Carolina Dog

Carolina Dog
Origin USA
Traits
Weight 30–44 lb (14–20 kg)
Height 17.75–19.75 in (45.1–50.2 cm)
Colour Preferable: red ginger with pale buff markings over the shoulders, and pale white along the muzzle.
Classification / standards
AKC FSS
The AKC Foundation Stock Service (FSS) is an optional recording service for purebred dogs that are not yet eligible for AKC registration.
UKC Sighthound & Pariah standard
Domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris)

The Carolina Dog also called the American Dingo is an ancient breed of dog that lives mostly in the wild in the Southeastern United States, although domestication of the dog has recently become popular and the breed has been formally recognized. Similar to the Australian Dingo, the Carolina Dog, before reverting to life in the wild, was domesticated in ancient times by Paleolithic native peoples, but now primarily lives in a feral state, especially in the forests of eastern North Carolina as well as eastern South Carolina. DNA and archeological studies show it to have been in North America for at least 8,000 years. At some point the Carolina Dog left domestication and it may have since been living in the wild in North America for thousands of years, although some of these dogs have been more recently domesticated again by Native American peoples of the last several hundred years.

Although many Carolina Dogs now show some admixture with recently imported feral dog breeds, DNA studies also confirm an ancient Paleolithic domestication matching the migration from Asia of the ancestors of modern day native Americans and completely separate from recently imported American dog breeds. The Carolina Dog was rediscovered living as a wild dog or free roaming dog by Dr. I. Lehr Brisbin, and originally documented in American dog breed publications in the 1920s. Carolina Dogs often live wild in isolated stretches of longleaf pines and cypress swamps in the Southeastern United States.[1] A breed standard has been developed by the United Kennel Club that now specifies the appearance of these dogs.[2] Carolina Dogs are a medium sized dog, that comes in varying shades of red ginger, buff, fawn, black, black and tan or piebald[3] with or without small white markings on toes, chest, tail tip and muzzle. Frequently puppies have a melanistic mask that usually fades as the adult coat comes in.[4]

Discovery

One of the earliest publications to document Carolina Dogs was the article "Dogs of the American Aborigines" by Glover Morrill Allen, published in 1920 by the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. Allen postulated that these "Larger or Common Indian Dogs" were descended from Asian primitive dogs: "The probability therefore is, that the Domestic Dog originated in Asia and was carried by primitive man both east and west into all parts of the inhabited world. That this migration began in late Pleistocene times seems highly probable."[5] Allen cites late 19th century studies of skeletal remains of these dogs excavated from Indian mounds as well:

Cope (1893) was the first to describe the jaw of this dog from a specimen collected by Moore from a shell-mound on St. John's River, Florida. He was struck by the fact that the first lower premolar was missing and appeared not to have developed. The strong development of the entoconid of the carnassial, he also noticed. Moore, in the course of various explorations in Florida and Georgia discovered many remains of dogs, apparently of this type. In a large mound on Ossabaw Island, Georgia, he (1897) found several interments of human and dog-skeletons, the latter always buried separately and entire, showing that the dogs had not been used as food. Other dog-skeletons of a similar sort were found by Moore (1899) in aboriginal mounds on the South Carolina coast.[5]

Later in the 20th century these dogs were rediscovered by Dr. I. Lehr Brisbin Jr., a Senior Research Ecologist at the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Lab, who first came across a Carolina Dog while working at the Savannah River Site.

Horace, a ginger piebald (white with brown markings) stray, was wandering the site's boundary when he caught Brisbin’s attention. Brisbin, who had seen many rural dogs chained to the back of porches and doghouses, assumed this was just a normal stray. Many of these dogs roamed the woods and would turn up in humane traps, and Brisbin began to wonder how many more of these were in the wild. On a hunch, he went to the pound and was surprised by the resemblance the dog had to dingos.[1]

Description

Physical

Carolina dog

The ears are large and erect and can be individually turned to the direction of the sound.[6] Height: 17-24 inches (45–61 cm.) Weight: 30-65 pounds (15–20 kg.)

Behavior

Carolina dogs

Carolina Dogs have the unique behavior in the wild of defecating and urinating in streams, creeks and other bodies of water which suggests long-term adaptation to the wild via the behavior of hiding their scent in water in order to evade wolves and coyotes, which are known to frequently kill dogs.

