We think of dogs as man’s best friend. They sleep in our beds, they dominate on Instagram feeds, they shape our public parks. But do dogs also hold the key to our survival? 20,000 years ago, the gray wolf started the long evolutionary process to become our beloved household pet and changed the course of humanity in the process. But what if dogs had never been domesticated? What would that world look like? On this episode of Downside Up, host Chris Cillizza speaks with journalist David Grimm, anthropologist Dr. Radhika Govindrajan, and anthrozoologist Dr. Margot DeMello, to better understand our relationship with dogs and what society would look like without them. 

We think of dogs as man’s best friend. They sleep in our beds, they dominate on Instagram feeds, they shape our public parks. But do dogs also hold the key to our survival? 20,000 years ago, the gray wolf started the long evolutionary process to become our beloved household pet and changed the course of humanity in the process. But what if dogs had never been domesticated? What would that world look like? On this episode of Downside Up, host Chris Cillizza speaks with journalist David Grimm, anthropologist Dr. Radhika Govindrajan, and anthrozoologist Dr. Margot DeMello, to better understand our relationship with dogs and what society would look like without them.

What if the parts of our lives we've accepted as normal were totally different? What if dogs had never been domesticated? Or humans had no sense of flavor...what would've happened to the spice trade? And how would that have shaped the future of the world? Join CNN's Chris Cillizza as he speaks with journalists, experts and forward-thinking futurists to help us envision what might have been — and how even a small shift in the status quo could change our world completely.

What if the parts of our lives we've accepted as normal were totally different? What if dogs had never been domesticated? Or humans had no sense of flavor...what would've happened to the spice trade? And how would that have shaped the future of the world? Join CNN's Chris Cillizza as he speaks with journalists, experts and forward-thinking futurists to help us envision what might have been — and how even a small shift in the status quo could change our world completely.

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