Dog Breeds Are A Behavioral Myth...

EMILY KWONG, BYLINE: You're listening to SHORT WAVE from NPR.

REGINA BARBER, HOST:

Hey, SHORT WAVErs. Regina Barber here, and today we're entering the world of our favorite squirrel-seeking friends.

(SOUNDBITE OF BLUE DOT SESSIONS' "PIGPADDLE CREEK")

BARBER: Before there was Lassie, before Toto, before Scooby Doo, there were ancient wolves and ancient humans. And they kind of became pals.

KATIE WU: The circumstances are kind of unclear. But at some point, both species realized, you know, this is not a terrible partnership to form.

BARBER: This is Katie Wu. She's a staff writer at The Atlantic. And recently, she dug into why dogs act the way they do and how dogs became man's best friend.

WU: They came into contact with each other maybe because, you know, the wolves were attracted to, like, garbage dumps in human encampments or, you know, because they just got really friendly while they were hunting in the same spaces. If I'm a wolf, I can get a consistent source of food. You know, this nice, tall, bald ape thing likes to pet me, and I feel a lot safer. And the humans are thinking, wow, this is an apex predator. It can help me hunt, can guard my family and it's just pretty cool to play around with. And the two species started to coevolve.

BARBER: Suddenly, there was this really friendly wolfish lineage that kept on coming back, helping out the humans and getting belly rubs in return and eventually settling into these specific doggie jobs.

WU: It was almost a dog Industrial Revolution where they super specialized into these careers and, you know, started acquiring some physical traits to match.

BARBER: Take border collies. They've evolved to herd animals like sheep. But herding isn't the only doggie profession out there.

WU: Another class is the broad class of hunting dogs - retrievers and hounds - dogs that perform guarding functions that are just patient and calm but make a lot of noise when something goes awry, and I also enjoy some of the little vermin hunters.

BARBER: Dog-wolf vermin hunters that, thousands of years later, would become little terriers.

WU: They are, ironically, some of the most wolfish because they just sit around. And when they see something they want to catch, they will go after it, totally take it down and sometimes just eat it whole.