Ratings

Breed Introduction

The Chinese Rural Dog is very similar in appearance to early wolves, the Chinese wolf, and the steppe wolf, with a short muzzle and flat forehead. The breed is mainly distributed in low-altitude areas south of the Great Wall and east of the Tibetan Plateau, with a focus on central regions, and it is widely found in rural China as well as Southeast Asia. With urbanization, it is also commonly kept as a pet.

The Chinese Rural Dog is a product of thousands of years of agricultural society in China, a living fossil of history and culture, and is known as the ‘National Dog of China.’ The development of the Chinese Rural Dog originates from being one of the oldest dog breeds in China, once referred to as the ‘National Dog.’ A historical anecdote recounts that when Qin Shi Huang unified China, his chancellor Li Si lamented before his execution, ‘I wish to go out with you to chase the yellow dog together, to catch hares at the east gate, could that be possible?’ Su Dongpo wrote, ‘In my old age, I still harbor youthful ambitions, with the yellow dog on my left and a blue one on my right.’ Here, ‘yellow’ refers to this type of hunting dog.

In modern times, it is commonly referred to as ‘Native Dog,’ which literally means local dog; in some northern regions, it is called ‘Chai Dog’ due to the cold climate where dogs often nest by stoves or woodpiles; the eastern Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai region is generally referred to as ‘Grass Dog,’ where ‘grass’ means native. Local farmers typically keep one or two of these dogs for companionship and guarding. Native dogs are defined as local dog breeds that are suitable for the local climate, making them more adaptable for survival compared to other breeds.

The Chinese Rural Dog mostly inhabits rural and suburban areas of China, primarily being free-range and comprising the majority among primitive dog breeds. Some scholars suggest that there is indeed a genetic connection between the Chinese Rural Dog and the Japanese Shiba Inu, cultivated from the same canine ancestors in Japan and China. Nowadays, the historical origins of most dog breeds have been proven to be in China or ancient China.

A paper led by researcher Zhang Yaping from the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences titled ‘Out of Southeast East Asia: The Origin History of Domestic Dogs Worldwide,’ published in the latest research of ‘Cell Research,’ states that all domestic dogs, including Chihuahuas, Chow Chows, and Peruvian Hairless Dogs, originated from the southern regions of China and Southeast Asia, evolving from gray wolves. The dog genomes in the Southeastern East Asia region contain the richest genetic diversity in the world.

The Chinese Rural Dog mostly survives in rural and suburban areas of China, primarily being free-range and representing a majority among native dog breeds.