Pets

The Carolina Dog is a wild dog recently discovered living in stretches of pines and cypress swamps in the American South and South East. Physical and behavioral characteristics of this dog suggest that it is not closely related to modern American domestic dogs with geneticists currently seeking to determine its origin. Remarkably, preliminary DNA testing indicates that Carolina Dog samples cluster at the base of the domestic-dog family tree, where the most primitive dog types are found. The Carolina Dog may be more closely related to the Dingo than to the descendants of stray or feral dogs originally imported from Europe.

Some experts claim that the Carolina Dog may have migrated with humans across the Bering Strait land bridge, due to the current survival of a strain of seemingly-indistinguishable dogs native to Korea known as Chindo-Kae. Paintings of Native Americans made by early European explorers show them accompanied by dogs which are very similar to the Carolina Dog.

Carolina Dogs can be registered with the American Rare Breed Association and the United Kennel Club. ARBA includes the breed in its "Spitz and Primitive Group," which includes primitives such as the Dingo, Pariah and Canaan Dog. The UKC has classifed them as a Pariah dog, a class which includes other primitive breeds such as the Basenji of Africa and the Thai Ridgeback. The type designations "Pariah" and "Primitive" are commonly used interchangably in cynology.