Dude! Why have I never heard of this? Has it been debunked yet? Has anybody else heard about the Carolina dog? Supposedly descendants of the domestic dogs brought over on the landbridge lo those many moons ago, they’re supposed to be a North American equivalent of the dingo, living in the swampy areas of the south. (Alas, not around here. Oh, well.) They’re recognized by the AKC, so I suppose they’re a definite existing breed, regardless of whether the antiquity of their origins has been confirmed. They appear to look pretty much like your standard pariah dog, dingo-esque critter. Presumably any dog population left to inbreed for long enough will come out looking like a pariah dog, so that by itself proves nothing, but if they were genuinely an ancient breed that would be just unspeakably cool!
(old article, which is why I ask about updates)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/03/0311_030311_firstdog.html
One of these days, when I have a house, I want to get a dog. However, being me, the only way that I could keep a dog happy with my schedule is to find something that is a total couch potato for nine-tenths of the day, will get up for a nice walk, and then go back to the couch. All the breeds I love, like Rottweilers,* would require a lot more play time than I can reliably give them–if I get obsessed on a painting, I can kill fourteen hours without feeling it, and this is not fair to a big active social dog. Maybe greyhound rescue is in my distant future. I’ve heard they fit the bill, although I’d need to read a lot more about it to be sure.
But anyway! Carolina dogs! Is it true? Anybody know about it?
*Despite their bad rap, I grew up around Rottweilers and they were without exception big, amiable, intelligent dogs, including my father’s dog Brewster, who was a truly superior dog. Every Rottweiler I’ve known has wanted very much to figure out what you want, and then do it, which is why I think they do so badly with poor training–if they can’t figure out what you want, they go bonkers.
Originally published at Tea with the Squash God. You can comment here or there.