Humanity's Best Friend: A Dog-Centric Approach to Addressing Global Challenges

Naomi Sykes¹, Piers Beirne², Alexandra Horowitz³, Ione Jones⁴, Linda Kalof⁵, Elinor Karlsson^{6

7}, Tammie King⁸, Howard Litwak⁹, Robbie A McDonald¹⁰, Luke John Murphy¹¹, Neil Pemberton¹², Daniel Promislow¹³, Andrew Rowan¹⁴, Peter W Stahl¹⁵, Jamshid Tehrani¹⁶, Eric Tourigny¹⁷, Clive D L Wynne¹⁸, Eric Strauss¹⁹, Greger Larson²⁰

Affiliations

¹ Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon EX4 4QE, UK.
² Department of Criminology, University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME 04104, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, Barnard College, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, USA.
⁴ Department of Math and Sciences, Exeter College, Exeter EX4 4HF, UK.
⁵ Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
⁶ Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.
⁷ Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
⁸ WALTHAM Petcare Science Institute, Waltham on the Wolds LE14 4RT, UK.
⁹ Annenberg PetSpace Foundation, 12005 Bluff Creek Dr, Playa Vista, CA 90094, USA.
¹⁰ Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK.
¹¹ Department of Archaeology, University of Iceland, 102 Reykjavík, Iceland.
¹² Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM), University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
¹³ Department of Biology and Department of Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
¹⁴ Wellbeing International, 9812 Falls Road #114-288, Potomac, MD 20854-3963, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada.
¹⁶ Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham DH1 1LE, UK.
¹⁷ School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Box 871104, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA.
¹⁹ LMU Center for Urban Resilience, Loyola Marymount University, LMU Drive Los Angeles, CA 90045-2659, USA.
²⁰ Palaeogenomics & Bio-Archaeology Research Network, School of Archaeology, 1 South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3TG, UK.

PMID: 32192138
PMCID: PMC7142965
DOI: 10.3390/ani10030502

Review

Humanity's Best Friend: A Dog-Centric Approach to Addressing Global Challenges

Naomi Sykes et al. Animals (Basel). 2020.

. 2020 Mar 17;10(3):502.

doi: 10.3390/ani10030502.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon EX4 4QE, UK.
² Department of Criminology, University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME 04104, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, Barnard College, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, USA.
⁴ Department of Math and Sciences, Exeter College, Exeter EX4 4HF, UK.
⁵ Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
⁶ Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.
⁷ Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
⁸ WALTHAM Petcare Science Institute, Waltham on the Wolds LE14 4RT, UK.
⁹ Annenberg PetSpace Foundation, 12005 Bluff Creek Dr, Playa Vista, CA 90094, USA.
¹⁰ Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK.
¹¹ Department of Archaeology, University of Iceland, 102 Reykjavík, Iceland.
¹² Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM), University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
¹³ Department of Biology and Department of Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
¹⁴ Wellbeing International, 9812 Falls Road #114-288, Potomac, MD 20854-3963, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada.
¹⁶ Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham DH1 1LE, UK.
¹⁷ School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Box 871104, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA.
¹⁹ LMU Center for Urban Resilience, Loyola Marymount University, LMU Drive Los Angeles, CA 90045-2659, USA.
²⁰ Palaeogenomics & Bio-Archaeology Research Network, School of Archaeology, 1 South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3TG, UK.

PMID: 32192138
PMCID: PMC7142965
DOI: 10.3390/ani10030502

Abstract

No other animal has a closer mutualistic relationship with humans than the dog (Canis familiaris). Domesticated from the Eurasian grey wolf (Canis lupus), dogs have evolved alongside humans over millennia in a relationship that has transformed dogs and the environments in which humans and dogs have co-inhabited. The story of the dog is the story of recent humanity, in all its biological and cultural complexity. By exploring human-dog-environment interactions throughout time and space, it is possible not only to understand vital elements of global history, but also to critically assess our present-day relationship with the natural world, and to begin to mitigate future global challenges. In this paper, co-authored by researchers from across the natural and social sciences, arts and humanities, we argue that a dog-centric approach provides a new model for future academic enquiry and engagement with both the public and the global environmental agenda.

Keywords: Strategic Development Goals; dog domestication; sustainable development.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

**Figure 1**
A map of countries across the globe depicting the frequency of dogs per 1,000 people. Darker shades represent countries with greater numbers of dogs per capita. Grey shading indicates countries for which data was not available.

**Figure 2**
A diagram demonstrating the long-term history of the shifting isotopic values that reflect human and dog diets in Britain over the last 10,000 years. The parallel shifts in the carbon and nitrogen values between both species suggests a closeness of the human-dog relationship over the past 10 millennia [75].

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Humanity's Best Friend: A Dog-Centric Approach to Addressing Global Challenges

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Humanity's Best Friend: A Dog-Centric Approach to Addressing Global Challenges

Authors

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Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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