New Guinea Singing Dog - Relationship With Humans

Relationship With Humans

Dr. Alan Wilton, a geneticist and senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales in Australia, has theorized that all of the Singing Dogs of New Guinea as well as the Dingoes in Australia may have sprung from a single pregnant female. Over thousands of years the New Guinea Dingoes spread throughout the whole of the island. In highland areas the dogs occasionally kept company with native humans, but more often they lived independently without masters. In the lowland villages they were more apt to take up residence with the many native villagers who inhabited the area. It is from these lowland tribes that we may gain a true understanding of the Singing Dog's place in among humans. The onset of European culture with their domesticated dogs spelled the beginning of the end for pure New Guinea Singing Dogs in the lowlands. "Singing Dogs are very gentle and friendly with people, though inclined to be a bit shy with strangers at first," wrote New York owner Phillip Persky. "They are not at all aggressive with people" Sharon McKenzie said. "I've never heard of a case of a Singing Dog biting anyone." "They are notorious escape artists," Mr. Persky reported, "and can climb and jump with cat-like agility, so enclosures have to be secure." They are great diggers and can climb fences as easily as a squirrel. They can get through a space you would not have thought a snake could get through," Sharon laughed. "This is the only breed I know of in which bitches are dominant," Sharon observed. "Bitches really call the shots."

According to reports from the late 1950s and mid 1970s wild dogs believed to be Singers were shy and avoided contact with humans. It was reported in the mid 1970s that the Kalam in the highlands of Papua caught young Singers and raised them as hunting aids but did not breed them. Some of these dogs probably stayed with the Kalam and reproduced. The Eipo tribe kept and bred wild dogs as playmates for their children. Although the majority of the Highland tribes never used village dogs as a food source, it is known that even today they attempt to catch, kill and eat wild dogs. Some local myths mention these dogs as bringers of fire and speech or as the spirits of the deceased. Dog-findings in archaeological sites of New Guinea are rare, mostly consisting of teeth (used as ornaments) and trophy-skulls. One grave has been discovered. The earliest Singer remains was a tooth found in the lowlands. It was estimated to be about 5,500 years old. Findings from the highlands were thought to be of similar age, on a stratigraphical basis, but as of 2001 had not been dated. Since the beginning of the 20th century the inhabitants of the highlands started to keep chickens and Singers had a penchant for poultry. To add to the problem, natives kept other domestic dogs. The crossbred dogs were generally larger in size as well as less of a challenge to train so they tended to be of more value than Singing Dogs. One might conclude that the relationship between the contemporary New Guineans and their dogs will give information about how they treated the Singers, but modern "Village Dogs" are not genetically representative of pure New Guinea Singing Dogs.