I’d like to take a moment to consider the dog, Canis lupus familiaris, the historical companion to mankind, homo sapien.
The dog, or a species quite like it, can be traced to mankind’s earliest records.
In The Flintstones, Fred’s best friend, not counting next-door neighbor Barney Rubble, is Dino, a dinosaur tentatively classed as Canis saurian.
It is assumed that Dino is the evolutionary ancestor to all modern dogs, his most famous contemporary descendent being Scooby-Doo.
He speaks not in complete English, but in random phrases, poorly enunciated. He says his own name as “Rooby-Roo.” it’s obvious that the vocal apparatus of some dogs is still evolving, and we can move into the future, to George Jetson’s dog Astro, to see that the dogs there are still struggling to speak, though there is obviously evolutionary improvement going on, “Right, Reorge?”
Talking dogs such as Dyno-Mutt a bionic dog augmented with technology, and Scrappy-Doo, some sort of weird mutant cloning experiment, are extremely rare. Of course, just as humans evolved into the terrible, monstrous Morlocks and the peaceful, passive Eloi in the far future world of HG Wells The Time Machine, so have dogs evolved into not one, not two, but three distinct species, all three of which we are surrounded by today.
The first, and most common, is the dog-dog, from Lassie to Scooby, Pluto to Rin Tin Tin, the dog-dog is all dog, inside and out.
These are our fearless companions, whether they guide the blind, sniff out contraband for the police, or live in Paris Hilton’s purse. The second, and less common dog is the dog that thinks and talks like a human, but looks completely dog-like. Snoopy meets this criteria, though he doesn’t talk. Talking versions of “normal” dogs include any one of The 101 Dalmations, and both Lady and the Tramp. (It should be noted that these dogs most often communicate with each other, but cases of dogs speaking to humans have been verified. See: Son of Sam.)
Where it gets really weird is with the humanoid, or anthropomorphic dogs, classed as Canis sapien.
Goofy, MacGruff the crime dog, Underdog, Sweet Polly Purebred, Shoeshine Boy and Huckleberry Hound all live and exist in the human world. The difficulties these creatures endure make for compelling cartoon drama.
Dogs have evolved and spread throughout the world, and in the future will still be with us, either as our best means at detecting murderous Terminators or as our companions in deep space.
Mankind has a sister species that will always look out for us and have our backs.
How fortunate we are.
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