Resource: Social and Historical Perspectives of Dogs

Print Frame and Focus

The following suggestions are best suited for elementary or middle school students using this video in an English language arts or science lesson. Be sure to modify the questions to meet your students' instructional needs.

Frame (ELA) Do you have a pet dog? Dogs are domesticated. Wolves and coyotes are not domesticated. They are wild. What do you know about wild wolves or coyotes? How do you think dogs evolved from being wild to becoming domesticated pets?

Focus (ELA) There are different ideas or theories about how some wild wolves evolved from being wild to being domestic. Watch this video to learn two theories about the evolution of dogs through a historical perspective. The video looks at the history of dogs to learn about them today.

Frame (SCI) What is evolution?

Focus (SCI) One theory of how dogs became domestic involves human waste and dump sites. Learn about how dumps may have been a factor in the evolution of dogs.

Print Follow Up

• (ELA) Texts sometimes give us information from a historical perspective, meaning we learn about the past or history of the event, person, or issue about which we are studying. In this case, we are learning about dogs. Two theories are presented to explain how dogs became domestic. Compare and evaluate both of them. From the information provided in the video, determine which theory you believe is more likely to be what happened. Explain why you chose that theory.
  

• (SCI) Discuss Coppinger’s theory of the evolution of dogs from wolves. Explain how competition among the dogs, the dogs’ need for food, the social relationships between humans and dogs, and natural selection are used to explain the theory.

Print Connections

World history, culture, society, animal science, history of man, social studies, anthropology