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Dogs.
They're loyal, fun, loving and brilliant companions.
No wonder they're man's best friend.
Yet they descended from the wildest of predators.
So how did the much feared wolf become the much loved dog in the heart of our homes?
To find out, we travel the world to bring you the most remarkable stories and the
latest scientific discoveries that reveal how dogs have become our closest
companions, unrivaled working partners and trusted family members.
Tonight, we reveal how the wolf in every dog makes them the perfect family pet.
Seiko's a hero.
Seiko saved my son.
How over thousands of years they learned to read our emotions and how our unique
bond led dogs to become the most diverse and adaptable species on the planet.
Everybody who has one, it changes their lives.
Only now, a scientist proving that dogs are more like us than we ever thought
possible.
This is dogs as you've never seen them before.
There's no denying Britain is a nation of pet lovers.
But more than any other pet, dogs have truly managed to become part of our
families, even persuading us to give them the run of the house.
After all, as far as Chip here is concerned, this is his home too.
Dogs love being in our homes and in return, they're our best friends,
patient companions and forgiving critics.
Because even when we mess up, they just want to be with us.
It's what we like to call unconditional love, which is remarkable given that Chip
descends from the gray wolf, one of the most fearsome creatures on the planet.
Chip, like all dogs, is practically a wolf in dog's clothing.
His DNA is 99.8% gray wolf.
At six and a half feet from nose to tail and with huge canines, it's no wonder
wolves were feared by humans.
So when wolves first began to scavenge around our villages over 10,000 years ago,
we only welcomed the friendliest.
As they became tamer, we then began to breed them with the characteristics that
we liked best.
And slowly the big bad wolf evolved into the family dog.
Take Chip.
With his big eyes and soft features, he clearly doesn't look threatening.
In fact, most people find him as cute and as adorable as a toddler.
And he'll even do what he's told without having a tantrum.
It's a dog's ability to amuse us like this, combined with the way they look,
that brings out a desire in us to speak to them like babies.
Come here.
Yes, clever boy.
We use a kind of universal dialect that scientists call mother ease.
It's made up of high pitched tones, short words and repeated phrases that dogs
can learn very quickly.
Science has revealed that dogs, just like human babies, don't need to know
the meaning of what we say.
What matters is the way we say it, which is why six month old Ronald the
poodle can not only understand English, but he also knows when he's being praised
in Ghanaian Tui.
And it doesn't matter if we are female or male.
The high pitched tones and short repeated phrases work just as well in Spanish.
In fact, poodle Ronald would have no trouble working out what we want him to do
in every single country in the world.
But wolf pups like these don't understand mother ease at all.
It's an ability that only dogs have developed after living alongside us for
thousands of years.
Dogs love being part of our family.
And the truth is they need our companionship too.
Sometimes they'll go to extraordinary lengths to improve that need.
Meet sheepdog Pero and his farmer owner Alan James.
Pero much prefers his human family to the other dogs on the farm.
Pero is a young dog.
He wasn't blending in with the other dogs.
They were fighting.
He wouldn't work with other dogs and he wouldn't go in the land with her.
In fact, Pero preferred to hang out at the farmhouse with Alan's wife Sian.
Alan just began to realise then that he was happier being left behind at home.
He was more a home bird probably.
Pero still liked to work with sheep as long as it was just him working alone and
not with the other dogs.
He would be happier going out and about with the bike as soon as the bike would
start.
Pero was with you.
But Alan needed a dog that could fit in with the team.
So when Alan and Sian heard of a farm 240 miles away in Cumbria that needed a single
sheepdog, they thought Pero might be happier there.
So they sent him for a trial.
Then just two days after arriving at the new farm, Pero surprised everyone,
especially his new owner.
When he took the bike out into the fields, thinking, OK, let's see what you can do,
Pero decided he was going in another direction and off he went.
Worried, the farmer rang Alan.
I told him, well, he's only hiding somewhere.
But Pero wasn't hiding.
He ran for the miles and he kept running.
As the days went by, there was no news of Pero until on day 14 when Alan returned
home from work.
He was sitting on the doorstep.
He was jumping up and running around and backing and things, but he was very happy
whatever.
Coming home, he must have come over some terrible ground.
He was limping.
He'd lost condition, but not bedraggled.
Very pleased with himself.
