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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? That is the aim. Have foxes as the main domesticated animal in Europe. This would be in a world with a long timeline. An alternate history, probably starting at least around the 11th century AD and up to the 1st century BC. Although I was hoping for a setting in an alternate modern world, there is the possibility this would be set in a more Middle Ages type civilisation. So essentially I'm looking for a way to have foxes be the main domesticated animal in Europe in 5,000 to 1,000 years in ways that would be realistic in our world, or a substantiated explanation of why it is not possible.

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 Chihuahuas are prized because of their small size and acuity to living indoors. The breed 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.

There are 3 routes to animals being domesticated.

The commensal route where animals gained something from humans without being a burden or danger. For example animals that feed on food scraps or other animals that were attracted to human encampments. Later these animals would be integrated in human life and selective breeding would truly start. This is the route that gave us dogs and cats.

The prey route. Where humans captured, confined and bred animals for food. This is the route that gave us sheep and various breeds of cattle.

The directed route. This is where humans made a conscious decision to try and domesticate an animal for a specific purpose. This is the route that gave us domesticated horses.

The Russian fox experiment shows that foxes do hold the traits that allow them to be domesticated (as opposed to animals that humans have tried and failed to domesticate, like zebras).

In a pre-historic Europe where wolves were not around, or at least very scarce, then I think it is actually likely that foxes would of taken the commensal role that wolves took historically. Foxes will quite happily scavenge for food near humans, this is why we are seeing more and more foxes living in cities.

In a pre-historic Europe where wolves were around though, wolves would have defended their food supply from other animals such as foxes. Wolves won't normally bother with foxes as they are not direct competitors for prey, but they will attack them if foxes try to feed off their kills.

This likely eliminated the commensal route for foxes. The directed route would mean being domesticated much later, and some human having a reason to do so that couldn't be easier fulfilled with dogs.

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