Humanity’s best friend: A dog-centric approach to addressing global challenges

• Published in: Animals
• Main Authors: Sykes, Naomi, Beirne, Piers, Horowitz, Alexandra, Jones, Ione, Kalof, Linda, Karlsson, Elinor, King, Tammie, Litwak, Howard, McDonald, Robbie A., Murphy, Luke John, Stahl, Peter W., Tehrani, Jamshid, Tourigny, Eric, Wynne, Clive D. L., Strauss, Eric, Larson, Greger
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Animals 2020
• Subjects: Strategic Development Goals; dog domestication; sustainable development; Grier; Canis lupus
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/11786; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10030502

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. In March 2017, at the invitation of the Annenberg PetSpace Foundation, seventeen scholars from numerous academic disciplines (Archaeology, Anthropology, Anthrozoology, Human-Animal Studies, Dog Cognition, Genetics, Law, Linguistics, History, Sociology, Urban Resilience) met to develop a broad multi-species intellectual agenda for global human-animal-environment research by exploring human-dog relationships through time and space. We thank the Annenberg Foundation and Katherine C. Grier and James A. Serpell for constructive comments. Faculty Reviewed