"WE HAVE HAD CIVILIZATIONS WITHOUT HORSES AND EVEN CIVILIZATIONS WITHOUT THE WHEEL, BUT NEVER CIVILIZATIONS WITHOUT DOGS. NO DOGS, NO HUMANITY" PIERO SCANZIANI'S WORDS, SET DOWN IN HIS BOOK ENTITLED IL CANE UTILE (THE USEFUL DOG), PUBLISHED BY PAN, ROME, HAVE A DEEP EFFECT ON THE READER, FOR IF WE STOP TO THINK, THEY ARE NEITHER AN ATTENTION-GRAB-BING PHRASE NOR A PARADOX, BUT THE PURE TRUTH, BACKED UP BY SCIENCE. INDEED, IF THE MAXIM "NO DOGS, NO HUMANITY" WERE NOT TRUE, WE WOULD HAVE TO ASK OURSELVES WHY MAN HAS KEPT DOGS IN ALL PLACES AND AT ALL TIMES - AND NOT JUST FOR 14,000 OR 15,000 YEARS, AS WAS BELIEVED UNTIL A SHORT TIME AGO, BUT FOR ALMOST 100,0OO AS RECENT STUDIES ON THE MITOCHONDRIAL DNA OF OUR FOUR-LEGGED COMPANIONS HAVE REVEALED...