On TV this afternoon, a movie depicted a Mexican-American family with a Chihuahua. That got me wondering about dog breeds and their countries of origin. The U.S. seems to be a real “melting pot” when it comes to dog breeds. Is this true in other countries as well? This may fall into the category of “stupid question” but I wondered if the stereotypical breed for a country was anything more than a fictional association these days.
Or does Germany have a high number of dachshunds, schnauzers, and German shepherds; France a lot of poodles, England a lot of corgis, etc?
I heard that the chihuahua evolved to be tiny through selection as people (presumably Mexicans) preferred to eat the big, meaty dogs. Any truth to that?
I think corgis are Welsh rather than English. Achetypally English breeds would include the English bulldog, the springer spaniel, Cumberland terrier, Yorkshire terrier, Airedale, King Charles Spaniel etc.
I can tell you that you really will find more kelpies and Australian Cattle Dogs in Australia than elsewhere. But, paradoxically, almost no ‘Australian Shepherds’.
Carne de perro? We jokes about it when I lived in New Mexico, but that was about it. Mexico has large cattle-raising area, like the United States, and there’s quite a bit of meat in the Mexican diet. Mexican steak is lean and wonderful. I doubt they’ve ever eaten dogs south of the border.
However, a disproportionately large number of Mexican-Americans are terrified of dogs, even my fluffy white-black bears. I don’t know why.
I don’t have any hard statistics for you, but from just walking around I haven’t noticed a higher percentage of “German” dogs in Germany or poodles in France. Like the in the US, people tend to take into consideration a breed’s size, temperment, etc. more than any kind of regional or national traditions. And nowadays people have access to breeders of all kinds of animals, rather than just the local stock. (My Japanese bobtail came fron a German breeder.)
I have even seen a few German men wearing berets while walking their poodles - that’ll make you check the streetsigns!
Boston Terriers are one of the few breeds of dogs that are American. How many Americans do you know that own them (other than me! ;)).
Interestingly enough, the Australian Shepard is another American breed.
My mom is from Mexico and I can tell you that out of all the Mexicans I met, only one had a chihuahua. This was my Aunt, who thought the Taco Bell dog was adorable.
The site also claims that 59% of dogs here are pedigree, implying that the most popular “breed” is the mongrel. There are two varieties of corgi – Pembroke and Cardigan (both named after counties of Wales). For what it’s worth I haven’t seen one for years in the flesh; they’re certainly not common. In fact there are dozens of local and imported breeds that I would expect to see more frequently than corgis.
The Chihuahua is a very old breed, descendant of a dog called Techichi. It was eaten by Aztec priests during religious ceremonies. Survivors of this breed were crossed with other small dogs to evolve into the present day chihuahua.
Carne de perro? We jokes about it when I lived in New Mexico, but that was about it. Mexico has large cattle-raising area, like the United States, and there’s quite a bit of meat in the Mexican diet. Mexican steak is lean and wonderful. I doubt they’ve ever eaten dogs south of the border.
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A lot of Mexican Mexicans joke about it too. There are lots and lots of perros callejeros (stray dogs) down in Leon (since that’s what I’m familiar with), and they always wonder why the little street vendors always have such cheap, delicious tacos. While the Mexicans wouldn’t want to eat dog, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that it may be done from time to time. Of course someone sick enough to do that may be sick enough to dispose of human bodies that way, too. Enough of that. My wife says that every once in a while a meat shops gets busted selling horse, though.
Mexican beef is pretty good generally. Some “fine” restaurants proclaim that they have Argentine or US beef, but I don’t know if it’s supposed to be “better” or just “exotic.” No vaca-loca down there yet, either (mad cow).
Oh, yeah, the OP: aside from the strays, most of the middle-class domesticated dogs I’ve seen are poodles. I don’t think I’ve even seen a chihuahua down there. My wife and her family have had poodles; english shepherds (sheepdog maybe?); one of those dogs that carry gin around its neck in Switzerland; a “way maran” (that’s how she says it, maybe weimer-reimer?); and currently a german shepherd. Lest I forget, she’s from Mexico.
While talking about Mexican dogs, she always tells me about a mostly-bald, Mexican, Aztec dog that’s rare and maybe close to extinction – anyone know what the heck she’s talking about?
The English shepherd is most likely an Old English Sheepdog. They’re most closely associated with a series of paint commercials over here these days, not used for herding sheep – shepherds here tend to use collies, especially Welsh and Scottish border collies.
The “dog with the gin” will be the Saint Bernard. The drink it is supposed to carry is brandy not gin.
The next one you mentioned will be a Weimaraner, pronounced VIE-mer-ahn-er. They come from Weimar in Germany.
The last one you mentioned is probably a Mexican Hairless, but the American Kennel Club recognises four hairless breeds – the Mexican Hairless, the Inca Hairless, the Peruvian Inca Orchid and the Chinese Crested.
And most possibly they aren’t even native to Wales. They were brought there by Scandinavian vikings. A very similar breed, called Västgötaspets (I haven’t been able to find an English name). still exists in Sweden.
The most common dog breed registered in Finland is the Finnish Hound, or Suomenajokoira. However, I’ve rarely seen one. This is probably because they are more common in rural areas as hunting dogs. The canine population around here seems as varied and international as anywhere else.
Old English Sheepdogs are sheep guards rather than sheep herders. Dogs used to herd sheep tend to look like wolves, and the sheep’s instinctive avoidance of the predator shape is a major part of their herding abilities. Dogs used to guard sheep from predators tend to look like sheep, so that they can move closely with or mingle with the sheep without triggering their avoidance reflex.
That’s an interesting take on it, Bookkeeper. I have no doubt that OES were originally used as flock guards, but there are other breeds used for that purpose that don’t look anything like sheep.
The Mexican Hairless is a Xoloizcuintle, which coincidentally (to this thread) was raised for food by pre-Columbian Mexicans. It’s not close to extinction, although its popularity as a modern pet tends to wane. There is also a haired variety of Xolo which is basically the Mexican version of a pariah dog, many of which you see roaming the street.
I’ll also concur that chihuahuas aren’t particularly popular in Mexico… I’ve seen a few here and there, but they’re not easy pets to keep and are widely considered to require special puppy care. I’ve talked to a couple of breeders and they both said they were choosy about what sort of household should get a chihuahua.
Very common in the city are retrievers, Weimariners, Rottweilers, poodles (and so-called Malteses which look more like a poodle mix), Dachshunds, Cocker Spaniels and Schnauzers. Breeds of growing popularity are whippets and minpins.
Thanks, everton – I knew it was a St. Bernard but couldn’t get it past the tip of my tongue at the moment I wrote that. And El Mariachi Loco, what we have is a whippet, but of course we’re in the USA and I’m not Mexican. You wouldn’t know what they call a whippet in Spanish, would you? My wife tells her friends we have “como un galgo pequeno” (forgive the accents, not at my Mac) (“like a small greyhound”). I imagine she says that because the word “whippet” probably isn’t “whippet” down there.
Do you say “so-called” because they’re not really Maltese or because you don’t think the Maltese is a recognised breed? I reckon you’d need to be pretty confident in your masculility to get away with walking one of them.
FWIW, the whippet is a stereotypically northen English dog which people from southern England laugh at. They’re raced too, but not at purpose-built tracks the way greyhounds are.