Dogs Rule the World

I was shocked when I stumbled across this statistic the other day: over 80 percent of the world’s dogs are unhoused and unsupervised by humans. Could that be true? It’s hard to evaluate from my perspective, because all of the canines I meet are accompanied to the clinic by a human being. As the first animal ever domesticated, dogs have been intertwined with human existence for tens of thousands of years. Today’s free-ranging dogs have proven that, apart from consuming the trash of humans, they do not require our physical presence in order to survive and thrive. What exactly would transpire for pet dogs if we, their benefactors, ceased to exist altogether? What would happen to the dog if we humans went extinct?

We’ve had a big influence on today’s domesticated canine. As soon as we realized that their physical and behavioral characteristics could be prolonged from one generation to the next by selective breeding, we started to tinker. We created animals that were long and low for hunting in burrows, ones that were shaggy and fast for herding, ones with giant jaws to bring down the largest prey, ones that would shake a dozen rodents to death in under a minute. We wanted new ones to sniff and run and swim. We especially reveled in creating ones that were cute. All of our tampering and tinkering (particularly in the pursuit of cuteness) led to some pretty significant health issues that would definitely affect their survival in the absence of human intervention.

If today’s pet dogs were to roam free without human interference, the tiniest breeds would not survive. The ones with hereditary heart problems would be at a huge disadvantage, of course. The ones that make a heckin lot of noise breathing would probably not survive the first summer, because that cute snoring sound they make is actually them struggling for air. The ones that can’t give birth without a surgeon (that’s many of the cutest ones!) would not make it. The biggest breeds would face difficulties meeting their caloric needs without a major step up in their hunting and scavenging skills. Giant breed dogs don’t have too long a lifespan anyway, even with the best of care. The ones we’ve homed in inappropriate climate zones would, of course, suffer during weather fluctuations such as the heat of summer (Malamutes) and the cold of winter (greyhounds).

Does this mean that dogs would not survive without us? Not at all. The fussy, fragile breeds we’ve created in the last couple hundred years would not be around any more, but dogs themselves would survive by shifting their structure and function to more closely resemble their unhoused cousins. Without careful breeding programs orchestrated by humans, very long coats and very short coats would go away. Very large frames and very petite figures would disappear. The equilibrium dog would be medium-sized, skilled at hunting and finding food, excellent at parenting, and very, very durable. Probably not especially cute. Hundreds to thousands of years of human influence would quickly dissipate and the dogs would go on without us. I wonder, if the roles were reversed, could we go on without them?

Dr M.S. Regan