He's got some good satin up in his head, I suppose.
Even if Pero had taken the most direct route, he would have run an incredible 240
miles to get back home.
But after his story hit the headlines, the family got letters from eyewitnesses
and they realised he'd taken a few wrong turns.
Pero went to Cockermouth and he travelled home, so we'll put home in.
The first letter we got was a couple from Gressingham who farm.
He went to Knighton, but he also was seen in Harlech.
When you see it on the map, it really highlights the length of his journey.
He's come over a lot of hills and a lot of roads.
This is a staggering 400-mile journey.
So how did Pero do it?
Scientists have newly discovered that dogs may have an inbuilt homing ability and can
detect magnetic fields in the same way as migratory birds.
Wolves are also good at navigating and routinely roam up to 20 miles a day.
But Pero's incredible 400-mile journey home is a record.
His internal sat nav may have helped to guide him home, but what motivated him to
keep running was a burning desire to be back with his pack.
Not the other dogs at the farm, but the humans who'd become his family.
We are extremely honoured that Pero has returned home.
He's the same Pero as it was before he went there.
He's an independent dog.
He's very close to me and he's very close to the daughter.
They have a partnership and I'm sure she won't see him go anywhere again.
Pero will be very much part of the family.
So what drove Pero to go to such lengths to return to his family?
Science has discovered that just like children, dogs need security.
And the security they get from being part of our family gives them confidence to
explore the world around them with all its surprises.
We can see this by replicating a classic experiment to demonstrate confidence and
with the help of a four-legged robotic dog.
It barks and wags its tail, but no dog is going to be fooled.
For them, this is something completely new and strange.
Without his owner present, Donut keeps his distance and is not confident to introduce
himself.
Ruby and Millie are transfixed, but also stay well away.
And Bentley, the French bulldog's approach, is to completely ignore it.
But as soon as their owners are in the room, the dogs immediately gain
confidence.
Bentley is more interested in making friends.
Ruby and Millie are much happier to get closer.
And Donut picks up the courage to go in for a full-blown tail sniff.
Researchers also found that with owners present, the dog's heart rates are lower
because they feel safer.
And by contrast, when dogs are introduced to our robot dog for the first time with
their owner by their side, like Zeus the Alsatian pup, they are brimming with
confidence from the off.
This proves that dogs get more out of being in our family than we'd perhaps
realized.
They actually need us.
Dogs have come a long way, but it turns out it's their primal instincts that
actually make them the perfect family member in the first place.
Dogs can be perfect family companions, so how have they managed to fit in with us
so well?
Surprisingly, research is suggesting that it's down to their primal instincts,
the wolf-like characteristics that are still lurking inside your dog.
Dogs, like wolves, are pack animals.
It's just that dogs have swapped the wolf pack for the human family.
And when you live in a pack, it pays to understand the hierarchy.
In fact, Chip, like all dogs, has a remarkable ability to work out who's the
top dog and who's really in charge.
It's an instinct that helps create order in a wild pack, especially around food.
Which is why, even though there is a strict rule about not feeding Chip at
dinner, Chip has worked out who is the weakest link.
Dogs' ability to understand family dynamics is what helps them get along with
us.
These family instincts can be seen not only in the wolf, but in an even more
distant relative, the African wild dog.
These are the ultimate pack predators, and that's because of their ability to
work as a team.
African wild dogs are so successful at hunting that they can kill nearly eight
times out of every ten hunts, over twice as successful as the lion, the so-called
king of the jungle.
But just like our dogs at home, they too have a softer side.
Wild dogs are totally misunderstood.
Because they're so successful, we expect these gruesome, dangerous
animals, but they're actually very sweet.
Marlies Van Vuren rescued this pack when they were orphaned pups here in Namibia.
They were two or three days old when I got them in, and from day one, as tiny little
ones, their eyes were still closed, you could see that there's a relationship,
a bond between these puppies, and they will die for one another.
Not only do they protect each other, but they seem to have a caring side as
well.
There's a connection that they have with their family members.
They're gentle and they're soft with one another, and that's the softer side of
them that most people don't see.
Wild dogs are the most sociable members of the dog family tree, living in packs of up
to 30, and because they have an ability to empathise and care for each other,
they're a force to be reckoned with.
Because the more cooperative they are, the stronger the team.
