Ancient dog breeds

well the Akita certainly does not belong there. The Akita WE know in the USA was developed by crossing native large size dogs with western GSD's Mastiffs St Bernards and Tosas  to create a better fighting dog. These were the direct imports to the USA that came over with Helen Keller and American Servicemen. The Akita in Japan today is a RECREATION of what they believed the "Odate Dog" looked like back before the western influence occured, some beiev some crossing the Spitz type dog has occured there and it's almost been admitted to. The original "Akita' was not given the name and considered a breed until the various crossing began.
 
Prior to that it was a "type" of hunting dog classified by size, Large Medium Small...or simply called 'Odate Dog'. the three sizes interbred from time to time. the Odate dog or Large size hunting dog IS an old type of dog...created thru the isolation of living in Japan...but that's not to say it was a breed, being purposefully and carefully bred and maintained...it was simply "used" to hunt and good hunters were bred with whatever sized other good hunting dog was around. They all looked similar because all primitive types have a certain "look'...like the dingo, NGSD, pariah dogs, etc the world over....medium sized, erect ears, curled or sickle tails, red orange coloring with lighter extremities, double coats that are slick in summer and thicken in winter, almond shaped dark eyes, etc.
 
The wonderful website "The Akita Learning Center" goes into more detail on this...
[linkhttp://www.northlandakitas.com/akitahistory/ahistory.htm]http://www.northlandakitas.com/akitahistory/ahistory.htm[/link]

I knew the Chow Chow, Saluki and Afganistan were ancient.  But I thought the Canaan dog was an ancient breed too.

faol....if you read the link they took those from the DNA study they did on the dog genome a while back. They only took sample from like the top so many hundred dog breeds....Canaan's are quite seldom seen and don't rank that high on the popular list, so that's likely why they weren't included in the study and aren't on this list. MANY lesser known breeds are quite old..the Turkish LGD's for ex but they are rare...
 
Wikipedia is a user based thing, I am pretty sure anyone can put up an entry for anything so the information there is only as complete and as useful and correct as the person who posted it. It's a fun site but really not something I use for "true facts'....but it's often steered me in the right direction to find out more! []
 
Thanks to the OP for posting!

Thanks for the clarification Rwbeagles.
 
Do you know a lot about dog breeds?  When I was researching the Chow Chow, I came across some theories that stated the Chow Chow evolved from a strain of samoyeds, I don't know how true that is, what do you think?

Can I weigh in on this....Records of the Irish Wolfhound and drawings date back almost to the Roman Empire.  While today's form of wolfhound was salvaged from almost certain extinction in the late 1800's by some careful outcrossing to restore variety to the gene pool which had seriously dwindled, the breed as a whole can trace back almost to the time of Jesus Christ.  It seems throughout history, the changes in the breed reflect the change in usage of the animal as a hunter, as a protector, as a companion.  The history of the Irish wolfhound doesn't lead you to believe that they were ever in  huge population numbers as some other breeds, and perhaps that is why it was so easy for them to slip to the point of extinction.  If I remember history correctly though, they even pre-date Scottish Deerhound accounts and most certainly Borzoi accounts.  Kind of like the Tazmanian devil, they came from a little island and that limited how popular or even familiar that they might become.

ORIGINAL: rwbeagles

 
Wikipedia is a user based thing, I am pretty sure anyone can put up an entry for anything so the information there is only as complete and as useful and correct as the person who posted it. It's a fun site but really not something I use for "true facts'....but it's often steered me in the right direction to find out more! []
 
Thanks to the OP for posting!

A little more on the wikipedia. The Wikipedia is known as the source for last minute research. If you are looking for basic common knowledge stuff, the Wikipedia is fine. If you are looking for things that might be more controversial, have varying opinions involved, etc., the Wikipedia is not a good source. Anyone can add or edit any entry to the wikipedia, save for some entries (ie. George W. Bush) which are protected due to previous vandalism. The Wikipedia is not the place you want to go for research, and you especially do not want to site the Wikipedia in a paper. If you do so and are not questioned, clearly your teacher/professor knows even less about the web than you do.