Female dogs had three estrus cycles in quick succession, which settled into seasonal reproductive cycles when there was an abundance of puppies.[1] Brisbin noted that this was most likely to ensure quick breeding before diseases, like heartworm, take their toll. Some pregnant dogs also dug dens in which to give birth.

After giving birth or while pregnant, the dog carefully pushes sand with her snout to cover her excrement. This also helps to evade wolves and coyotes, showing further behavioral adaptation to the wild. They are proficient at locating and catching small mammals e.g. shrews and mice, using a pouncing technique similar to foxes. The dogs also dig “snout pits”, or hundreds of tiny holes in the dirt that perfectly fit their muzzles. More female dogs dig them than males.[7]

In the wild, Carolina Dogs often live in sparsely settled land instead of the highly populated areas stray dogs commonly occupied. However there are sizeable wild populations in metro Atlanta's wooded areas even near industrial plants and major highways.

Carolina Dogs were first noted on the Savannah River Site which by design was depopulated and secured of all trespass and traffic for decades beginning in 1950. The Savannah River Site was also one of two sites secluding South Carolina's deer population at the time of the discovery of the Carolina dog.

Temperament

Carolina dogs are generally nonaggressive towards humans but are aloof towards strangers and require early and more training than less recently domesticated breeds. They are more sensitive to hierarchy than most domestic breeds. Carolina Dogs are natural runners, even in difficult terrain. While running, they can jump easily down from abutments higher than 10 feet. They have excellent noses that help them hunt wild animals, when in the wild. When kept as pets, the breed requires moderate exercise and sufficient space. They need to be exposed to a lot of social activity from a young age. Once they are trained enough, they are said to make excellent family dogs.[8]

DNA testing

Carolina dog "Hunter" that participated in DNA testing[9]

It was proposed that Mitochondrial DNA testing might prove a link between primitive dogs and Carolina dogs. Brisbin stated, "We grabbed them out of the woods based on what they look like, and if they were just dogs their DNA patterns should be well distributed throughout the canine family tree. But they aren't. They're all at the base of the tree, where you would find very primitive dogs." This was not conclusive, but it did spark interest into more extensive DNA testing.[1]

In 2013, a study looked at the mDNA haplotypes associated with samples of the Carolina dog. The study showed that 58% of the dogs carried universal haplotypes that could be found around the world (haplotypes A16, A18, A19, and B1), 5% carried haplotypes associated with Korea and Japan (A39), and 37% carried a unique haplotype that was not recorded before (A184) and that relates to the a5 mDNA sub-haplogroup that originated in East Asia.[10] As the dingo and the New Guinea singing dog belong to haplotype A29[11][12] that relates to the a2 sub-haplogroup,[13][14] there is no genetic relationship.

In the same year, a study of several dog breeds in the Americas — among them the Peruvian hairless, the Chihuahua and the Carolina dog indicated a migration from Asia.[15][16]

In 2015, a large-scale survey of autosomal, mitochondrial, and Y-chromosome diversity in 4,676 purebred dogs from 161 breeds and 549 village dogs from 38 countries was conducted. Testing for the degree of admixture with European dogs, the study found no yDNA haplotypes in indigenous North American dogs outside of the Arctic, however the mDNA of Carolina dogs contained between 10% and 35% pre-Columbian ancestry (mDNA haplotype A184) that clustered with East Asia.[17]