They have to team up.
The more they are, the more success they have, and the bigger prey they can pull
down.
They need their pack to survive, and they know it.
For any team to be successful, it has to have a leader.
So how did these orphaned pups, who'd never been in a pack before,
know their places in the group?
To form a social structure in there and have that linear hierarchy downwards is
instinct.
It's born in them and in their genetics, and it's amazing to see animals that's
never been with them, mum, that has that.
It's in this same way that your dog naturally found his own place in your
family.
And just like your dog, they love to play with sticks.
But for the African wild dog, sticks are a team game.
When one of the pack is trying to get a stick from Marlis, the entire team rush to
give back up.
When Marlis lets go, game over, and all is quiet.
Scientists have discovered that this instinctive teamwork can still be found in
your dog too, especially when they're presented with a problem they need to
solve.
Meet Rob the magician.
He can make tasty nibbles disappear in front of your very eyes.
This is confusing for anyone, let alone dogs.
Their first reaction is to look for the treat.
But when it seems to have disappeared, they turn to their owner to help,
the top dog.
It's as if they're saying, what shall we do about it?
How are we going to fix this?
And if, like Ruby, all else fails and even your pack member can't help,
why not roll over for a tummy rub?
So it's a dog's ancient pack instincts and an ability to empathize with their pack
members that makes them great team players.
And after thousands of years by our sides, they've learnt to read our emotions
brilliantly.
It's something researchers have been able to study by observing how dogs respond to
our feelings.
So when Borditeria Mr. Williams sits down for a tear-jerking matinee with Sandra,
he responds to her crying by resting his head on her lap.
He even offers a helpful lick to wipe away her tears.
Scientists had always suspected that dogs could empathize with us, but it's only
recently that they've been able to prove it.
Using MRI scanners, researchers have isolated the area of a dog's brain that
responds when they hear another dog whimper, bark or growl.
Astonishingly, it's the same area of their brain that activates when they hear humans
cry or laugh, proving that dogs do know when we are happy or sad.
They can also smell the stress hormone, cortisol, that we produce when we're
stressed or scared.
Which is why when it's a horror movie, Mr. Williams senses that Sandra is
frightened and hides his head.
When the film has a happy ending, he relaxes too.
Dogs have evolved to understand our feelings.
It's why they fit into our families so well, and it explains their ability to
empathize with other dogs too.
Our next story is a powerful example of this.
Jack is a Brittany Spaniel.
His life got off to a rocky start on the streets of Spain, when he found himself
homeless and unwanted.
Then one day, Joe and Rich Warburton were searching for a rescue dog online and
spotted Jack in his Spanish rescue centre.
It was love at first sight, and so they adopted him and brought him a thousand
miles to the UK to start a new life.
The first time we met Jack, he really did take to us straight away, and the girls,
he was very gentle with them.
For the Warburton's, Jack was the perfect family dog.
He quickly settled in with his new family, but unbeknown to them, something was
missing from his new life.
And that something was still in Spain.
It wasn't until Jack had been living with the Warburton's for 15 months that Joe
made a shocking discovery online.
I saw this urgent appeal showing a video of this dog who was shutting down.
Every day he was getting worse and worse, and he just wasn't interested in food.
They couldn't get him to walk, he just was kind of hiding in this
concrete little shed.
They didn't think he was going to survive.
He was said to be pining to death over a buddy that he'd made who'd left the pound
about a year or so earlier.
And then they showed a photo of these two best buddies, and it was Jack and Alonso
clinging together on the concrete in the pound, and we realised that it was
obviously Jack that Alonso was pining for.
So we think that Jack and Alonso had actually been sort of picked up off the
streets within a day or two of one another, and it seems that kind of in the
adversity they'd kind of clung to one another, and this bond just seemed to
have, you know, been struck up between them, and when we adopted Jack,
in actual fact we were actually kind of separating them.
I think we both knew when we looked at each other that we were going to end up
with him.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Four weeks later, Alonso made the journey from Spain and arrived at the Warburton's,
but after being separated for a year and a half, would these former best buddies
remember each other?
It wasn't guaranteed that they were going to suddenly click again, you know.
For all we knew, Jack was going to feel really, you know, territorial or really
protective of this wonderful new lifestyle he had.
They had nothing to worry about.
