Pets anybody?

I believe the ownership of pets is ethically wrong. I think animals should be left to their own devices in the wild.

Leading theory from experts is that dogs (read wolves here) domesticated themselves. They exercised their free will in the wild and chose to cohabit with humans, all those many years ago. This is the only possible explanation for their unique behaviour to my mind, and I know my boy could not possibly be happier in any other existence.

Other animals who knows.

All species engage in partnerships with other species, for purposes of security, grooming and pest control, hunting, emotion etc.  It can be seen throughout the natural world and it is a significant part of the process of evolution. 

This will usually start with simple mutual self interest but there is now very clear evidence of emotion in some of the inter-species relationships, not just dogs and humans. 

We're 12,000 to 23,000 years beyond the domestication of dogs (respectively the Middle East and Siberia) and the Belyaev experiments on foxes showed the difference (in emotional intelligence) between domesticated and non domesticated animals which appear (on the surface) to be identical.

Some of the work being done on dogs now indicates that they have much more to offer us - including in the field of autism. 

We had a dog (which died in 2019) who sought-out autistic people - she could pick them out of a crowd.  Consistently and frequently.  We specifically tested this on a number of occasions and her success was uncanny (we believe close to 100%, although difficult to be sure for obvious reasons).

She worked as a Therapy Dog, often with autistic children. She once dragged me across a quiet residential road at night to 'meet' a young couple (that was atypical) who turned out to be autistic (which explained it), and we have many stories like that, some much more remarkable (but they would take a lot longer to tell). 

She and I bonded (at Battersea) almost instantly, to an extent that was exceptional, and often commented on by those who knew us - and I only discovered in 2021, long after we lost her, that I was autistic myself.  I have since wondered if she detected it all those years ago.   A dog can't "know that you're autistic" but something, somehow, differentiated autistic people for her, and she loved the company of those with autism.  

We're used to the notion of assistance dogs and everyone now knows about dogs that can warn, protect, detect disease and do practical things like answer the door and do simple errands.  

Assistance dogs are usually taught by reward / fun training programmes, so dogs are consenting to this, because of self interest.  Our current dog absolutely loves "training fun" and only requires rewards to 'learn' a new command: once learnt, he does it without rewards, enthusiastically.  

The relationship between dogs and humans is a product of evolution and like most such partnerships in nature, the benefits springing from it have grown over time.  

All species engage in partnerships with other species, for purposes of security, grooming and pest control, hunting, emotion etc.  It can be seen throughout the natural world and it is a significant part of the process of evolution. 

This will usually start with simple mutual self interest but there is now very clear evidence of emotion in some of the inter-species relationships, not just dogs and humans. 

We're 12,000 to 23,000 years beyond the domestication of dogs (respectively the Middle East and Siberia) and the Belyaev experiments on foxes showed the difference (in emotional intelligence) between domesticated and non domesticated animals which appear (on the surface) to be identical.

Some of the work being done on dogs now indicates that they have much more to offer us - including in the field of autism. 

We had a dog (which died in 2019) who sought-out autistic people - she could pick them out of a crowd.  Consistently and frequently.  We specifically tested this on a number of occasions and her success was uncanny (we believe close to 100%, although difficult to be sure for obvious reasons).

She worked as a Therapy Dog, often with autistic children. She once dragged me across a quiet residential road at night to 'meet' a young couple (that was atypical) who turned out to be autistic (which explained it), and we have many stories like that, some much more remarkable (but they would take a lot longer to tell). 

She and I bonded (at Battersea) almost instantly, to an extent that was exceptional, and often commented on by those who knew us - and I only discovered in 2021, long after we lost her, that I was autistic myself.  I have since wondered if she detected it all those years ago.   A dog can't "know that you're autistic" but something, somehow, differentiated autistic people for her, and she loved the company of those with autism.  

We're used to the notion of assistance dogs and everyone now knows about dogs that can warn, protect, detect disease and do practical things like answer the door and do simple errands.  

Assistance dogs are usually taught by reward / fun training programmes, so dogs are consenting to this, because of self interest.  Our current dog absolutely loves "training fun" and only requires rewards to 'learn' a new command: once learnt, he does it without rewards, enthusiastically.  

The relationship between dogs and humans is a product of evolution and like most such partnerships in nature, the benefits springing from it have grown over time.