Before dogs -- Why a dog? And why a human? -- What is dogginess? -- One place or two? -- What is domestication? -- Where did the first dog come from? -- Interwoven stories -- The missing dogs -- Adaptations -- Surviving in new ecosystems -- Why has the Australian story been overlooked so long? -- The importance of dingoes -- How invasion works -- A different story -- Heading north -- To the end of the earth

"The unique relationship between dogs and humans has had huge evolutionary consequences, changing the physical, behavioral, genetic, and emotional characteristics of both species. Pat Shipman looks to fossil records and new evidence to trace how the process of domestication worked and discovers how much of ourselves we owe to our canine companions"--