The Oldest Dog You've Never Named
Genetic studies place the INDog, also called the pariah dog, among the most ancient canine populations on the planet. A 2017 study published in PNAS tracing dog domestication put South Asian dogs close to the origin point of all domestic canines, diverging from wolves somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 years ago. The INDog did not descend from European or Central Asian breeds brought in by traders or colonisers. It descended from the first dogs, shaped almost entirely by the Indian subcontinent's specific pressures: monsoon heat, dense human settlement, and a food economy built on waste rather than deliberate feeding.
