My Carolina Dog

A few years back, I adopted a puppy from the local shelter and named him Scout. I resist calling him a “rescue dog.” Here’s why (not suitable for work).

My assumption was that Scout was a mutt. The paperwork they gave me at the pound said “Lab mix.” Sure, why not? He’s got short golden hair like a yellow lab. Maybe a little of this, a little of that. Who knows? Who cares? He’s grown into a great dog. He doesn’t pee on the floor, he doesn’t shed much, and he doesn’t bark incessantly. His only fault is that he loves me so much that he licks me all the time.

Then one day I stumbled onto an article that described a primitive breed of American wild dog called a “Carolina Dog.” The photos looked eerily similar to my dog Scout.

Nicknamed the “American Dingo,” the breed was discovered in the 1970s by Dr. Lehr Brisbin, a research ecologist at the University of Georgia. In the 1980s, many Carolina Dogs were rounded up and moved into captivity for further study. Now the dogs are a recognized breed.

According to Brisbin, Carolina Dogs have been living in North America since the last ice age. First domesticated by Native Americans, at some point Carolina Dogs heard “the call of the wild” and reverted to roving isolated forests of longleaf pine and cypress swamps of the American South.

Folks in the South have seen these dogs roaming around for centuries. They called them “Yeller Dogs” and always assumed they were just strays.

So back to my dog Scout. He was brought to the shelter as a puppy by somebody in rural Georgia. He looks identical to the photos of Carolina Dogs. Same medium size, same fawn coloring, same large ears, same distinctive “fish-hook” tail. His behavior is even the same (i.e. a loyal companion dog, a loving pet, but shy around new people).

Now when people ask what breed Scout is, I tell them he’s a Carolina Dog. Most people, even dog lovers, furrow their brow and say they never heard of that. Then I summarize the story and explain that it’s now a recognized breed. Often they don’t seem convinced.

But I am. Scout is a Carolina Dog, a primitive breed first domesticated thousands of years ago by Native Americans. How cool is that?

For more about Carolina Dogs, check out this excellent article by Cy Brown at The Bitter Southerner.