A dog guides a visually impaired woman out of the metro train in Beijing, May 1, 2015. [Photo/IC]

In a number of papers in recent years, Savolainen and co-authors have made the case that the genetic diversity of dogs in this region south of the Yangtze River indicated that this was the cradle of dog-human civilization, with the first domestication of dogs occurring somewhere between 5,400 and 16,300 years ago.

The wide window is due to the fact that, while using DNA is handy for determining the origin point of a domesticated species like this, it is not ideal for determining the exact period - archaeology is needed in those cases.

Given the results of archaeological findings, Savolainen estimates that the domestication event probably happened between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago.

The DNA also cannot specifically explain the means by which the animals spread, although Savolainen said it was likely to have been trade, if the animals proved popular. But before this domestication can be notched up to another made-in-China success, it is probably wise to point out that, according to Savolainen's best guess, the dogs may well have been raised for food - a finding that perhaps reinforces certain unpalatable stereotypes.

Given the transition into agriculture in the area at the time, it seems likely that food was a primary reason for this domestication.

Savolainen first started researching this area after he noticed during forensic analysis of dog hairs from a crime scene in 1999 that dogs from East Asia had their own unique genetic differences.

He got in touch with professor Zhang Yaping in China for assistance in locating samples, and began working with Zhang and professor Wang Guodong, who operate out of the State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, and the Yunnan Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Domestic Animals, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Kunming Institute of Zoology.

Since then, across various studies, the scientists have collected 3,000 dog samples from around the world, including 500 from China. They hope to more precisely identify where dogs originated, and also identify the specific genes that changed in the evolution from wolves to dogs.

Interestingly, according to DNA evidence, dogs are not the only animals that appear to have been domesticated in China. Pigs seem to have two different origin points - one in the Middle East, one in China. Genetic evidence also shows that chickens were domesticated in a similar region to dogs, somewhere south of the Yangtze River, either in China or Southeast Asia.