Thousands of years ago, when our human and canine ancestors first began their extraordinary relationship, there was something about certain wolves which distinguished them from the rest of the pack. Rather than a traditional wolf form of intelligence, these pioneer dogs, or protodogs, had budding social skills enabling them to approach and interact with humans in a whole new way. Protodogs are akin to these first dogs; flexible when it comes to solving problems on their own, but with sufficient social acumen to turn to humans for help when needed.