DOGS: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior, and Evolution
Raymond Coppinger and Lorna Coppinger
Scribner
Nonfiction
ISBN: 0684855305

With DOGS: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior, and Evolution, the ways in which dogs became domesticated and developed into specific breeds has been rewritten. After years of canine research, the husband and wife team of Raymond and Lorna Coppinger (both previously published --- FISHING DOGS by Raymond Coppinger and THE WORLD OF SLED DOGS by Lorna Coppinger) has developed a totally new theory on the evolution of the relationship between man and dog and dogs among themselves.

If dogs (wolves) didn't first appear around the fires of our ancestors then just how did this relationship evolve? The basic premise of the Coppingers' theory is that the dogs we know as domesticated today evolved from animals that lived off the waste of human development; they tended to lie in wait for humans to discard the refuse of early communal habitations. Those dogs that did flee human interaction remained as wolves and jackals in the wild.

As far as how dog behavior developed, the Coppingers surmise that it was man who created the various behaviors in dogs as we know them today. Through extensive comparisons of breeds and the ways they are raised, the authors explain how one breed can have the instinct to herd while another protects --- it is all dependent on the "way a dog's brain is wired during the crucial developmental stage" when the dog is a pup. For example, the difference in a herding dog versus a guard dog for livestock is their respective years of breed development.

If a dog lives with another species such as sheep or goats, they will bond with them, see them as nothing unusual, simply friends. If you expect a dog such as a retriever to herd sheep or goats, while it may happen on rare occasion, the odds are slim. Just as if you take a herding dog and expect it to retrieve, it may have the ability if worked with long enough, but it is not natural. There can be exceptions to the rule, but it's not something you will see very often.

This book surely will cause a great deal of controversy, much as Darwin's writing about evolution did when his theory first appeared --- and continues to do to this day. There will be in all likelihood a great deal of debate as to the validity of the conclusions drawn by the Coppingers; new developments such as this always tend to draw criticism. However, this may also be the beginning of new knowledge of our best friends.

   --- Reviewed by Dave Taylor

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