It's not certain whether man approached the wolf, or vice versa. Both profited from the new situation: people used wolves during the hunt, for keeping flocks together and to warn against approaching enemies.
Wolves are very social animals. Like humans, they live in groups with social ranks, in which some wolves claim leadership. This made this animal suitable and attractive as a companion, because wolves accepted man as their leader.
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Stone-aged people tamed dogs to help them track game. About eight thousand years ago, ancient Egyptians raised Saluki hunting dogs. Saluki is an arabic word meaning noble one. These dogs are probably the oldest known breed.

Quite a few breeds claim to be the oldest, the first real dog. We do know that as far as groups go, the hounds and certain Northern type breeds are among the oldest documented. The greyhound type of dogs (the Pharaoh, Saluki, Ibizan, Basenji and Afghan) were well established in ancient Egypt 5000 years ago. It has been suggested that the Dalmatian was depicted in paintings dating back as far as 2000 years ago, and the Assyrians developed large mastiff-like breeds for use in hunting and war.

The dog was used as an aid to the shepherd, it was generally considered an unclean animal. Both the Hebrew and Moslem cultures forbid eating an animal that had been "torn by dogs", and no doubt, the threat of rabies made this a wise practice. (The Moslems made exception for the Saluki , as it was considered a Gift of Allah.)

As is always the case, when a country or civilization is well off, so are the dogs. During the reign of the early Greek, and later, the Roman Empire, the status of dogs began to change again. The dog was kept not only as a hunter, herder, & guardian, but also as a beloved pet. Dogs began to appear in sculpture, and had their portraits painted.

Today's dogs come in all shapes and sizes. There are now over 400 dog breeds. They still all belong to the same species, which means that all breeds can be crossbred and still have fertile offspring.