Literally the first afternoon it was just incredible.
We knew, didn't we, straight away that instantly they had recognised each other
from 15 months ago.
It was just amazing.
I mean, I'm getting goosebumps now because it was just, to see them playing was just,
it was just incredible.
They were so excited, so excited.
It was just such joy, wasn't it?
Yeah, it couldn't have been any better.
It was brilliant, brilliant.
After 15 months apart, Jack and Alonso picked up from where they left off in the
shelter in Spain as best mates, rekindling the love they once shared.
Jack is a happier dog now that Alonso's here.
I see them as brothers, really.
They just love being together.
They just love being close to each other.
So they may not necessarily always be touching one another, but they just like
to be on the same rug, on the same sofa, on their beds together.
Jack and Alonso's bond may have been down to the difficult times they shared.
Scientists know that strong bonds like this are formed by the so-called love
hormone oxytocin.
It's what we all experience when we fall in love.
We get a rush of oxytocin when we stroke our pets, too.
But recently, scientists have discovered that dogs also experience a rush of
oxytocin when we stroke them and when our eyes meet.
This explains why dogs like to please us and follow our commands.
It's because it makes them feel good.
It may explain why dogs are easy to train.
Why Merlin is happy to jump and play dead for Kelly.
Why Tati will sit still and lie down for Vicky.
And how Andrea manages to get the rather vocal Arthur to calm down and not shout,
but whisper.
So there you have it.
They seem to love us as much as we love them.
This is a long way from what would happen if you ever tried to stroke a wild wolf.
They certainly wouldn't hold your gaze or experience an oxytocin release.
It shows how much dogs have adapted from the wolf.
Now, dogs love being part of their new pack, our families.
But don't be fooled, because behind your dog's big eyes and cute appearance,
there's an inner wolf waiting to be called on as protector of your home and family.
We've seen how dogs have adapted some of their wolf-like instincts to fit into our
world.
Over thousands of years, they have learnt to understand our emotions and to work
with us as a team.
But there's one important instinct that has largely remained unchanged.
Their primal desire to protect their pack at all costs.
And sometimes it can be very handy to have a dog that's in tune with his inner wolf.
Meet Seiko, an eight-year-old king shepherd.
He lives in the mountains of British Columbia with his owner, Joe Phillips
Garcia.
They love being out in the wilderness.
And this part of Canada is as wild as it gets.
A year ago, Seiko revealed his instinct to protect when they were both in a terrible
accident.
Their car left the road, leaving Joe badly injured, 300 feet down a ravine and out of
sight.
Both had been thrown from the car.
Although Seiko was OK, Joe had broken his leg and collarbone and was unable to move.
They were completely stranded, 30 miles from the nearest help.
Aware that Joe was in trouble, Seiko stepped in to become his protector.
I felt so happy that I wasn't going to be alone.
As the sun began to set and temperatures fell, Joe realised he needed to build a
fire.
And for that, he needed wood.
I kept him growing small, little, tiny twigs like this.
And I'd throw it over to the pile and he'd come back of a good size like that.
Isn't that right, boy?
Seiko sensed this wasn't their normal game of fetch.
Working as a team, he carried on bringing wood until they had enough to see them
through the night.
Because of the pain, Joe slipped in and out of consciousness.
Even with the fire, his injured legs were cold.
Seiko's ability to care for a family member kicked in and he carefully lay over
Joe to keep him warm.
Right over my legs, part that wasn't really covered.
It was like a big fur blanket.
But keeping Joe warm wasn't Seiko's greatest challenge.
The forests of British Columbia are dangerous places full of bears,
wolves and even mountain lions.
Seiko knew it and stood guard.
Seiko was able to hear a lot of things out there.
He looked towards the sound and he studied on it for a good two minutes.
But it was coyotes that became the most serious threat.
A pack was closing in on them.
And Seiko knew what needed to be done.
He started barking off really loud warning barks.
When the coyotes ignored the warning, Seiko's instincts took over and he went on
the attack.
He just bolted right in there.
It was pretty intense to hear, just the clashing between the dogs.
Deadly dog fighting, something you'd picture in a horror movie.
Must have been eight minutes he came back and he only had a cut right behind his
ear.
Seiko had survived with only a minor injury.
He'd drawn on his wolf instincts to protect his human pack member.
