Items16The creator’s order
  1. 1BasenjiBasenjiIf one breed sits at the root of most dog family trees, it is this Central African hunter. Genome surveys since 2004 keep placing the Basenji among the earliest-branching breeds, which is genuine evidence. The popular claim that Egyptian tomb paintings show Basenjis is not: a prick-eared,…0i
  2. 2SalukiSalukiThe Saluki is the strongest case among the sighthounds. Bedouin and Persian hunters ran these dogs after gazelle and hare for centuries, and genetic studies group the breed with the Afghan Hound in a Middle Eastern branch, well apart from the Greyhound, which looks similar but sits with the modern…0i
  3. 3Afghan HoundAfghan HoundThat flowing show coat is a twentieth-century polish on a much older mountain sighthound. The breed reached Britain from Afghanistan in the early 1900s, with Zardin in 1907 the best-known early import, and genome studies place it beside the Saluki outside the European breed cluster. The story that…0i
  4. 4Canaan DogCanaan DogAn honest borderline case, and a useful one. The breed was formalised in the 1930s, when Rudolphina Menzel selected free-living dogs from Bedouin and village populations in Mandatory Palestine. The breed name is new, but the population she drew on was not: genome studies place the Canaan Dog among…0i
  5. 5Greenland DogGreenland DogArguably the best genetic case of all. A 2020 study compared modern Greenland sled dogs with a 9,500-year-old dog from Zhokhov Island in Siberia and found continuity in the Arctic sled-dog lineage across that span, with the Greenland Dog the least mixed with other breeds. Greenland protects that by…0i
  6. 6Alaskan MalamuteAlaskan MalamuteNamed after the Mahlemut, an Inupiaq people of north-western Alaska, this heavy freighting dog shares substantial ancestry with the 9,500-year-old Zhokhov sled dog, according to the 2020 Arctic genome study. It also lands in the ancient group of every major breed survey since 2004. Built to haul…0i
  7. 7Siberian HuskySiberian HuskyThe Chukchi people of north-eastern Siberia bred these light, quick sled dogs, and traders brought them to Alaska from 1908 for racing; the 1925 serum run to Nome made Togo and Balto household names. Genetics adds a twist. A 2015 study found that Siberian Huskies and Greenland sled dogs carry…0i
  8. 8Samoyed dogSamoyed dogThe name comes from the Samoyedic peoples of north-western Siberia, notably the Nenets, who used white spitz dogs to herd reindeer and pull sledges. Ernest Kilburn-Scott brought the type to Britain in 1889, and the Western breed grew from a small number of imported dogs. Even so, genetics backs the…0i
  9. 9Shiba InuShiba InuJapan's smallest native hunting breed turns up near the root of the tree in both the 2004 and 2012 genetic surveys. The modern dog is also a rescue story: distemper and wartime losses nearly wiped the Shiba out, and it was rebuilt after 1945 from the surviving Mino, San'in and Shinshu types. Its…0i
  10. 10Akita (dog breed)Akita (dog breed)Here genetics wins an argument that history seemed to lose. In the early twentieth century Akitas were crossed with Tosa and mastiff-type fighting dogs, and during the Second World War some were bred with German Shepherds to escape requisition, yet breed surveys still place the Akita in the basal…0i