It may have been ruff for humans thousands of years ago, but at least they had dogs to keep them company!

Dogs are often thought of as man's best friend, and it turns out that they may have been by humans' sides for far longer than previously thought.

Scientists have discovered the fossil of part of a dog's jaw in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, and after testing it, have found it to be more than 14,000 years old.

The dogs we know and love today actually descend from wild wolves.

Humans bred and domesticated them over thousands of years - that means tamed them so they were suitable to live with and could be trained.

This was thought to have happened during the last Ice Age, around the end of that period (about 12,000 years ago).

But lead researcher Dr William Marsh's study shows we've had dogs as companions around 5,000 years earlier than many scientists thought.

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