ABSTRACT

A working partnership gradually evolved between early man and wolves (Canis familiaris) that lived around his settlement, until that time when certain animals became household dependents as well as partners in hunting and guarding duties. The wolf, ancestor of the present dog, was domesticated long before any other wild carnivore species. Thus the dog may have been the first true pet of man. The findings of dog bones possibly used for hunting about 8500 B.C. in the western U.S. 1 indicate the early use of the dog as a useful pet in the new world. Because of their close association with humans dogs are considered the prototypic animal species for rabies. One of the earliest references to rabies in dogs is from the premosaic Eshnunna code (which predates the code of Hammurabi of ancient Mesopotamia Circa 4000 years ago). 2 Dog rabies, just as much now as then, is still epizootic in most countries of Asia, Africa, and South America, and about 95% of all reported animal rabies cases worldwide are in dogs, and over 90% of human rabies fatalities are attributable to rabid dogs. 3 8 In North America and Europe, where dog rabies has been controlled since the 1960s, rabies occurs mainly in wildlife, and dogs account for less than 5% of all reported rabies cases. 9 16 In those areas canine rabies-control programs, using intensified mass immunization campaigns and reduction of the stray dog population, have effectively controlled rabies transmission, especially to humans. 17 22