Carolina Dog

During the last 30 years, the capture and study of free-ranging dogs in remote areas of South Carolina and Georgia has revealed the existence of dogs of primitive appearance fitting the typical long-term pariah (i.e, primitive/dingo) morphotype. These Carolina Dogs physical appearance suggests a dog created by and preserved through natural selection to survive in the remote lowland swamp and forest land regions of the southeastern United States, They closely resemble types of dogs first encountered by Europeans near Indian settlements in the region as is evidenced by paintings, drawings and written descriptions made by these early explorers and settlers.

These Carolina Dogs have been brought into a captive breeding program. Several behavioral traits have been discovered that appear unique to these Carolina dogs, and many behaviors labeled as primitive are consistently manifested. Such behaviors include pack hierarchy, communal pup rearing, regurgitation for pups, and organized, cooperative hunting.

Preliminary mitochondrial DNA testing performed by the University of South Carolina's College of Science and Mathematics shows a possible strong genetic link between Carolina Dogs and other primitive breeds like the Australian Dingo..