Fascinating. I had never heard of this breed until yesterday.
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During the last thirty years, the capture and study of free-ranging dogs in remote areas of South Carolina and Georgia has revealed the existence of dogs of primitive appearance fitting the typical long-term pariah (i.e. primitive dog) morphotype. Their physical appearance suggests a dog created by and preserved through natural selection to survive in the remote lowland swamp and woodland areas of the southeastern United States. They closely resemble types of dogs first encountered by Europeans near Indian settlements in the region as is evidenced by paintings, drawings and written descriptions made by these early explorers and settlers.
........we may have in the Carolina Dog a domestic dog that evolved in North America from crosses of the aboriginal dogs that came across the Bering Strait (with the Paleolithic hunter bands) with North American wolves and/or coyotes. This could be a type of dog domesticated solely from North American wild canids, developed free of Asian or European genetic composition up until the introduction of Eurasian domestics by European settlers.
..........The Carolina Dog would represent domestication in reverse. This would be a situation where a completely domesticated animal would have turned its back on modem human society and fled to the wilds to evolve as a completely new type (breed) free of direct human intervention and/or supervision. Long dormant instincts would have reemerged in the wild to aid/allow their survival. Those domestic physical and behavioral traits not suited for survival in the wild would have been selected against and removed from the gene pool. This would represent a reemergence of the "original dog type" which first emerged over 12,000 years ago. Should this hypothesis prove true, we would have in our midst a dog unique in the world in that it would represent a case study of domestication/evolution in reverse, i.e., a return to the original dog type. No other breed of dog could/can make that claim.
Looks like the old tyme mountain fiest that are bred in the Ozarks to hunt squirrels.
ReplyDeleteInteresting as they are truly primitive dogs who like packs and enjoy hunting small game.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible to get some puppies from the dogs in the photo....???? And yes, I have seen cajun fiest dogs very similar to these dogs. They used them to hunt coons in situations that the coon was too agile for the hounds....
ReplyDeleteThey are available, but if pure bred, expensive. Right after I posted this, 2 years ago, I found one at the animal shelter here which was 18 months old, fixed, all shots and house broken. Her owner had left for college. Unfortunately, when I went to pick it up, the foster parent had decided to keep it along with her others. What a deal at $25 it would have been. I haven't found one since at a shelter that is pure bred.
DeleteI have one and he is the best dog I ever owned.my Dingo Doggie works as a PTSD service dog. My first dog over 50 years ago was one of these too, before they were 'discovered'. My dad called it a pure breed too. Hoping to raise and train more of these wonderful dogs as working service animals, they are dedicated to the job!
ReplyDeleteThank you and another one hasn't tuned up here in the last two years. Sure wish I had gotten the one above.
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