History

Vase c 500 BC

It is difficult to put an exact date on when the dog-man relationship began. But certainly dogs and man originated about the same time several millennia BC and gave each other mutual advantages. Dogs had greater speed and sense of smell than man and therefore assisted with tracking, capturing and killing other wild animals for food while man provided dogs with shelter and protection from wild predators. This section explores how and why the various types of dogs evolved and the purpose of their classification into the various groups of breeds.

As I have devoted most of my life to one breed in particular - Airedale Terriers - the history of that breed in Australia is also explored here in some detail.

The Earliest Dog-Man Bond

There is much speculation about when where how and why the dog-man bond first began. It could have been up to 40,000 years ago but the first conclusive DNA proof only dates back to 14,000 years to the earliest camp sites. There is no doubt that the earliest domesticated dogs developed alongside a more sedentary lifestyle of humans. As it ... »» Read more...

History of Dogs as for Worship

In Africa around 3,000 BC early civilizations occurred along fertile valleys where south west Asia (the Middle East) joins north-east Africa (Egypt)[1]. In these early dwellings some of the hunting dogs were so valuable that they were worshipped and/or became idols. The villages that dogs protected were probably an early type of Gazehound. These are portrayed in some of Belzoni's ... »» Read more...

History of Companion Dogs

Around 3,000 BC when humans began to live in somewhat permanent dwellings instead of being nomadic, the role of dogs as companions evolved. This appears to have happened simultaneously throughout the world in several cradles of early civilizations. Certainly the first documented companion dogs came from China and Tibet. But as other countries developed their own cultures, sea trading meant ... »» Read more...

History of the Spitz Family

Archaeological evidence suggests that around 3,000 BC medium sized 'Spitz-like' dogs began living in close proximity with humans. Fossil remains from this period have been found among remains of pile dwellers in many parts of Europe. For thousands of years, nomadic hunter-gather people had lived around the fringe of the Arctic land masses, following the movement of game. These Arctic ... »» Read more...

History of Herding Dogs and Mastiffs

In Eurasia (Asia + Europe) glaciers receded and gave way to fertile forests. Once large dinosaurs had disappeared, stag, wild boar, deer and animals that were the ancestors of today's sheep and goats became more prevalent. Domestication provided both man and dog with a more reliable food source. 'Pile dwellers' could then live in somewhat more permanent settlements like those ... »» Read more...

History of Hounds

In North Africa around 10,000BC, nomadic people lived in a Savannah teeming with giant buffalo and other bovines that were later domesticated into the various cattle breeds we know today. These early people used their hounds for hunting and killing a bovine that roamed within these wild herds. »» Read more...

History of Gundogs

When Christians took their hounds to the Holy Land, they found that the Arabs were equally obsessed with hunting. So dogs were exchanged. Crossed and subsequently back-crossed with the Peat Dog thrown into the mix, they created a new type of dog designed for a more specialized form of hunting, called Falconry. This involved capturing birds in a net. Falconry ... »» Read more...

History of Airedales in Australia

Airedale Terriers were first imported into Victoria, Australia in 1890 just 7 years after they were first recognised in the UK, and have been bred and exhibited here continuously ever since. This section covers the history of Airedale Terriers in Australia since those first imports and includes most of the major Australian breeders and kennels. »» Read more...