As a child, I studied the dog breed encyclopedia with great fervor, and I still like to think I have a pretty decent identification skills of rare breeds.
How about you?
Here are some photos of (relatively) rare breeds. Do you know what they are? (Answers at the bottom of the post!)
How did you do?
ANSWERS
(1: leonberger; 2: Norwegian lundehund; 3: kuvasz; 4: Pyrenean shepherds; 5: large munsterlander; 6: spinone Italiano; 7: kooikerhondje; 8: beauceron; 9: jindo; 10: otterhound; 11: sloughi; 12: xoloitzcuintli)
What’s your favorite rare dog breed?
Doggerel 
I got four right, so I’d say that is a fail! I do love the look of those beaucerons. I don’t know anything about them, though. I took care of two at a boarding kennel once, and they were high energy and sweet. Another semi-rare breed I like is the Tibetan Mastiff.
I know, beaucerons are so interesting (like a doberman/rottie kind of thing going on, with maybe a little shepherd too). I love how giant and cuddly Tibetan mastiffs are, too!
Only one but I recognized the Kuvasc as being a Russian dog. Of course, I’d like the Sloughi but by appearance, the kooikerhondje looks interesting. One reason I enjoy helping transport dogs is meeting new and different breeds; I LOVE heelers this way and am now partial to GSDs :). Do a similar post later – this was fun, but I’d better pull out my breed book. Now, were you or I to do horses, that’s what I read growing up!
Thanks! Yes, you could school me on horses; I’ve forgotten most of those (also an obsession when I was little, too!). I think there MIGHT be a kuvasz who lives on our street; like a leggier Great Pyrenees? Not sure, though.
I used to do that too when I was young! and so luckily still managed six…. well seven if saying a mexican hairless counts on the last one… I met a new breed I wasn’t familiar with the other day. A Dogo (a hunting dog from Argentina) banned in the UK (under the dangerous dogs acts – not always a helpful bit of legislation…) but certainly the one I met was lovely so I think they need to be in the right hands with firm training, lots of exercise, and preferably some wild boar to hunt!
Nice job! What would you say are some breeds in Hanoi that we would consider rare in the U.S.?
I got kuvasz and sloughi wrong! The rest I got right, except for some bad-spelling on my part. Thanks for the fun quiz.
Nice, Tegan! I am impressed (and of course, I am not surprised)!
Love this! Since I was a child, I have always loved to study dog breeds. Thanks for sharing this!
PS- We were at a dog festival in VA a few weeks ago, and actually saw a… number 12! (Not even gonna try for the spelling!) We had no idea what it was, but now we do, thanks to you!
Thanks! Ooh, how interesting! I always wonder what they’d feel like to pet (xolos, or Mexican hairless dogs)… like peach fuzz, maybe?
Don’t know that you’ll ever see this, but Xolos are very interesting to pet. They really don’t have peach fuzz. My own guy is almost totally hairless without even a mohawk, hairy feet or tail. He has these coarse, wiry hairs sprinkled down the toppling where those thick, coarse guard hairs would be on a coated dog, but you can’t really even feel them when you pet him. Unlike hairless cats, Xolos get dry over time instead of greasy.
Depending on when he was last lotioned, my guy can either feel a bit like a lizard (kind of dry and scaly) or kind of greasy due to the fresh lotion on his skin. In between, he feels just like your own skin with the exception of the tougher skin along his back. Xolo skin is more like a hide rather than the soft skin you’d feel if you were to shave a coated dog bald. The hairlessness occurred in the breed without human help so it’s tough to protect them. He can play with his best buddy (our Bluetick Coonhound) and his skin doesn’t tear. Our hound is more likely to end up with a cut or scrape than the Xolo.
Also, for future reference, Xolos and Mexican Hairless dogs are the same thing 🙂 Xolotzcuintle is what they are called in their home country (Xolo being taken from the god, Xolotl, and itzcuintli being the Aztec word for dog). Mexican Hairless is just what they were called in the US for a long time.
Holy cow! I actually got five of them right!
I’m not sure I’d consider them a rare breed, but I’ve always loved Scottish Deerhounds, Azawahks, Borzoi and Salukis!
Damn, missed three… But just to gloat a bit, I’ve had “natural” encounters with #1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 11, and 12 at local dog parks, so that helped a bit with the breed ID! You’d love dog watching out here.