Ingo Hessel, Age 10, Of Ottawa, Ont., Canada, For his question:

How long has the dog been man's best friend?

We do not know for surf when the first wild dog was adopted into the human family. But in northern europe the experts found buried records proving that dog and man had been on friendly terms 9000 years ago. Other recordb may be found to show that the shaggy wolf of the wilds became man's best friend 10,000 or even 20,000 years ago.

The dog's first masters were our early ancestors of the old and new stone ages. These people and the wild dogs hunted the same game animals. Man with his strength and weapons was better at bringing down sizable game, and the dog with his keener senses was better at tracking. It seemed natural for the two hunters, man and dog, to go into partnership. And through the ages these old hunting buddies became friends and almost kin.