The domestication of dogs was a great step forward for humankind, and a new genetic study reported in Nature Communications (May 14, 2013) suggests that it may have happened about 17,000 years earlier than previously believed at 15,000 years. Or maybe it was even earlier. In any case, it was a long time in human or dog years, but though the timing is of great scientific interest, I’m just glad it happened — and I think we may have gotten the best of the deal.
This adoptable Belgian Malinois/German Shepherd mix in Horn Lake, Mississippi represents two of the breeds mapped.
But what may be...
