Two Animals, Two Completely Different Bargains
Dogs crossed into human company somewhere between 15,000 and 40,000 years ago, the range is wide because the genetic and archaeological evidence keeps pushing the date back. What is clear is why it happened: humans needed something. They needed an animal that could track prey, guard camps, and herd livestock. Dogs were shaped over generations to fill those roles, and the shaping was deliberate. Humans selected for obedience, for reading human faces, for a particular kind of social attentiveness that wolves do not have.
