Carolina Dog - Breed Recognition and Domestication

Breed Recognition and Domestication

Carolina Dogs can be registered with the American Rare Breed Association and the United Kennel Club. ARBA includes the breed in its "Spitz and Primitive Group", which includes primitives such as the dingo and Canaan Dog. The UKC has classified them as a pariah dog, a class which includes other primitive breeds such as the Basenji of Africa and the Thai Ridgeback.

The word pariah is derived from a Tamil word first used in English in 1613, to refer to the lowest level of the traditional Indian caste system; in English, it is used to mean "a social outcast". The Indian feral dog was considered an outcast as well. The term "pariah" when referring to feral or wild dogs of the Indian feral dog type is sometimes replaced with primitive, in the sense of "relating to an earliest or original stage or state" or "being little evolved from an early ancestral type". It is assumed that dogs placed in "pariah" or "primitive" groups are of an older type than other modern dog breeds. Future genetic testing may show the actual heredity of these breeds or types.