I suspect it’s mutual. It allows things like fetching downed small prey, like certain modern hunting dogs are trained to do, so fetching spears and whatnot isn’t too far of a stretch.

Meanwhile, it lets dogs exercise, play, and otherwise flex their instincts. Not to mention that they’re perception of humans as pack leaders and family inclines then to like making they’re person happy. Working dogs are seen clearly enjoying their work and/or the rewards (emotional and otherwise) from their humans.

I think it’s generally because if you shot a bird that you want to eat, they’d bring it back to you.

That’s what I recall from the retriever breeds anyway.

I thought we domesticated wolves (now dogs) after we had passed our nomad phase and were in our settlement phase (which we are still in now). I’m not certain, but I think the mammoth was already extinct at that time.

Also, I think dogs were generally trained to bring anything of importance back to us. For example, dogs also bring back wounded or dead prey. They still do for hunters today. So I think it’s a bit broader than what you’re describing :)

You found a great fiance 😁 She asks the really big questions!

This is a seriously interesting speculation. This may very well be a thing.

No, dogs do not bring back balls and sticks because of any ancient hunting instincts related to spears or slingshots. Instead, dogs have a natural instinct to retrieve objects, which is a behavior that has been selectively bred over thousands of years for specific purposes such as hunting, herding, and retrieving game.

In modern times, the instinct to retrieve has been channeled into games such as fetch, where dogs are trained to retrieve objects such as balls or sticks and bring them back to their owners. This behavior is often reinforced through positive reinforcement, where the dog is rewarded with praise or treats for bringing back the object

I think there’s too much emphasis on primitive weapons as hunting and not enough on just walking until the thing dies (which wolves are also suited). Just relentless stalking, even if we’ve lost a limb we had to cut off our own body. Humans are like the monster in a slasher movie

If my dog was bringing his ball or stick back to me out of some evolutionary instinct to be helpful, you’d think he’d actually drop it and give it to me. If I’m some primitive person and missed my shot with a spear, my dog would bring the spear back, but I’m not getting another shot at that mammoth until I win a game of tug first.

Dogs were instrumental in early human survival and they’ve benefited for it. There’s almost a billion dogs in the world, but only a quarter million wolves. So in a natural selective sense that was a good move wolves made by becoming companions with humans.

Behavior has been bred into dogs going way back to the beginning. Fetch is one of those behaviors. I recently watched a documentary that showed the unique interaction of dogs with humans. Dogs are really good at understanding human body language. For example you can point at something and a dog will cue on it. No other animals reliably respond to that gesture, even chimpanzees which are genetically closest to us.

deleted by creator

Maybe they bring them back because they like to chase them. I don’t know I’m not a dog scientist.