Domesticated dogs date back to the Iron Age (circa 1430 BC). They were traditionally used for hunting. In some more pastoral societies they played a role in guarding and herding stock (sheep and cattle dogs). Dogs were expected to search for their food themselves (hunting, stealing food remains, gathering) and there was no control over breeding.
In the Middle Ages, dogs were used as draught animals, to pull small carts for farms, peddlers, or travelers (milk, fish, rags & bones, meat, bread, and other products).
In today’s modern societies with mainly large urban populations and with increasing wealth, the integration of pets into our households has intensified. The interactions between humans and dogs have changed. Dogs today are kept for personal security, as companions, for guarding property, as helpers, as sports companions and as family members.
Not so long ago there was a shift in our perception of animal companions, so that they are now seen less as possessions, and more as individuals in their own right, even as members of our extended family.
A proof of this shift is that many insurance companies now offer special health insurance policies for pets, whereas only a few years ago, pets (in Switzerland at least) were insured together with the other “interior equipment” of your house, against water and fire damage not against illnesses or accidents. Just to take an example, it’s only in 2009 that the big insurance company Mobiliar in Switzerland changed this policy.
Code civile français: le chien n’est pas un bien mais un être avec des sentiments …
For more reading
→ The Evolution of Pet Ownership
→ A Review of Domestic Dogs' (Canis Familiaris) Human-Like Behaviors: Or Why Behavior Analysts Should Stop Worrying and Love Their Dogs
→ Understanding dog–human companionship
Working and service dogs:
our valuable helpers and assistants
Although most modern dogs are kept as pets and family members, there are still a tremendous number of ways in which dogs assist humans in modern society, and more uses are found for them every year.
The following list provides just some ideas of the versatility of dogs and attests to the immensely important role dogs have taken on, as irreplaceable helpers without which our modern society would simply not be conceivable anymore:
Service or assistance dogs help people with various disabilities in everyday tasks. Some examples include mobility assistance dogs for the physically handicapped, guide dogs for the visually impaired, and hearing dogs for the hearing impaired.
Therapy dogs provide cheer and entertainment for the elderly in retirement facilities, the ill and injured in hospitals, and so on.
Rescue dogs assist people who are in desperate situations, such as having fallen overboard after a boat disaster, being lost in the wilderness, covered in snow under avalanches, buried under collapsed buildings, etc.
Herding dogs are still invaluable to sheep and cattle farmers.
Hunting dogs assist hunters in finding, tracking, and retrieving game.
Guard dogs and watch dogs help to protect private or public property.
Tracking dogs help in finding lost people and animals or tracking down suspected criminals.
Cadaver dogs or Human Remains Detection Dogs use their scenting ability to discover bodies or human remains at the scenes of disasters, crimes, accidents, or suicides.
Detection dogs help to detect explosives, illegal substances in luggage, chemicals and many other substances: even bedbugs in homes!
Police dogs are usually trained to track or immobilize suspected criminals while assisting officers in making arrests or investigating the scene of a crime.
Dogs are sometimes used in programs to assist children in learning how to read.
Cancer detection dogs can detect certain types of cancer.
For more reading
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_dog
In addition to being indispensable service dogs in uncountable fields, pets – especially dogs – have become valuable companions, and we see them as almost human creatures with their own personalities. This might be explained by our increasingly technology-oriented society, where inter-human face-to-face contact, affection and emotions are rarifying.
The care we give dogs nowadays is often close to that given to children: Quality nutrition, health care, sterilization to control birth rate, regular vaccinations, follow-up veterinary controls… Dogs are elevated to the role of surrogate humans and are mainly valued for the affective benefits we enjoy from their close attachments. We develop a deep emotional bond and affection during our life together.
Never before have we humans spent so much time together with our dog companions, entirely sharing our private life with them. Sport’s activities such as agility, obedience, dog dance, frisbee etc. – just to mention a few – take a big part of our spare time, where we can work together as a team, share experiences, collaborate towards an aim. Dogs have for the first time since their common existence with humans, become our social partners.
In addition to providing emotional and social benefits, pet ownership improves physical and mental health. Recent studies show in fact that pet ownership reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, helps to prevent heart disease, helps to fight depression, and therefore lowers one's healthcare costs. One possible explanation for these health benefits lies in the fact that pet owners, particularly dog owners, are more physically active than non-pet owners.
While the findings of such studies are interesting and help to explain the benefits of people keeping pets, most pet owners know that there is much more to the special pet–human relationship: the deep emotional bond and magical communication between dogs and owners.
How can this strong emotional bond, this cross-species love story, be explained? And why do dog owners grieve so much when their dog passes away?
Time has elapsed since Alice left us, but I still think of her every day. Some days less, some days more, making my heart ache. Speaking about her always evokes strong emotions, regrets, deep sorrow. Like most of us of my age, I have already experienced losing loved ones – grandparents, parents, sister, friends etc. - but none of the pain and suffering compares to the grief, guilt, and heartbreak I experienced, and am still experiencing, with the passing away of Alice. Why? How come a dog becomes such an important part of our lives?
But Alice was (every dog is in the eyes of its owner) more than “just a dog”: she was irreplaceable, special, my girl, daughter, baby, protégée, friend, my partner, part of me, my unique preoccupation, my every day, my future …
We give our dogs food, water, shelter, protection and education. But what they give us back in return are experiences and life lessons which no amount of money can buy. And when they finally leave us, it is as if this spring of limitless youth and positivity has finally dried up. We feel like a parent who has to bury its child: It contradicts the natural life cycle. The grief is immense and intense, we are full of regrets, guilt and incomprehension. That is why we spend so much time, energy and money on the health of our dogs. It is so difficult to grapple with our dog’s death because: