An Essay on the Evolution of Eternal Friendship – Man and His Dog!!

In the honor of the eternal friendship between the man and his dog, here in this write-up, is presented by Aditya Sardana aka Adidarwinian, a revisit to the beginning of this perfect companionship!!

A short poem by Aditya Sardana aka Adidarwinian in the honor of the eternal friendship between the man and his dog!!

“There are many relationships,

But, one that portrays the Perfect Companionship,

Exists between the man and his dog as the Eternal Friendship.”

Since the remote time, artists have drawn magnificent drawings and paintings depicting the man’s best friend, which is the dog. A timeless painting, the “Garden of Eden” by the famous Flemish painter Breughel / Brueghel, clearly depicts a dog lying complacently at the feet of Adam and Eve. There is full evidence to support the idea that in the earliest periods of human habitation of this planet, an ancient representative of our modern dog was befriended by the man. Dog was, still is, and will remain the very true animal companion of the man. The relationship between the dogs and human beings, at the primordial times that we are considering here, got its initial sturdiness by the virtue of the benefits delivered to both of them from the highly symbiotic nature of this relationship or companionship. Dog protected man from the wild animals, guarded his goats and sheep, and in return, the man gave him food, and bestowed upon his little companion a place to live. This semi-domestic friend of ours, in that ancient period, was probably like a surprisingly gentle jackal or a weak wolf. Eventually, our ancestors started trusting their new friend, cared for it, and entered into the everlasting passionate relationship.

It’s always has been an intriguing question that how the friendship or companionship would have begun between the man and wild ancestor of the dog or what circumstances would have contributed to the beginning of the eternal companionship or partnership between the two? In other words, the question of great interest for both the evolutionary biologists and the pet lovers is what were those initial events that triggered such a perfectly cemented relationship between the dog and man that has successfully passed the tests of bonding and trust for ages till the present?

The best answer to this mystic question that fully passes the wisdom of a prudent man appears to be in the possibility of bringing home of some harmless and fascinating whelps or pups by the early hunters. These pups or puppies would have easily enchanted the innocent and playful children, and the benevolent women in the hunter’s home. For the children, the pups or whelps must have been the perfect little toys showing the spellbinding animation that they could have ever got with any other toy at that primitive time. So, women and children would have been the first ones to take care of the pups or puppies. Sooner or later, the hunting male member of the family would have discovered the hunting instincts of the growing pups, and then, acting by his intelligence he must not have let any wastage of time in deploying the animal’s hunting skill for his own use. The acute smelling power of dog and its keener eyes must have been the great succor for the hunters during their onerous hunting sessions in the primeval dense forests. Dog, too, benefited from the food and shelter provided by his master. Thus, the mutual benefits entered the dog and hunting male member of the family into a tacit hunting partnership, and for women and children, dog was already a beloved family member.

With the passage of time spanning many generations, the wild ancient representative of our modern dog was acted upon by the processes of the evolution and human companionship in such a manner that it became gentler, more tractable, and yielding. So, the Mother Nature turned an animal that was originally wild and ferocious, into the man’s best friend and trusted guardian whose faithfulness is regarded as the ultimate level of loyalty.

About the Author Dr. Aditya Sardana

Dr. Aditya Sardana is a practitioner of electro-homeopathy and other systems of alternative medicine. He is also a naturalist; bioinformaticist; pharmacist; science enthusiast; and a writer, editor and books' author who writes for various domains including health, medicine, biology, technology, science, etc.