Over time, as our lives changed, we selected and trained dogs to do new jobs. When we were hunters, we bred and trained dogs to hunt with us. When we started keeping domesticated livestock, we needed dogs to herd and guard them. When we started to stockpile grain, we needed dogs to kill the vermin that grain attracted.

Always willing and amazingly genetically malleable, dogs have slowly been developed into hundreds of unique breeds world-wide ranging from under 4 pounds to over 200, from under 6 inches tall to over three feet. Dogs today display an incredible diversity of size, shape, color, and coat-type.

In behavior, the modern dog is still a pack animal like the wolf. Humans may have enhanced certain aspects like retrieving, speed, and hunting skills, but dogs still respond to the pack in their assigned place. The pack mentality makes the dog well adapted for human society. The human owner takes the place of the pack leader and the dog fits in as the family dictates.

For this reason, dogs take naturally to our lead when it is given to them. Puppies are capable of learning as early as four weeks of age. Pick up where your puppy’s mother left off and you are well on your way to a rewarding, lifelong relationship with your dog, just as humans and dogs have had for thousands of years.