Genetic link to dog friendliness

[Catherine]

They have found a genetic cause for dog friendliness. It is similar to the genetic links to human friendliness.
So, we are more like our doggy friends that we realize.
It is this genetic component that makes dogs more friendly with humans than a wolf would be. Wolves will be friendly, but dogs take it to a different level. Dogs will react with extreme friendliness even with a total stranger.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/dog-fr...-1.4215907

I am sure they will need to study this more, but this is a real clue as to how we became friends with dogs in the first place.
Certainly we selected the friendliest dogs. That makes sense. What if those friendliest dogs wanted to be selected by humans and made sure that they were. The phrase "He followed me home" may be older than we think. Maybe the first child to say that lived in a cave. We are really lucky that dogs are so friendly to us. Now we are learning why. I would love to know what that first human/dog interaction was like. I doubt either party realized where their relationship would take both species.

[Tobi]

There must have been some Wolves who had that gene right in the very beginning perhaps? I have often wondered what made Wolves and Humans link up at the start. I often wonder if some kind person found abandoned Wolf cubs and raised them....or whether a Wolf with a 'friendly gene' started to approach Humans perhaps for food thrown away?

Yet I know that an average Wolf -even if raised by a Human, will not behave like a dog. It seems that the many many years of selective breeding for friendliness and co-operation has strengthened the gene perhaps. It's very interesting. Yes  we have much in common with dogs. Dealing with cats (haha!) shows me how much we have in common with dogs!

[Catherine]

Cats fascinate us and we love them and their strange ways, but dogs are our friends. You relax with a dog. You can get silly with a dog. You just know you can count on their loyalty.

Dogs are the only species that is so intensely friendly with us.
It makes sense that there is a genetic aspect to this.

We may have bred dogs for centuries and have selected for friendliness and cooperation, but I think dogs were friendly when they first got involved with us. I think that is why they got involved with us. The real question now should be "Why us?".
What do dogs see in us. We don't always treat them right, but they still love us and protect us.

A cat wouldn't stick around if we didn't treat them right.
Dogs are unique in their loyalty.