Seiko spent two days fighting off other predators and protecting Joe until they
were found and rescued.
Seiko's a hero.
Seiko saved my son.
Seiko and Joe have a bond that is going to be inseparable for life.
They survived.
There's no doubt that Seiko is a very special hero dog.
All dogs like to guard their human family.
Chip here is constantly alert to potential threats.
He thinks the postman is trying to invade the house at the same time every day.
Using his wolf-like super senses, Chip can hear when the postman is
approaching, long before anyone else.
Just as a wolf would alert the rest of his pack when they are under threat,
Chip barks a warning.
Until the postman leaves.
And because he then retreats, having delivered his letters, Chip thinks he's
scared him away.
And so the daily cycle continues.
If you want your dog to stop barking at the postman, the best thing to do is to
become friends with him.
Making him an honorary member of your pack.
All dogs have found a role for themselves as our family guardians.
But just how did they swap their four-legged pack for our two-legged one
and start sharing our homes in the first place?
The dog family today is the most astonishing array of colours, shapes and
sizes.
So it's extraordinary that they all come from the grey wolf.
The biggest and most dangerous member of the canine family.
From first bonding with us over 10,000 years ago, the wolf's ancestors began to
evolve into this mixed bunch.
The most diverse species on earth.
How things have changed.
But the wolf ancestor can still be seen in this mini-Australian shepherd.
But perhaps not, when we look at the short brown hair of a Wieschler or the black and
white spotted coat of the Dalmatian.
A wolf may be similar in size to the Newfoundland or the Great Dane,
but that is where the similarity ends.
And then there's the French Bulldog and the Jack Russell.
How could this majestic creature end up eight times smaller and just one-tenth of
its weight like this Shih Tzu?
Well, that's all down to us.
Because historically, when early hunter-gatherers started to feel
comfortable around habituated scavenging wolves, they couldn't resist taming the
friendliest pups.
And with each generation, those friendly wolves got tamer.
They evolved into dogs, and then we began to selectively breed the characteristics
that appealed to us.
So what did these first dogs look like?
Meet the Africanus.
The African village dog.
They still live alongside the San people of Namibia, and give us a window into how
those early dogs might have teamed up with humans.
Just as your dog knows it's time for a walk when you grab the lead, these guys
know it's time for theirs when they see the San prepare their arrows.
And just like your dog, they can't resist bolting ahead.
These canines also like to lead the way on a hunt.
They perform a vital function.
Their wolf-like super-senses can detect danger long before the San.
Those satellite dish ears are three times more sensitive than ours.
So just as your dog can hear the bin men approaching long before you, they can pick
up the sound of animals in the bush miles away.
They are our eyes and ears, so they can warn us of elephants that could be in the
area.
Their sense of smell could be up to a million times better than ours.
And just as your dog likes nothing more than a good sniff, the San quite literally
follow their dog's noses.
They are the ones that can pick up the footprints and smell if the track is old
or new.
So when the dogs find a fresh track, the San know that food is not far away.
The San and the dogs rely on each other for survival.
Together, they are an unstoppable team.
If we don't catch anything, we will both be hungry.
And as those early dogs became more comfortable around us humans, they began
to learn how to communicate with us.
So in the same way that your dog gives you the eyes when he wants a treat,
these dogs would have learned how to beg for their supper.
And once they got their feet under our tables, they never left.
They evolved to fit into our human pack.
And of course they act as brilliant lookouts, always alert to threats.
They look after us at night in case an intruder comes into the area.
We love our dogs.
In this way, they are crucial members of the village.
When the early hunter-gatherers realized that living with dogs was a winning
partnership, dog and humankind never looked back.
Wherever humans settled on the planet, dogs worked alongside us, fulfilling many
roles.
And in this way, dogs developed over time, acquiring different characteristics,
ideal for different jobs.
Two thousand years ago, the Chinese bred a dog to resemble the fierceness of a lion,
but that was small enough to hide in the sleeve of emperors.
The result?
The Pekingese, a fluffy companion and a concealed weapon in one.
In Hungary, hundreds of years ago, shepherds bred the Commodore.
Its dreadlocks protected them from marauding bears who ended up with
mouthfuls of hair, not flesh, when they attacked.
In the 17th century, the mountain-dwelling Swiss needed a working dog that could help
in alpine rescues.
