What Is Considered an Ancient Dog?
Modern-day pet owners are familiar with the concept of dog breeds. Whether you are getting a dog from a breeder or a shelter, many people specifically seek out certain breeds to match a certain aesthetic, purpose, or personality that they want in a dog. Some of these dogs are still intentionally bred to have the traits that make them desirable, such as the small and playful disposition of a Pomeranian, while others have lost their original purpose. For example, the Golden Retriever was supposedly bred to hunt deer, but many owners nowadays don’t hunt at all, let alone with their dogs.
There are ancient dog breeds that have been lost to time. Many of the descendants of modern dogs do not exist anymore, and if they do, their original purpose has been shrouded in mystery. However, what is even more shrouded in mystery is how people determine what is and is not an ancient dog.
There are four classes of dog referred to as “ancient” dogs: primitive, extinct, historically ancient, and genetically old. Primitive dogs can be defined as dog breeds that still exist, primarily untouched by genetic changes, for thousands of years. They are almost always created by nature rather than humans and are native to areas where they still exist today. The Australian dingo, the New Guinea singing dog, and the surprisingly mysterious Carolina Dog of the American South are classified as primitive dogs.
By contrast, extinct dogs are dog breeds created by humans but gradually went extinct due to lack of popularity in the breed or a pivot into developing them into a different, more modern breed. While this concept introduces some issues of defining a breed, many dogs recognized as official breeds don’t exist anymore. This includes the Blue Paul Terrier and the Paisley Terrier from breeding programs during the 18th and 19th centuries. However, while currently extinct, these dogs aren’t truly ancient: although they, like all dogs, have ancient ancestors, they were created relatively recently, within the last several hundred years.
Another category of more accurately “ancient” extinct dogs might be dogs from farther back in history. These dogs were probably bred intentionally by humans but existed long before our modern concept of breeds to categorize them. This category contains breeds from antiquity such as the Molosser of the Ancient Mediterranean, the Kuri of the South Pacific, and the Hare Indian Dog from the North American Arctic.
Lastly, ancient dog breeds may refer to breeds that still exist but have very similar DNA to wolves or at least more similar DNA than most breeds. What dogs count in this category vary depending on how you calculate it. For instance, the dog breeds Akita, Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute, and Basenji share similar DNAs or may have come from the same ancestor. While all dogs originally came from wolves, these, among several others, have the most wolf DNA, which signifies that some versions of them have existed, relatively unchanged compared to most breeds, for a very long time.
