Native American Dogs

Dogs were crutal to most preindustrial societies including the Native Americans who brought their dogs with them on their journey across the bering straight at least 12,000 years ago.
With few animals suited to domestication such as sheep, goats, cows and horses. The indigiousous people of the Americans got creative with their utilization of dogs for far wider variety of tasks then their old world counterparts. Creating specific breeds of dogs to serve highly specified roles. Examples of this include the Alaskan Malamute, Canadian Eskimo Dog and Greenland dog. All of whom were bred for pulling sleds. The Chiribaya Dog bred in Peru for llama herding. And the Techichi which are thought to have mainly been bred by the Aztecs for meat production. This blog will Focus on the stranger cases of canine domestication in the Americas beginning with the Salish Wool Dog.

Salish Wool Dog

The Salish Wool Dog was a breed of dog kept by the Salish people of modern day Washington State and British Columbia. These dogs were selectively bred and maintained mainly for the production of their wool-like hair which was used in the same way sheep’s wool might be used in the old world (American Museum of Natural History 2023). One account by George Vancouver suggests that the wool from Salish dogs was just as good as sheep’s wool as the fleece could be picked up by a single corner after sheering without falling apart. (Salish Wool Dog.” Wikipedia)

This unique trait of wool production is a result of selective breeding and intuitional genetic isolation. One study of Salish Wool Dog led by Audrey Lin used a pelt in the Smithsonian collections to examine their DNA. This study showed that the Salish people were very careful to keep the genetic line of these dogs pure, often isolating them on islands or in caves. (Lin et al. 2023)

Like many species of North America the effects of colonialism proved to be the end of these amazing canines as the Indian Agents, Missionaries and criminalization of indigenous cultural practices led to the extermination of many dogs. This was compounded by the small pox epidemics that killed large numbers of the Salish people, the only caretakers of the dogs. (American Museum of Natural History 2023).

Citations

Lin, Audrey T., et al. “The History of Coast Salish ‘Woolly Dogs’ Revealed by Ancient Genomics and Indigenous Knowledge.” Science, vol. 382, no. 6676, 15 Dec. 2023, pp. 1303–1308, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi6549.

Wikipedia contributors. “Salish Wool Dog.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Dec. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salish_Wool_Dog.

American Museum of Natural History. “Extinct Woolly Dog.” American Museum of Natural History, https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/research-posts/extinct-woolly-dog. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.