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So I've been thinking for a while about making a story in a world where… well dogs and cats aren't as common and instead are more of a regional domesticated animal, replaced in (mostly Northwestern) Europe by foxes (and also possibly in America — probably only North tho — racoons). Also I'm toying with the idea of throwing otters in there but they've genuinely been used like in Bangladesh and all for fishing, so I'm just gonna extend that along the coast.

My question is: how come it never took that foxes would be hunting companions/pest control in Europe? Doing research I found that recent studies show sign of Bronze Age domestic foxes (more info, more bloc of text too) and I know that there is a Russian/Soviet scientist that tamed and started domesticating foxes in the past 60 years (and I hate that they have to have floppy ears and all cause… they look adorable but so close to dogs, my compelling fiction! x) ). The issue is that foxes eat rodents, hunt rabbits and also have a varied diet that includes fruits. So

1. they could take care of rodents messing with stocks of grains just like or even better than cats


2. they could be used in areas where large mammals are not as common and hunting rabbits is more durable/profitable 3) they could also be fed an alternate diet that doesn't take away too much from the rare meat in early civilisations.

So does anyone know of any real block that would make my world having domesticated foxes as the n°1 pet in Europe an issue?

Thank you!

Dogs are descended from wolves. The first domesticated dogs were likely wolves.

There are several reasons it would make more sense to domesticate wolves than foxes.

Wolves generally hunt in packs, foxes generally hunt solo

Early humans would have seen the social behavior and realized the pack was similar to their own tribe. It wouldn't be too long before a human decided to take some wolf pups and see if he could integrate them.

Wolves are bigger than foxes

Wolves tend to be larger than foxes and are higher on the food chain. You don't want your dog getting picked off by predators. Both in time invested and emotional attachment losing a trained animal is a big deal, so early humans would pick something reasonably high on the food chain to lessen the chance.

NOTE: There are larger predators such as tigers, but they are more difficult to train, and one mistake will likely lead to life-long injury or death.

Selective Breeding

Domesticated wolf pups would have been selectively bred to be loyal, strong, and obedient. The most violent wolf pups would be put down, and other undesirable traits would be bred out, and desirable traits would be amplified. After a few generations, the new dogs from these pedigrees would be much more valuable than even a new litter of undomesticated wolf-pups due to specialization. There would be no reason to start from 0 with a fox when you have bred dogs capable of producing litters of puppies for you.

NOTE: In modern times, some dogs such as Chihuahua are prized because of their small size and acuity to living indoors. The bred was recognized in 1903.

As your research correctly found out, foxes can be domesticated.

The main reason why foxes were not domesticated by early humans who instead preferred wolves might be that the latter are more social than foxes.

While wolves live in packs, normally foxes live in pairs or families. So, while for a human is doable to take the role of pack leader, it is a bit more cumbersome to take the role of mating partner.

Of course, since your world is fictional, if your foxes are pack animals, they might be domesticated as well.

Wolves work very well as hunting companions because they are social, have high endurance so they can keep up with human hunting parties, and they target big game like humans.

Foxes aren't social, do not go for prey bigger than themselves, and have moderate endurance. They would not make good hunting companions.

I think you're closer to the mark with cats. Animals that loiter around people enough to be noticed reducing rodent populations, and someone to make the connection to this being good for grain supplies.

You're also on the money for using them to hunt rabbits too (historically this was done with dog breeds like terriers and dachshunds). If wolves are not domesticated for any reason (or even if they are domesticated, but not bred into forms suitable for rabbiting), this would leave that niche open for foxes.

So, what we want really is:

1. No wolves domesticated (preferable)


2. Abundance of small game that is at least moderately difficult for people to hunt


3. Chance

Foxes would not be useful for hunting they are too small, in fact europe later made a sport out of hunting foxes with dogs.

Domesticating foxes was done in the modern age with modern techniques and knowledge. Domestication is a lot easier when you know how to do it and have large food surpluses to support such endeavors. Animals domesticated in antiquity had to be useful from day one or be a toy for the fabulously wealthy. The bronze age claim is not good evidence, burial with game animals was common and foxes as pests often raided human food stores.

Lastly they didn't need them, the europeans already had animals for hunting (dogs) and pest control, (cats and ferrets). the latter were useful for hunting rabbits as they could chase them down their holes something foxes would not be able to do.