Breed recognition and domestication

Carolina Dogs can be registered with the American Rare Breed Association[18] and the United Kennel Club.[19] ARBA includes the breed in its "Spitz and Primitive Group", which includes primitives such as the dingo and Canaan Dog. The UKC has classified them as a pariah dog, a class which includes other primitive breeds such as the Basenji of Africa and the Thai Ridgeback.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Handwerk, Brian (2003-03-11). "Did Carolina Dogs Arrive With Ancient Americans?". National Geographic News.
  2. ↑ "Carolina Dog". American Rare Breeds Association. Archived from the original on June 3, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  3. ↑ Appearance: The Carolina Dog Rescue and Conservation Project
  4. ↑ Weidensaul, Scott (1999-03-01). "Tracking America’s First Dogs". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2006-10-11.
  5. 1 2 Allen, Glover Morrill (1920). "Dogs of the American Aborigines". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. LXIII (9): 431–517.
  6. ↑ "Carolina Dog". Rare Breed Network. 1996.
  7. ↑ "Primitive Dogs Of The Southeast". University of Georgia. 2001-04-13. Archived from the original on 2007-06-14. Retrieved 2006-10-15.
  8. ↑ Rittenhouse, Jane (1 January 2004). Carolina Dogs, The American Dingos, Perfect Dogs: Remnants from Ages Past (First ed.). Self-Published. ASIN B001VDC4GI.
  9. ↑ van Asch, Barbara; Zhang, Ai-bing; Oskarsson, Mattias; Klütsch, Cornelya (2012-05-09). "MtDNA Analysis Confirms Early Pre‐Colombian Origins of Native American Dogs".
  10. ↑ Van Asch, B.; Zhang, A.-b.; Oskarsson, M. C. R.; Klutsch, C. F. C.; Amorim, A.; Savolainen, P. (2013). "Pre-Columbian origins of Native American dog breeds, with only limited replacement by European dogs, confirmed by mtDNA analysis". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 280 (1766): 20131142. PMC 3730590 Freely accessible. PMID 23843389. doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.1142. Table 1
  11. ↑ Savolainen, P.; Leitner, T.; Wilton, A. N.; Matisoo-Smith, E.; Lundeberg, J. (2004). "A detailed picture of the origin of the Australian dingo, obtained from the study of mitochondrial DNA". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 101 (33): 12387–12390. PMC 514485 Freely accessible. PMID 15299143. doi:10.1073/pnas.0401814101.
  12. ↑ Oskarsson, M. C. R.; Klutsch, C. F. C.; Boonyaprakob, U.; Wilton, A.; Tanabe, Y.; Savolainen, P. (2011). "Mitochondrial DNA data indicate an introduction through Mainland Southeast Asia for Australian dingoes and Polynesian domestic dogs". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 279 (1730): 967–974. PMC 3259930 Freely accessible. PMID 21900326. doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.1395.
  13. ↑ Pang, J.-F.; Kluetsch, C.; Zou, X.-J.; Zhang, A.-b.; Luo, L.-Y.; Angleby, H.; Ardalan, A.; Ekstrom, C.; Skollermo, A.; Lundeberg, J.; Matsumura, S.; Leitner, T.; Zhang, Y.-P.; Savolainen, P. (2009). "MtDNA Data Indicate a Single Origin for Dogs South of Yangtze River, Less Than 16,300 Years Ago, from Numerous Wolves". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 26 (12): 2849–64. PMC 2775109 Freely accessible. PMID 19723671. doi:10.1093/molbev/msp195.
  14. ↑ Duleba, Anna; Skonieczna, Katarzyna; Bogdanowicz, Wiesław; Malyarchuk, Boris; Grzybowski, Tomasz (2015). "Complete mitochondrial genome database and standardized classification system for Canis lupus familiaris". Forensic Science International: Genetics. 19: 123–129. doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2015.06.014.
  15. ↑ Hitt, Jack (15 July 2013). "D.N.A. Backs Lore on Pre-Columbian Dogs". N.Y. Times. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  16. ↑ van Asch, Barbara; Zhang, Ai-bing; Oskarsson, Mattias C. R.; Klütsch, Cornelya F. C.; Amorim, António; Savolainen, Peter (10 July 2013). "Pre-Columbian origins of Native American dog breeds, with only limited replacement by European dogs, confirmed by mtDNA analysis". doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.1142.
  17. ↑ Shannon, Laura M.; Boyko, Ryan H.; Castelhano, Marta; Corey, Elizabeth; Hayward, Jessica J.; McLean, Corin; White, Michelle E.; Abi Said, Mounir; Anita, Baddley; Bondjengo, Nonokombe; Calero, Jorge; Galov, Ana; Hedimbi, Marius; Imam, Bulu; Khalap, Rajashree; Lally, Douglas; Masta, Andrew; Oliveira, Kyle C.; Pérez, Lucía; Randall, Julia; Tam, Nguyen Minh; Trujillo-Cornejo, Francisco J.; Valeriano, Carlos; Sutter, Nathan B.; Todhunter, Rory J.; Bustamante, Carlos D.; Boyko, Adam R. (2015). "Genetic structure in village dogs reveals a Central Asian domestication origin". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112: 201516215. PMC 4640804 Freely accessible. PMID 26483491. doi:10.1073/pnas.1516215112.
  18. ↑ "American Rare Breed Association". Archived from the original on 2006-10-13. Retrieved 2006-10-15.
  19. ↑ "United Kennel Club". Arienne Associates. 1996. Archived from the original on 2006-09-02. Retrieved 2006-10-15.
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