--- title: Dogs from wolves to best friends: living with dogs today — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Dogs from wolves to best friends: living with dogs today», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: The dog was the first animal people ever tamed, long before anyone farmed. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / Dogs from wolves to best friends: livi… # Dogs from wolves to best friends: living with dogs today Lesson 292 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 22 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/0/) — The dog was the first animal people ever tamed, long before anyone farmed. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/1/) — Wolves that were less afraid came near camps for scraps, the tamest stayed and had puppies, and over thousands of years they became dogs that read our faces and follow our pointing fingers. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/2/) — Living with a dog means learning its language. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/3/) — A dog cannot say «leave me alone», so it says it with its body: it yawns, licks its lips, turns its head away, shows the whites of its eyes, tucks its tail, goes stiff and still, and only then growls. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/4/) — Most dog bites to children come from a dog they know, at home, when someone hugs it, kisses its face, or bothers it while it eats, sleeps or looks after puppies. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/5/) — Reading the warnings stops nearly all of them. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/6/) — If a strange dog comes running at you, do not run or scream, because running makes you look like prey. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/7/) — Stand still like a tree, fold your arms in, look away and wait; then back away slowly. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/8/) — Dogs also work for us: they guide blind people, warn deaf people about sounds and can even smell some illnesses. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/9/) — A dog in a working harness is on duty, so you do not stroke it. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/10/) — The dog was the first animal people tamed, more than 15,000 years ago; DNA shows dogs came from an old kind of wolf, not straight from today's grey wolves. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/11/) — In Siberia scientists bred only the tamest foxes for over 60 years; the foxes became friendly and wagged their tails, and some even got floppy ears and patchy coats. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/12/) — Dogs have a special eyebrow muscle, which wolves mostly lack, that lifts the inner eyebrow to make puppy eyes. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/13/) — Dogs vary in size more than any other kind of mammal, and small dogs usually live longer than big ones. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/14/) — Even young puppies can follow a human pointing finger, and dogs see blues and yellows well but not reds and greens. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/15/) — A dog warns before it bites: it yawns, licks its lips, turns its head away, shows the whites of its eyes, tucks its tail, freezes and then growls. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/16/) — A growl is a warning, not rudeness; a dog that is punished for growling may learn to bite without warning. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/18/) — Before stroking a dog, ask the owner, let the dog sniff your closed hand, and stroke its side or chest rather than reaching over its head. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/19/) — If a strange dog comes at you, do not run or scream; stand still like a tree, arms folded in, look away and then back away slowly; if knocked down, curl into a ball and cover your neck and ears. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/21/) — Hachiko, a dog in Japan, went to Shibuya station every day for nearly 10 years after his owner died, waiting for him. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/22/) — Dingoes came to Australia with people thousands of years ago, went wild, and are now top predators there; they howl but rarely bark. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/292-dogs-from-wolves-to-best-friends-living-with-dogs-today/23/) — Many dogs and cats raised together are friends, and a dog chasing a cat is usually play or a hunting urge, not hate. - ← previous: [Bees, worms and soil: the hidden helpers of our food](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/291-bees-worms-and-soil-the-hidden-helpers-of-our-food/) - next →: [Horses, cattle, camels and chickens: how people tamed animals](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/293-horses-cattle-camels-and-chickens-how-people-tamed-animals/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)