10 Most Ancient Dog Breeds on Earth

by Maryam Sheikh SEO Analyst

Those who are not aware of the most ancient dogs can get comprehensive knowledge about them. This is the reason why I have compiled a list of 10 most ancient dog breeds on earth.

1. Pekingese
This small dog breed is over 2,000 years old and he has changed very little over that time. The Pekingese has a pretty interesting story behind him apparently. Pekingese were only allowed to be owned by royal families if anyone tried to steal one of these royal dogs, the penalty was dead. DNA evidence confirms that the Pekingese is one of the oldest dog breeds having existed in China for as long as 2,000 years. This breed was named for the capital city of Peking which is now called Beijing and the dogs were exclusively owned by Chinese royalty around 1860. The first Pekingese arrived in England as trophies of the opium war but it wasn’t until the 1890s that more of the dogs were smuggled out of China. The dog was developed as breed in 1904 in England and 1906 in the U.S.

2. Shiba Inu
This cute Fox like breed comes from Japan where it was used commonly as a hunting dog. This Japanese Shiba Inu breed was bred as a hunting dog and hunted both boar and bears in the heavy brush of the mountains. I’m pretty surprised to see bears on the list; it’s really amazing because the dogs are pretty small so it’s hard to imagine those hunting bears.

3. Greyhound
You must be familiar with the greyhound for the breed’s great speed but you may not know that he is thought to be among the most ancient dog breeds. Both DNA and references to the dogs in an art show that they’ve existed for millennia greyhound-like dogs have resided in many different countries but have changed very little. The greyhound’s relative the Italian Greyhound is thought to have developed 2,000 years ago in Turkey and Greece.

4. Rottweiler
The Rottweiler is one of the oldest herding dog breeds. The history of the Rottweiler begins from a town named rotten Lyle. The town of Rottweil was founded by the Romans in 73 AD it was located in the southwest of Germany. In 1900, the Rottweiler district had become an important cattle herding region but unfortunately, by 1900, the breed declined so much that the Germans only found one breeding female in the town of Rottweil. The Germans did not want their massive like dogs to become extinct sometime in this time-frame. The Germans called the new Mastiff like drover dogs Rottweiler after the name of the town of Rottweiler.

Just one female left in Rockwall Germany was bred to similar Mastiff-like dogs to continue the breed. The Roman armies used the Rottweiler to guard and herd, the necessary animals that accompanied them on their campaigns to provide food for their armies. The Mastiff nature of the Rottweiler was remarkably suited to the job of guarding both their entire camp and their food supply. Modern Rottweilers today have their traits descending from the Switzerland Bernese Mountain Dog and the greater Swiss mountain dogwhich dates back several hundred years ago.

5. Bully Kutta
The bully kutta is a large muscular dog breed found mostly in Pakistan which is why it’s known as the Pakistani Mastiff. This dog breed is the oldest dog breed of Pakistan and according to locals they and their ancestors have always been using this dog as a guard dog. Its actual name is derived from the Sindhi & order’ languages where it’s known as Bali Kutta Bali meaning heavily wrinkled and Kutta meaning dog. It’s used as a powerful guard dog and popularity outside of its own borders led to the Western interpretation of the first part of its name as bully similar to American pit bull terrier and bull terrier. No doubt bully is one of the most dangerous dog breeds in the world.

6. Sloughi
The sleek Sloughi is the sighthound from the Berber people of North Africa originally found in Morocco Tunisia Libya and Algeria. The dog arrived in Europe in the 19th century when soldiers stationed in North Africa brought Sloughi home slaw fees first came to the US in 1973.

7. Pug
The wrinkled and lovable pug has been around since before 400 BC. The details about how the pug came into existence are to some extent murky but experts agree that the dog breed has its origins in the Orient. And the dog has basic similarities to the Pekingese another ancient breed China is the earliest known home for the pug where the breed lived in the Buddhist monasteries in Tibet. The breed appeared next in Japan and then in Europe where the dog breed turned out to be royal favorites.

8. Maltese
The Shih Tzu and pug aren’t alone another lap dog breeds . The Maltese is an ancient dog of Malta that has been known as the aristocrat of the canine world for more than 28 centuries according to the AKC. This has been documented in tombs of Greek and in ceramic art dating back to the fifth century.

9. Caspian Sheepdog
The Central Asian shepherd dog is also known as Caspian dog is an ancient breed of dog from the regions of Central Asia. It is not the result of an artificial selection but rather a native breed called Alibi. They are one of the most powerful livestock Guardian dogs Central Asians most likely originated more than 4,000 years ago from natural selection in a geographical area between the Ural Caspian Sea and the northwest border of China. Local Kennel Club officials refer to the Central Asians as one of the most popular dog breeds in Russia rating them as the number one breed in the country around 2000. They don’t need any complicated training to learn basic house rules and treat the owners with the same great respect with which their ancestors treated the herders.

10. The Kangal Dog
The Kangal dog is an ancient flock-guarding breed thought to be related to the early mastiff type dogs depicted in Syrian art. The breed is named for the Kangol district of the Sivas province in central Turkey where probably originated. The isolated historical conditions of the Sivas Kangol region have resulted in the development of the Kangal dog as a distinct breed which has been declared the national dog of Turkey and a national treasure. The first Candles entered England in 1965 with the first litter born in 1967 the Nelson brothers imported the first Kangal dog to the United States in 1985. This dog and subsequent imports provided the foundation for the Kangal dog in the United States.