There is more around these two paragraphs at the site.
Scientists have theorized that dogs started out large and became smaller about 20,000 years ago, when they were domesticated, but this discovery presents the possibility of a new evolutionary narrative. Indeed, when Dr. Plassais, Dr. Ostrander and their co-authors looked at the DNA of a 54,000-year-old steppe wolf (Canis lupus campestris) they found that it, too, possessed the growth hormone mutation. “It’s as though Nature had kept it tucked in her back pocket for tens of thousands of years until it was needed,” Dr. Ostrander said.
The finding holds not just for dogs and wolves, but also for coyotes, jackals, African hunting dogs, and other members of the family of animals referred to as canids. “This is tying together so much about canine domestication and body size, and the things that we think are very modern are actually very ancient,” Dr. Ostrander said.
http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/ca ... 10500.html