Dogs have been our close companions for much of human history. It is suggested that our close relationship with them facilitated our developing speech. Since dogs became our nose and ears, affording us security from human competition and an early alert to dangerous prey, we no longer needed the heavy skull structure for the large ears and noses we had. This, it is theorized, allowed the evolution of more complex vocal mechanisms that eventually provided for spoken language. This symbiotic relationship may have allowed homo sapians to survive and neanderthals to perish as we became more sophisticated and dominant.
However, these days our relationship with dogs is very diferent. Though pet dogs still provide for a sense of security in family homes and many dogs provide crucial assisted living services, we are no longer so dependent on them as we once were. Certainly our survival does not depend on them in a way it once may have. Rather our relationship with them is one of companionship. Increasingly their role is one of surrogacy in which needy adults indulge them as children. The role of dogs in society these days is still complex but in no way is it as essential as it once was.
When I was a teen growing up in the south east of Ireland I had a big, beautiful and boisterous ginger lab called Tom. Before going away to art school I made countless photographs of him. In fact my becoming a professional photographer may well be down to him.
What fascinates me about dogs is their sense of humour, their playfullness and their mischieousness, qualities Tom had in abundance.
