A Brief History
On July 31, 2017, when you visit your local animal shelter, you will find that 80% of the dogs there are mixed breeds, or “Mutts,” and around 53% of all American dogs are mutts. As the single most prevalent “breed” of dog, there must be something these mongrels that make them so popular.
Digging Deeper
Dogs are all of the same species, Canis familiaris, and all are descendants of the Wolf, Canis lupus. Dogs came about when humans began raising wolf cubs and selectively breeding only those that were most compatible with people. Even before humans got involved in the breeding, the wolves that would visit human camps and take scraps from people became more compatible with humans over generations even before people kept them as domestic animals, perhaps 40,000 years ago. Dogs are more sight oriented than wolves, and wolves are more scent oriented. Dogs have evolved to be largely diurnal (day time) critters, while wolves are mostly night fighters.
Once people started keeping dogs, the pooches were selectively bred for whatever purpose the people needed them for. Hunting, herding, guarding, pulling sleds or carts, and other specialized purposes each had a dog breed developed for that purpose. We now have well over 300 dog breeds, and perhaps over 400 depending on the source. The 19th Century saw the diversity of dog breeds explode from several dozen breeds to a few hundred. The use of dogs as pets rather than as working animals was the impetus for this increase in variety, with many toy and miniature breeds developed to be “cute” rather than particularly useful for traditional purposes.
Meanwhile, as hard as people try to create a consistent “breed” type, dogs are still dogs and as such will cross breed at any opportunity. Dogs will and do cross breed with wolves and coyotes as well, and many of the “coyotes” running around the Easter half of North America are actually “mutts,” cross breeds of dogs and coyotes or cross breeds of wolves and coyotes. Of course, people also purposely cross breed dogs, sometimes to create a “new” breed or because they just feel like it.
So called “designer dogs” that are a cross of 2 recognized breeds include such examples as “Puggle,” Cockapoo,” “Labradoodle,” “Goldendoodle,” “Schnoodle,” “Mal-shi,” “Pom-shi,” and “Cheeks.” You can probably figure out most of these, how about the last one? (Why so many of these “designer” dogs part Poodle? Is it because plain old poodles are not good, or because they are so good?) Call them what you will, the fact is by definition these sometimes very expensive canines are still mutts or mongrels (the words are interchangeable). Theoretically, you could cross a Chihuahua with a Great Dane, and believe me, if the Chihuahua was the female she’d be cross!
Come to think of it, the vast majority of humans are nothing more than mutts themselves. This author is a crossbreed of Polish, Ukrainian, and 1/8 German (Octo-kraut?). Many East Europeans have Mongol blood in their veins, and Mediterranean people are all sorts of mixed up with various ethnic groups. A good example of this mixed heritage is the people that consider themselves “English,” which are really a mix of Angles, Gaels, Celts, Franks, Normans, Norse, Gauls, Saxons, and all sorts of extraneous ethnicities. About 3.5% of Americans that think they are European-Americans have some African ancestry, with the highest incidence found in the Southern US. The average African-American is 25% European-American!
Thus, we are almost all mongrels of one type or another, so let us celebrate National Mutt Day and give ourselves a big cheer!
Question for students (and subscribers): Have you ever owned a mutt? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Montrose, Sharon. Mutts. Harry N. Abrams, 2007.