The main focus of this group is to unravel the origins and earliest history and evolution of the domestic dog, using genetic analyses. Our studies are based on a unique sample collection from several thousand dogs globally, which has enabled the first genetic comparisons of dogs worldwide. Our studies have given the first solid data about the geographical origins of the dog, and its subsequent worldwide dispersal. In a sequence of papers we have in increasing detail identified the time and place of dog origins, and of the routes and timing of the initial dispersal of dogs, e.g. to Australia resulting in the dingo. In identifying southern East Asia as the probable origins of dogs we suggest a region hitherto not recognized as a possible candidate, thus changing the paradigm about dog origins. Our genetic studies have been among the most extensive of any domestic animal, based on classical (Sanger) DNA sequencing techniques. We have for example analysed the mitochondrial genomes and 15,000 bp of Y-chromosomal DNA in more than 150 dogs worldwide. We are now taking advantage of the revolutionizing development of DNA sequencing techniques to study dog genomes, in the search of the traits and genes involved in the domestication of wolf and earliest development of dogs, as well as the related history. Based on our knowledge of dog genetics we have also developed methods for forensic analyses of dog DNA, and these methods have been used in forensic casework for analysis of dog and wolf hairs. We are continuing the research on the optimal use of mitochondrial DNA in forensic analyses.