... Scientific studies
and the archaeological record show clearly that the direct ancestor
of this domestic apartment-dwelling dog was indeed a wolf - albeit
one of the rather small and probably little-studied subspecies of
Canis lupus which was native to the Middle East during the time period
of the first domestication, approximately 11,000 years ago. During
the ensuing years, this primitive man/domestic wolf combination spread
rapidly across the globe and was extremely successful in colonizing
much of southeast Asia and eventually the Australo-Pacific region,
then later crossing the Bering Land Bridge and sweeping rapidly across
the North American continent. Along the way, an almost universal primitive
type of dog seems to have been left behind, living in a close but
often loose association with primitive people and on the fringe of
more developed/civilized areas of both the old and new world. With
the exception of the Australian Dingo, few populations of these primitive
dogs are strictly feral - rather than occupying a pariah niche subsisting
on man's garbage, handouts, and leftover hunter kills along with whatever
natural foods they can capture or scavenge.
The
Australian Dingo itself is the epitome of these primitive long-term
pariah dogs whose appearance worldwide is typified by a wolf or fox-like
appearance with sharp-pointed, erect ears, a long, pointed muzzle
and a long, fish-hook shaped tail which often shows a pale color beneath
with an occasional tendency toward bushiness. The dogs are generally
of a medium body size, usually weighing between 35-45 pounds and standing
between 20-25 inches at the shoulder. The hair coat is generally short
to medium in length, but can often be quite dense in winter in the
colder climates. The body color most commonly ranges from a pale buff-tan
to dark red ginger with all shades in between. ... There are frequently
white facial markings along the sides of the checks and muzzle, tending
to even further enhance the generally
wolf-like appearance. A common thread connecting all of these population
types, this generalized appearance typifies those dogs known worldwide
as showing this "long-term pariah morphotype" (LTPM).
Throughout the world,
many populations showing LTPM characteristics have been identified
as distinct entities. This has been particularly true of populations
isolated on islands where they have had only limited genetic exchange
with other related groups of dogs. In some cases, animals taken from
such populations have been bred in captivity under controlled conditions,
and when this process is accompanied by the development of a stud
book or some other form of registration/documentation, a domestic
breed population is formed (by definition) from founder animals taken
from the original free-living LTPM population. This process has, for
example, resulted in the development of the Telomiati dog of Malaysia,
the Basenji of Central Africa, the Canaan dog of the Middle East,
the Chindo Kae dog of Korea and several forms of native Japanese breeds,
including the Akita and Shiba Inu.
We
call Pochi lots of names (more on this later), but never a "