Evolution of a relationship
In “Dogs That Changed the World,” a two-part “Nature” series airing on PBS over the next two Sundays at 8 p.m., we learn the fascinating story of how man’s best friend evolved into a more domesticated version of the wolf -- one that can protect us and heal us and work for us. On “Adventures in Doggie Daycare,” a reality show currently airing Saturday nights at 9:30 on the Women’s Entertainment network, we learn how man now takes this wolf for a “spa day,” which includes an herbal bath and a massage in the Zen Den.
We work for them.
F. Murray Abraham (a dog lover himself, I assume) is the narrator of “Dogs That Changed the World”; the series begins at the beginning (the wolf: 15,000 years ago) and ends at the present day: There are now some 400 breeds of dogs, making it the most varied mammal on Earth, says the special, though also a creature engineered a little too well to our specifications.
Maybe blame the Victorians for this fad. Pity the Shar-Pei, for instance, whom dog behaviorist Robert Alleyne calls “a lovely dog, lovely temperaments, but physically they’re just a disaster.”
The dog’s many folds of skin around the eyes frequently lead to eye problems, and sores can accrue in other places because of all that loose skin. Yes, you’re saying, but the Shar-Pei is so cute.
Well guess what, dog owner, it isn’t always about you.
The Pekingese has roots in the Chinese empire and later Victorian England, where one ended up in the queen’s lap; the hairless Xolo is used as a palliative in Mexico.
As Hampshire College professor Ray Coppinger theorizes, what came to separate the wolf from the “proto-dog” was “flight distance” in relation to rubbish heaps in the earliest human settlements. The ones who were closer to the debris, and adapted best in the jungle of the dump, would come to evolve into, well, dogs. I don’t know where my mutt’s from, but I will never yank him away from garbage again; instead, I will acknowledge his destiny and DNA and ask him politely to remove his snout from that little pile of God-knows-what.
The latest human settlements, otherwise known as the modern city, feature places like the Downtown Dog Lounge in Seattle, where Elise Vincentini runs a full-service doggie day care. She’s the star of “Adventures in Doggie Daycare,” which is exactly as it might sound -- a show about the goings-on at a high-end dog salon and day care and the owners who spend thousands on their pet-children.
As Vincentini says: “Ninety percent of our clients feel like they’re dropping their baby off.”
It’s easy to scoff at such excess, but I’ve been to one such place: It felt like walking into an Ian Schrager boutique hotel that reeked of dog. And yet I was reassured. Letting your dog be a dog is one of the culture shocks of ownership; places like the Downtown Dog Lounge rush in to fill our neurosis with a mix of trendy treats and TLC to help us cope with the notion that we’re putting our pet in a glorified cage.
In a way, it involves the same magical thinking as the tribesmen of Papua New Guinea who believe their hunting dogs have supernatural powers.
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‘Nature: Dogs That Changed the World’
Where: KCET
When: 8 to 9 p.m. Sunday and April 29
Rating: TV-G (suitable for all ages)
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