Akitas have 2 different standards in most places, except North America, the Akita Inu and the Great Japanese Dog AKA American Akita.  Of the Japanese breeds it was the last to develop anyway, so how they have the Shiba, the first, and the Akita, the last but none of the middle breeds I dont understand.
 
The [linkhttp://japanesedogs.bulldoginformation.com/hokkaido-ainu-inu.html]Hokkaido dog[/link] the [linkhttp://japanesedogs.bulldoginformation.com/kai-inu.html]Kai inu[/link], the [linkhttp://www.bulldoginformation.com/shikoku-kishu-inu.html]Kishu dog[/link], the [linkhttp://japanesedogs.bulldoginformation.com/shiba-inu.html]Shiba inu[/link] and the [linkhttp://japanesedogs.bulldoginformation.com/shikoku-inu.html]Shikoku inu[/link] are undoubtedly the native Japanese breeds. They were bred for hunting by ancient hunters of Japan, called "matagi." 
[link>http://japanesedogs.bulldoginformation.com/]http://japanesedogs.bulldoginformation.com/[/link][/size]
 
Irish Wolfhounds are also a breed that has been recreated.
In the 1800s, a Scottish deerhound breeder named Captain George Augustus Graham became interested in the old Irish wolfdog. He began to collect as many of the "true" Irish hounds as he could find, and bred them with Deerhound, Borzoi, Tibetan Mastiff and Great Dane crosses in an attempt to resurrect the disappearing breed.
[linkhttp://www.irishwolfhoundclubofcanada.ca/handbook/history.shtml]http://www.irishwolfhoundclubofcanada.ca/handbook/history.shtml[/link]
 
Some scholars claim the Chow was the original ancestor of the Samoyed, Norwegian Elkhound, Pomeranian and Keeshond. In more recent times, that is, in the T'ang Dynasty (7th Century AD), it is reported that one Chinese emperor kept 2,500 of these Chow Dogs to accompany his ten thousand hunters! Admired by emperors as well as Western royalty, used by Chinese peasants for food and clothing, and a favorite of the Hollywood movie star set in the 1920's, the Chow Chow has had a dramatic history.
[linkhttp://www.execulink.com/~tokoeka/mlccc.chowinfo.htm]http://www.execulink.com/~tokoeka/mlccc.chowinfo.htm[/link]
 
 
Not to just cut and paste from other sources this was all info I knew, I just wanted to back it up, these are 3 of the breeds I have studied quite alot as I have had a Chow Chow, I have 2 Shiba Inu, and will one day own an Irish Wolfhound.

Ruffian....the FCI recently changed the name of the GJD to 'American Akita'....so that silliness is over now...lol!

I put that is was knowen as both names, but they are still 2 seperate breeds, I have seen Japanese imort ture akitas and they would not even pass for an akita in north american rings. 

Ruffian that wasn't an arugment...but an update. It was big news as most people hated the name and thought it was a deliberate act of belittlement by Japan.
 
I am quite familiar with the two types and both do quite well here in American if the right style of dog is chosen along with the right judge...just like with anything. The divide here is deep, and it is nasty...but the bottom line is there are many more important things wrong in the breed like health, genetic bottlenecking, popular sire syndrome, and temperament issues and yet the focus is always on appearance and CoO...sad. That's why I only observe now...

Sorry I misunderstood I thought you ment that they had merged them into one breed, LOL.  Yes I agree I had wanted one for a few years, but after looking at them and the health problems I decided to get the second Shiba instead.  I find it sad when breeds diverge so far from the original standard, like show labs and field labs.  By definition of a standard where the dog should still function in its original capacity, shouldn't a field lab be the same as a show lab, sad, IMO.

Agreed [] [sm=wink2.gif]