Mixed-breed dog
As a mixed-breed dog you would experience your street mostly as a newspaper written in smells – and your humans as the most interesting story in it.
Descended from wolves, shaped by people
Dogs were domesticated from an ancient population of grey wolves, most likely more than 15,000 years ago, making them the first domesticated animal. Most of the world’s dogs are not pedigree animals at all but free-ranging village and street dogs or mixed breeds. A medium mutt like you might weigh 10–25 kg and combine traits of several breeds, along with a reputation for robust health, although that varies widely between individuals.
Your nose holds a few hundred million scent receptors, compared with around six million in humans, and a part of the brain devoted to smell that is proportionally far larger than ours. Estimates of how much better dogs smell range from thousands to tens of thousands of times.
Reading humans
Dogs are unusually good at understanding people. Puppies follow a pointing finger without training, something even hand-raised wolves do poorly, and dogs pay close attention to faces and tone of voice. Shared gazes between dogs and their owners have been shown to raise levels of oxytocin, a hormone linked with bonding, in both.
Your day would revolve around walks, sniffing, food and sleep – adult dogs typically sleep 12–14 hours. You see the world in blue and yellow tones rather than full colour, but detect movement well.
A comfortable but finite life
In a home with veterinary care, a medium-sized dog usually lives about 10–15 years; smaller dogs generally live longer than giant breeds. Common problems in later life include arthritis, dental disease and tumours. Life is very different for the hundreds of millions of free-ranging dogs worldwide, which face hunger, traffic and diseases such as rabies. If you were lucky enough to be adopted from a shelter, you would get the warm sofa, regular meals and walks at the edge of the city.
