Chows, oldest breed in the world?

[gebower]

I have Chows and have read that they are the oldest known breed in the world dating back 4,000 yrs. ago to Ancient Mongolia.
Now, I've read on the internet that the "Saluki" is the oldest breed in the world, an egyptian dog. That kind of burst my bubble when I read that.
Anybody can verify that? I know it isn't that important, just glad I have Chows, but when you own Chows, it's kind of important to know.

Gene.

[Auddymay]

It is my understanding that all dog breeds come from 3 original breeds, and yes, Salukis are one of them, I believe. But, so are Chow Chows. As to the very first, it has not been definitively answered as to the very first breed ever.

[lola chow]

i was told that the chow was descended from a bear not a dog something to do with the shape of the back legs

[sengeoz]

Very quickly, in zoology there is an ordering system for all creatures.

One order is that of the Carnivora (flesh eaters).
One suborder is the Caniforma ("dog" like) and includes the family canidae (woves, dogs, coyotes, foxes & jackals) and the family ursidae (ursine - bear); extinct BEFORE humans were two other families, that of the Hemicyonidae (bear-dogs) and that of the Amphicyonidae (also known as bear dogs). The Amphicyonidae are actually thought to be the initial split of a bear-like animal from the family canidae and is the precursor to the family ursidae - in other words bears are descended from canines. Please keep in mind, we are talking some 39-32 MILLION YEARS AGO. Arctic bears and arctic wolves have VERY similar DNA.

Chows are NOT the oldest breed of dog to descend from wolves - ostensibly the first three breeds are the Shiba Inu and the Chinese Shar Pei (although that is in contention) and the Basenji. Following the Shiba Inu are the Chow and the Akita. Following from the Basenji are the Afghan Hound and the Saluki. So Salukis and Chows are both relatively OLD breeds and the DNA evidence for Chows indicates as a breed they evolved about 150,000 years ago. It is only human history that validates their existence to 4000 years - prehistory is something altogether different.

Furthermore, Shiba Inu are genetically the closest to wolves amongst all domestic dogs, followed by Chows. Salukis come about 9th on the list, with dogs like Rottweilers toward the bottom.

If you want to learn more, see if you can find a copy of the magazine, SCIENCE, VOL 304, 21 MAY 2004 - there's an article on pages 1160-64 entitled, Genetic Structure of the
Purebred Domestic Dog, by Parker, HG et al.

Cheers,

[Red Dragon]

That's old news Judith, the Chow was named the oldest breed last year.

[sengeoz]

Hey Sam,

Could you send me the article/s, link/s, etc. You know me, as a researcher I love having all the evidence on file.

Cheers m'dear,
Judith-Ann

[Red Dragon]

I tried to find it on here, I thought I posted it in 2008, but couldn't find it. There was an article I found that was written in 2008 and the Chow was named the oldest breed. I have probably 2000 favorites on my computer, so it won't be easy to find. If I have time later I will look for it.

[sengeoz]

Hello again,

Did a bit of futzing around in some of my on-line research sites and can find absolutely nothing to supercede what I had written previously, however, there is a bit of an expansion on the "oldest" breeds, which number 14 and include:

Afghan Hound
Akita Inu
Alaskan Malmute
Basenji
Chow Chow
Lhasa Apso
Pekingese
Saluki
Samoyed
Shar Pei
Shiba Inu
Shih Tzu
Siberian Husky
Tibetan Terrier

Of this 14, the oldest have been identified as Akita, Basenji, Chow Chow, Shar Pei and Shiba Inu. I wonder if the article you have lists the Chow first of these five? A number of articles I found did so, but doing some further digging shows that the reason for this is due to the DNA footprints, which has the Chow first, followed in succession by the Shar Pei, Akita, Shiba Inu and Basenji. However, I can not find anything thus far that indicates that the DNA footprint = oldest extant breed. However, one can certainly be understood for making that assumption.

Cheers,
Judith-Ann

[Red Dragon]

The article spelled it out as the Chow being the oldest. I think they found a fossil in Asia and DNA'd it, it was very old and matched the Chow. Some of those articles are hard to find, they are papers that are written and passed around to researchers. I emailed back and forth with one of the scientists that did the article you are reffering too, that was in 2006, and they were still working on things then.

[Red Dragon]

I found this while I was looking, didn't know this exsisted in the Chow. http://www.weimaraner.org/svwc/files/sh ... ndrome.doc

[sengeoz]

Hi Sam,

Hypomelianation is an uncommon disorder and the mode of inheritance (it is thought to be autosomal recessive) and the frequency of occurence in dogs has not yet been established. All that has been established is that it does occur in the Chow (frequency of occurence is low/rare) & that they may have found a pointer genetic mutation in Springers that will allow that pointer to be used in future testing for the disorder.

As a disorder, it is reported worldwide in humans, siamese type cats, some breeds of dog including the Chow, in horses, pigs & cattle. While thought to be hereditary in dogs, it is also caused by viruses and toxins - in fact at least one organophosphate has been linked to a number of cases reported in pigs (may have been in the feed).

Whatever the cause, in Chows & Samoyed, the puppies generally survive (the survival rate otherwise is very low) and all signs disappear between 12-18 months of age. However, if you have a litter of puppies in which even one puppy has it, it's best to eliminate both sire & dam from any future breeding programs as they are carriers.

Cheers,