The term pariah dog (also pye dogs, or pi dogs) originally referred to Chinese/Indian feral dogs of a particular type, but it is now used by the United Kennel Club to refer to a purebred dog category.
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Pariah-feral dogs are typically medium-sized and have yellow to rust-colored coats. It was once thought that Indian feral dogs were the ancestral stock of Australian dingoes, but a 2004 Swedish study of mitochondrial DNA found that dingoes originated from southern China, not from India.[1]
The United Kennel Club (United States) recognizes purebred dogs bred for chasing large game in the Sighthound & Pariah Group. Included in this group are breeds that are either of early origin or modern reconstructions of early breeds or types. The group includes the Afghan Hound, Azawakh, Basenji, Borzoi, Canaan Dog, Carolina Dog, Chart Polski (Polish Greyhound), Cirneco dell'Etna, Greyhound, Hungarian Greyhound, Ibizan Hound, Irish Wolfhound, New Guinea Singing Dog, Pharaoh Hound, Portuguese Podengo, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Saluki, Scottish Deerhound, Silken Windhound, Sloughi, Spanish Greyhound, Thai Ridgeback, Whippet, and Xoloitzcuintli.[2]
In place of "pariah" (pariah is derived from the Tamil word paraiyar, first used in English in 1613 to refer to the lowest level of the traditional Indian caste system; in English, it is used to mean "social outcast"[3]), most registries, other than United Kennel Club, use the term "primitive" (primitive in the sense of "relating to an earliest or original stage or state" or "being little evolved from an early ancestral type"[4]) to refer to pariah-type dogs. The American Rare Breed Association, for example, places its Pariah-type dogs within a breed group designated "Spitz and Primitive."[5]
Populations of pariah dogs are distributed in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand, Myanmar, Southeast China, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Borneo, United States, Korea, and the Philippines.[6]
The Carolina Dog found in the southeastern United States of America is one example of a pariah-type feral dog. The Carolina Dog closely resembles feral dogs found in deserts of middle eastern countries. Both the desert dog (known as the Canaan Dog) and Carolina Dog are recognized as purebred by major registries.[7]
All strains of pariah dogs are at risk of losing their genetic uniqueness by interbreeding with purebred and mixed-breed strays. To insure against this, some strains of pariah dogs are becoming formally recognized, registered, and pedigreed breeds as their fanciers attempt to preserve the pure type.
All pariah dogs are feral, but not all feral dogs are pariah dogs in the genetic sense. Though they are outcasts in the social sense, and thus may still be called pariahs by observers who are not dog fanciers, feral dogs may be of any breed or mix of breeds. The individuals may be stray pets, or descended from strays, or from litters dumped in wild or rural areas by irresponsible owners. They may form packs with other strays or attempt to join existing canid packs (such as a wolf pack). While pariah dogs are by definition feral, pariah-type dogs are not necessarily feral (wild dog populations which have not been re-domesticated), as well as recognized dog breeds with pariah dog heritage.
Readers of a literary but non-canine bent will recognize "a pack of pariah dogs" from Saki (H.H. Munro)'s brief story, "The Open Window".