It had to have a phenomenal sense of smell and be capable of digging out avalanche
victims.
And so, the St. Bernard, famous for that perfect medicine, Brandy, with a dash of
slobber.
But how did these dogs make the leap from workers to becoming pampered pets in our
homes?
The evolution from wolf to dog has taken around 10,000 years.
But remarkably, in Britain, it's only in the last 200 that they made that final
leap from a working dog to being an adored pet at the centre of our family.
This happened by chance in 1815, when a Scottish hunting dog called the
Dandy Dinmont was featured in a best-selling novel, and people went mad
for them.
They became Britain's first real pet dog.
Today, at this country estate in the Scottish Borders, is the annual gathering
of the clan Dandy.
For owners and dogs, it's the event of the year, and it's important to look your
best.
Especially when visiting the celebrated birthplace of the breed.
The book that launched the Dandy was the Harry Potter novel of its day,
called Guy Manoring.
It sold out in 24 hours.
Almost overnight, these terriers went from the field to the fireplace, becoming the
first celebrity canines.
They even managed to worm their way into Queen Victoria's home.
A favourite pet of her grandson, Prince Wilhelm.
As the Dandies arrive, it's not the house that they've come to see, but the kennels
at the rear.
Because this pilgrimage is to pay their respects to the father of the breed.
His name was Old Ginger.
All Dandy Dinmonts alive today can trace their ancestry to this single dog.
This gathering offers Dandies the chance to meet up with relatives.
Across there is her mother, and her grandmother, and her great-grandfather,
so we know that.
So it's lovely, it's nice to see people, nice to catch up with their relatives.
Every one of the 60 owners here knows why the Dandy Dinmont entered our homes and
never left.
Willow, she's a little comedian.
Loves playing, very kind, very curious.
And when she looks at you, you can't resist her.
Those big eyes.
This is Colonel, Colonel Mustard.
He's very outgoing.
Everyone knows who he is, where I live.
He is part of the family.
I just love him.
He's my little mate.
If it's a rainy day, don't ask them to get out of their beds.
They will stay in their beds, which is quite, quite helpful.
Quite helpful.
First time I saw one, I had this immediate connection.
And everybody who has one, it changes their lives.
The Dandies get to walk in the footsteps of their forefather.
But the highlight of the day is the Dandy Dinmont Derby.
A head-to-head sprint along a specially constructed 25-metre track.
Dandy Dinmont Derby Take your marks, get set, go!
The race lasts a mere four seconds.
With their short, powerful bodies, Dandy Dinmonts are capable of impressive
turns of speed.
Which is perhaps not surprising, given that these terriers once chased
otters for a living.
Now they're racing towards their besotted owners.
Who can blame the Georgians and Victorians for inviting this working terrier to share
their homes as Britain's first pet dog breed?
It seems that companionship and love was the driving factor.
In the 200 years since the Dandy Dinmont entered the family home, we've bred dogs
more for their companionship than their work ethic.
We now have more than 400 pure breeds, as well as thousands of cross-breeds.
And breeding dogs is relatively easy.
Take a Rottweiler.
With careful breeding you can end up with this diminutive Dachshund.
Remarkably, there is only one gene in the difference between being high and mighty,
or low and stubby.
In fact, all the differences you can see here are down to just a handful of genes.
There's the long-legged ones, the hairy ones, or the special ones.
A plethora of dogs, one to suit everyone.
And we're still breeding new dogs today.
We've solved the problem of the molting cocker spaniel by mixing it with the
non-shedding toy poodle to give us the cockapoo, with hair that stays firmly on
the dog and not on your furniture.
And then there's Charlie.
He's a blend of a dog known for its companionship, the pug, and the energetic
beagle.
Charlie is a puggle.
These so-called designer dogs, like the cockapoo and the puggle,
are becoming the most popular dogs in Britain.
And the most diverse animal family on the planet just keeps getting bigger.
Astonishing when you think that they all came from the wolf.
They've not only conquered our hearts and our homes, but at this rate, they'll take
over the planet.
But not that one.
From Katy Perry to Robbie Williams, the biggest music stars live on ITV
tomorrow night at half seven.
It's only the Brit Awards 2017.
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Comedy, sports and entertainment with play to the whistle at nine.
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