We all know that our pet dogs’ ancestors are coyotes, foxes, jackals and wolves. I always assumed that the earliest form of canidae/ canis family would be the wolf.

By chance, I came across an entry in an old world book, which traces the dogs’ bloodline to a wolf-like animal, the Tomarctus. This creature looked like a wolf and had many social instincts and skills of a dog. This grand daddy of dogs came to be 15 million years ago. Question is: where did this creature come from???

Extra sleuthing brought me 40 millions years ago, and it just got complicated. The Tomarctus is a descendant of an animal called Eocene Miacid. This creature is where the bear and cat evolved from…There’s more, the Miacas is described as a weasel-like animal.

The family of Miacids evolved into the cat-like family, the Feloidea. The family where the big cats and small cats sprung from. While another evolution produced the dog-like family,Carnivora (Canoidea). From this family came the order of Ursidae (bears). It’s amazing that from a weasel-like ancestor, descendants of all sizes came about.

But going back to the dog, from direct fierce bloodline how did dogs evolve into our beloved pet dog???

The relationship between man and its “best friend” began when early human started hunting and planting. This would be the time when man discovered fire and started discarding bones and leftovers (maybe). The scent of food traveled by air and brought the early dog to stay by camps. Experts have this idea that the early dog found it easier to eat from waste than tire itself out stalking and hunting. That seems to makes sense to me. Man and dog share the same sense of practicality. I guess this is where man and dog hit it off, starting the longest record of co-existence and friendship.