Foxes are smaller than many dogs, and don't look to be that aggressive, I've always wondered why haven't they been domesticate?
The Tame Silver Fox is the result of nearly 50 years of experiments in the Soviet Union and Russia to domesticate the silver morph of the Red Fox. Notably, the new foxes not only become more tame, but more dog-like as well: they lost their distinctive musky "fox smell", became more friendly with humans, put their ears down (like dogs), wagged their tails when happy and began to vocalize and bark like domesticated dogs. The breeding project was set up by the Soviet scientist Dmitri Belyaev. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tame_Silver_Fox
I do not think domesticating yet another wild animal is a very good idea. We cannot now keep all of the cats, dogs, pigs, and other "domesticated" in homes and destroy over 5 million of them every year. Why is it that humans must try to show there dominance over wild critters when they can't even take care of the ones they already have now!:shrug:
cosmictraveler, I agree about the over domestication. We're already having a problem with human population, if you go on reading some more, you'll find out that now even dog population is becoming a problem. I was just wondering why big dogs have been domestic so often, but not foxes, I was thinking that they are more dangerous than dogs etc., but now my questions are answered.
Owning a dog is a big decision. Think of a fox as just a different 'breed' of dog. You still have to feed it, play with it, take it to the vet, etc. Having 'fox' as an option to pet owners is not going to create a wide new marketplace, it's just a substitute product in an existing marketplace. The people who want dogs already own dogs, now that foxes are being bred, you don't see people lining up at the pet store to take home a few foxes.
Humans domesticated dogs tens of thousands of years ago for their habits of being loyal to the pack. Foxes don't have that history or loyalty. Indeed, one of the roles of the domestic dog was to protect our livestock from foxes, coyotes, and wolves.
