Reading The Dog's Mind: Learning to Train from the Dog's Point of View Book

This book presents a good overview on the evolutionary history of dogs (Family Canidae), their phylogeny and their lifestyle.

Moreover, It discusses the modern classification of domestic dogs and whether it is a distinct species that is separated from the gray wolf species. To understand this issue correctly, the authors suggest the distinction between two modes of classification of species: Biological Concept and Evolutionary Concept. Based on the biological species concept, gray wolves and domestic dogs are members of the same biological species because they , however live in nature separately, can mate and reproduce fertile offspring in normal cases. Evolutionary concept of species is based on the notion that as long as the domestic dog and the gray wolf diverged from each other in living, they embarked on different pathways leading to different descendant lineages and speciation has occurred.

Also the book provides a perfect chapter on the domestication of dog and its story. The dog was the first animal to be domesticated by man before any other carnivore or even herbivore. This makes us think that it was a special domestication story. Self-domestication is one good theory that suggests that the relationship between man and wild dog was at the beginning symbiotic; the dog followed the haunter-gatherer man in their trips making benefits from the food leftover the man leaves behind and, on the other, the presence of this wild animal near the man territory prevent other dangerous wild animal from getting closer.

The book contains many figures, illustrations and drawings that make understanding easier and more interesting!

If you are interested in dogs and wolves, you will like this book for sure!