Dr. Ray Coppinger presenting at SPARCS 2013. More information on canine science can be found at www.sparcsinitiative.org/ and www.nationalcanineresearchcou...
Technically or officially a dog is a wolf (Canis lupus). Some would smile and say the dog is a sub-species of wolf (Canis lupus familiarus). Well smile away because the two claims are correct and if you want to say that the wolf is a sub-species of the dog you are still correct. The dog as we know it is an evolved descendant of some wolf like ancestor just as the modern wolf is the descendant of some wolf like ancestor. The modern wolf and the modern dog diverged into their present forms, sometime, somewhere, and somehow. We should discuss those when, where, and how questions.