Ratings

Breed Introduction

The Kunming Dog is a breed developed by the Kunming Police Dog Base of the Ministry of Public Security. There are three color varieties: wolf blue, grass yellow, and black back. Breeding began in 1953, and it was successfully bred in 1964. In 1991, it won the second prize for national scientific and technological advancement and the third prize for military scientific and technological advancement. The seventh generation Kunming Dog successfully bred in 2005 serves as working dogs for military and police, and it has been widely promoted and applied in 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the country and in Southeast Asian countries, achieving significant military, social, and economic benefits. It is called “Kunming Dog” because it was bred in Kunming in the southwestern border area of the motherland.   

The Kunming Dog is a high-quality dog breed from China. It has strong adaptability to plateau climate, cold environments, and high temperatures. It is widely used in border patrols, investigation and solving cases, drug and explosive detection within the military and criminal investigation lines in our country. It can also be used as a guard dog for units and individuals. It adapts to various climates, especially the plateau three-dimensional climate, and has distinct features in identification tracking and biting. This dog is fierce in character, prone to aggression, and harbors strong hostility towards strangers; while it is very affectionate towards its owner, it poses a serious threat to the public in human living areas.   

The Kunming Dog has a medium build, a balanced appearance, slightly square shape, almost equal shoulder height and body height, thin skin, short hair, a compact bone structure, developed muscles, strong joints, relatively upright hind limbs, and agile movements; it has good working performance, strong reproductive capacity, stable genetics, strong adaptability, and strong disease resistance. The dominant neural types are lively and excited, with bold ferocity, strong proactive defense, high alertness, strong searching reflexes, excitement towards objects, strong desire to retrieve items, loyalty to the owner, good bonding and obedience, and focused attention. It is suited for high-intensity work, with good endurance; households are not suitable for keeping this dog, and it is also not very suitable for beginners.

The development of Kunming Dog originated in 1950 due to the needs of border battle. The Border Defense Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security (later changed to Public Security Army) prepared to establish a military dog training team in Beijing. In October 1951, the first military dog training class for the entire army was opened, and the participating dogs came from various places, including Beijing, Qingdao, Taiyuan in Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia (the Inner Mongolia Wolf Dog breed comes from the Soviet Union). At the same time, more than 30 foreign dogs raised by foreign personnel stationed in China and civilian wolf dogs were recruited. At that time, 10 personnel from the Southwest Border Defense Cadre Training Class, stationed in Chongqing, were sent to Beijing to attend the first military dog training class. (All 10 students graduated with the dogs and were assigned to the military dog training team of the Yunnan Military District). They graduated in May 1953 (students and dogs graduated together). The 10 students from the Southwest brought back 10 qualified military wolf dogs, along with 10 breeding dogs assigned by the Beijing military dog training team (three males: Beimen, Qingcong, Qingfeng; seven females: Laiji, Xiudai, Lili, Meiling, Xiaoming, Keke, Paike) led by Dong Zhaoqing, the commander of the military dog breeding team, to the Yunnan Provincial Public Security Corps (the predecessor of the Yunnan Military District).

According to the superior’s instructions, the Yunnan Provincial Public Security Corps military dog training team was established (the predecessor of the Yunnan Military District military dog training team). At that time, due to insufficient breeding sources, the organization sent team leader Zhang Yun, assistant teacher Yu Ximeng, and others to collect 50 qualified wolf dogs from the civil sector in Kunming (29 males and 21 females); later, personnel were sent to Chongqing, Chengdu, Guiyang, and other places to collect 40 civilian wolf dogs (17 males and 23 females). Then, from the 90 wolf dogs above, 20 were selected based on size and neural type (12 local to Kunming and 8 from Guizhou and Sichuan), with 5 males and 15 females; along with the 10 breeding dogs brought back from Beijing, a total of 30 were selected as the primitive population or base group to establish a breeding team for selective cross-breeding. During the group breeding process, considering the shortcomings of the base group such as small size and low reproductive capacity, 10 purebred German wolf dogs (3 males and 7 females) were introduced from the Nanjing Military District military dog training team in 1958 for targeted import to the base group, and subsequently closed breeding was carried out according to the separated coat color varieties, with strict selection and cultivation, gradually forming today’s Kunming Wolf Dog. Overall, the Kunming Wolf Dog, regardless of the variety, belongs to a native Chinese dog breed, and it shares a certain genetic connection with the ancient and world-renowned German Wolf Dog. This strict selection over 38 years in the military dog training team of the Yunnan Military District made the excellent traits dispersed in the base group converge in the offspring, thus enhancing the quality of the Kunming Wolf Dog beyond that of any of its ancestors.