10","date_gmt":"2014-11-23T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uncommongoods.com\/?p=33479"},"modified":"2014-11-07T18:01:59","modified_gmt":"2014-11-07T23:01:59","slug":"uncommon-knowledge-loving-pooch-tame-wolf-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/2014\/uncommon-knowledge-loving-pooch-tame-wolf-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncommon Knowledge: Is your loving pooch a tame wolf at heart?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dog<\/a><\/p>\n

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Not as much as you might think. While only 1 percent of DNA distinguishes the Canis lupus familiaris snoozing at your feet from the packs of Canis lupus roaming Yellowstone Park, that\u2019s a pretty important 1 percent. All the domestic dogs in the world today\u2014from the loveable mutt looking for a forever home to the Tibetan Mastiff that recently sold for $2 million in China\u2014are more closely related to one another than they are to their wild, howling ancestors.<\/p>\n

Dogs and wolves parted ways about 10,000 years ago, when their common ancestor died out. But what put the familiaris in the canis family? Recent research into dog \/ human coevolution suggests that it hinges on some of the traits we associate most closely with endearing dog-ness\u2014short snouts, floppy ears, and a wet-tongued, loving disposition. Natural selection steered by ancient breeders favored such traits because humans associated them with the classic cuteness of puppies. The benefit to people was a \u201cwolf\u201d that was loyally protective, adorable, and wouldn\u2019t bite the hand that feeds it; the benefit to proto-dogs was that people would adopt the litter, feed and care for it, and help to perpetuate the species.<\/p>\n

Millennia later, we\u2019re housing, grooming, and carrying our beloved canine companions around like four-legged royalty. And they\u2019re still helping us hunt, stay secure, and stave off loneliness. So enjoy the unique co-dependence you have with the dogs in your life. Without them, your feet would be cold and, after all, winter is coming.<\/p>\n

Dog Puppet Making Kit, $20<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not as much as you might think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":33482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1208],"tags":[813],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}