You can't negotiate with wild African dogs, as Bowser recognizes, they are pretty tough customers, smart as hell, and not easily impressed by naked apes. They also have a highly developed and hierarchical social structure that would be immune to human infiltration.

But puppies, kept by a hominid band as a food reservoir during fat times (feed the puppies excess meat) and consumed as a food reserve in lean times would quickly bond with humans, and demonstrate their worth as guards, sensor platforms, and even allies in battle. After a while it would be clear their value as companions exceeded their value as a mobile food reservoir.

Humans could use the canine instinct to be fiercely loyal to the pack structure, even across species barriers, to their own advantage. And it must be admitted, above and beyond their practical value, humans would soon bond with the beasts as well. Dogs and people like each other, I'm convinced its not entirely an evolved relationship.

You will notice this didn't work with felines. Cats weren't domesticated until they proved their worth by hanging around granaries controlling rodents, much later in human evolution. They weren't about to help humans hunt, be our scouts, or share their prey with us.

This is next to impossible to prove conclusively, but it fits the facts. Every "primitive" tribe we're familiar with has had canine allies. Can you imagine the Arctic natives surviving without their dogs?
A bone harpoon is no match against a polar bear. We don't see people domesticating cats until the dynastic Egyptians.