The "It took THOUSANDS of years to domesticate our dogs and cats" argument
This argument is false for two reasons:
1) It makes no logical sense, and
2) It denies scientific facts.
The false logic...
The fact is that domestic dogs and cats have been living with people for thousands of years, as evidenced by the animal remains found in archaeological digs of human habitations around the world. That does NOT mean that it necessarily TOOK thousands of years for them to become domesticated.
The fact that their remains were found with those of ancient humans would, in fact, imply that they were already domesticated for all (or most of) those years, or else their remains would not have been found anywhere near those of people.
The denial of scientific facts...
People who use this "domestication takes thousands of years" argument conveniently ignore the work done by Dmitry K. Belyaev [1] and his colleagues starting in 1959 and continuing for 40 years in the famous "fox farm experiment" in Siberia.
In that experiment, foxes' degree of tame-ability were significantly increased in just 26 years. All they did was to use tameness as their sole criteria for selecting which offspring to allow to breed--a strategy that could very conceivably have been used simple-mindedly by early humans. In fact, it would have been natural for them to use the degree of tameness as the primary (if not the sole) criteria for selecting which animals to keep and breed. During just 40 years significant physiological changes were noted, as well as behavioral changes.
Changes in the foxes' coloration were being seen by the eighth to tenth generations. By the 20th generation 35 percent of the fox pups were "eager to establish human contact, whimpering to attract attention, and sniffing and licking experimenters like dogs." Their reproduction changed as well: sexually maturing a month earlier, having litters that are one pup larger, and some females breeding out of season. [1]
These big changes towards becoming domesticated all occurred within 40 years (or less, depending on the particular trait)--a vastly far cry from the "thousands of years" that some people tell us it took to domesticate today's dogs and cats.
This experiment was scientifically documented at least as early as way back in 1999 (see reference [1] below): ten years ago. Why do we still see this claim about domestication taking thousands of years on websites (for example HSUS--Humane Society of the United States)? Could it be because they have so few arguments to use in their favor that they have to ignore proven scientific facts? Is this an innocent error of ignorance on their part? Or are they deliberately choosing to lie to their supporters and legislators to manipulate them into doing their bidding?
[1] “Early canid domestication: the fox-farm experiment” (Lyudmila N. Trut) American Scientist; March 1, 1999
--Greg Lyons
2009-04-19