possibly dogs might have taken advantage of dead animals left by early hunters and assisted in the capture of wild animals, or provided defence from large competing predators at kills. Furthermore, several ancient types of dogs may have died out, such as the 36,000 year old Goyet specimen of Belgium and the 33,000 year old Altai Mountains dogs from Russia, as they have no descendents today. This era dating from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago, is called the Upper
paleolithic in Western Europe and this was a time when the dog became domesticated