This book traces the evolution of the dog, from its origins about 15,000 years ago up to recent times. The timing of dog domestication receives attention, with comparisons between different genetics-based models and archaeological evidence. Allometric patterns between dogs and their ancestors, wolves, shed light on the nature of the morphological changes that dogs underwent. Dog burials highlight a unifying theme of the whole book: the development of a distinctive social bond between dogs and people; the book also explores why dogs and people relate so well to each other. Though cosmopolitan in overall scope, the greatest emphasis is on the New World, with an entire chapter devoted to dogs of the arctic regions, mostly in the New World. Discussion of several distinctive modern roles of dogs underscores the social bond between dogs and people.

"Like a hound on scent, Darcy Morey pursues the dog down the twisting paths of prehistory to its wolf origins and then tracks back through the dense tangle of contemporary genetic and neurological research to show how it came to capture our homes and hearts.  [This book] is a work of love and of intellect that confirms Morey as our foremost dog archaeologist."
-Mark Derr, author, A Dog's History of America and Dog's Best Friend