Short Synopsis
Author Mark Derr casts the wolf's transformation into the domestic dog as an evolutionary inevitability in his account of the biological and cultural domestication of man's best friend.

Full Synopsis
That the dog evolved from the wolf is an accepted fact of evolution and history, but the question of how wolf became dog has remained a mystery, obscured by myth and legend. How the Dog Became the Dog posits that dog was an evolutionary inevitability in the nature of the wolf and its human soul mate.

The natural temperament and social structure of humans and wolves are so similar that as soon as they met on the trail they recognized themselves in each other. Both are highly social, accomplished generalists, and creatures of habit capable of adapting—homebodies who like to wander.

How the Dog Became the Dog presents "domestication" of the dog as a biological and cultural process that began in mutual cooperation and has taken a number of radical turns. At the end of the last Ice Age, the first dogs emerged with their humans from refuges against the cold. In the eighteenth century, humans began the drive to exercise full control of dog reproduction, life, and death to complete the domestication of the wolf begun so long ago.

"A transporting slice of dog/wolf thinking that will pique the interest of anyone with a dog in their orbit." ---Kirkus

"This fascinating book should be read by anyone who is interested in how wolves became dogs. Mark Derr traces the development of dogs from the distant past to the present." ---Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation

"If you have to decide which dog book to read among the many that are available, this clearly is the one to choose because of its scientific accuracy and easy-to-read style." ---Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals