Dogs come in a variety of colours, breeds, and personalities. Every breed has distinct characteristics and peculiarities of their own. There are certain canine varieties that you have probably never heard about. Some of the breeds in this category are extinct variants.
Unbeknownst to you, dog breed extinction is a more frequent occurrence. Dogs can become extinct for a variety of reasons, including being made redundant from a task they were bred to do and declining in popularity, to mention a few.
In order for you to learn more about what happened to extinct dogs and how we can conserve modern pedigrees, we have included all the known extinct dog breeds below.
Alaunt
They were described as having the physique of a greyhound with a broad and short brachycephalic-type head, and were large running dogs used throughout the Middle Ages to capture and bring down animals for the hunter to dispatch. Other names it was known by were Alão, Alano and Alangu.
Alpine Mastiff
It is frequently claimed that the Western Alps’ mastiff-type canines—a short-haired dog thought to be the ancestor of the St. Bernard—were descended from dogs brought to the region by the Romans.
Belgian Mastiff
It was a large, powerful mastiff breed with a smooth coat and a docked tail that served as a draught dog across the Low Countries; its function became obsolete in the 20th century, and it is now thought to be extinct. They were also known as the Chien de Trait Belge, Mâtin Belge and Belgian Draught Dog.
Black and Tan Terrier
The majority of the Fell terrier breeds, such as the Border Terrier, Lakeland Terrier, Patterdale Terrier, and Welsh Terrier, descended from this widespread Welsh breed of dog that was popular over all of Great Britain.
Braque Dupuy
A Poitou-based French pointing breed that is renowned for its speed when compared to other French pointing breeds; it has occasionally been suggested that Greyhound or Sloughi blood was included in its breeding.
Buckhound
A now-extinct breed of scent dog from England called the Buckhound was employed to hunt fallow deer in groups. The Buckhound, which was considerably smaller and lighter-framed than the Staghound and resembled the Harrier, a hound used for hare hunting in packs, according to artistic representations.
Bullenbeisser
Celtic Hound
Irish mythology mentions a breed of dogs called the Celtic Hounds that lived in Gaelic Ireland. They also go by the name “Vertragus,” and they were a common breed in many ancient civilizations. regarded as the ancestor of modern sighthound breeds, including the greyhound.
Chien-gris
It was believed that King Louis IX, who had just returned from the Crusades, had brought this scenthound breed from the east to France during the Middle Ages.
Chiribaya Dog
A herding breed created by the southwest Peruvian Chiribaya people.
Cordoba Fighting Dog
An ancestor of the Dogo Argentino, this flighting breed was created in Cordoba, Argentina.
Cumberland Sheepdog
An English herding dog from Cumberland that had many traits with the Border Collie; its population started to fall in the middle of the 20th century.
Cur
It was a British herding dog breed that was popular among cattle drovers in England and was distinguished by a characteristic stumpy tail; it most likely went extinct in the middle of the 19th century.
Dalbo Dog
An extinct canine breed from Sweden used to guard livestock was called the Dalbo dog (Dalbohund) or Dalsland Mastiff.
Dogo Cubano
A Cuban mastiff breed that was once employed for bull-baiting and was said to be descended from Spanish mastiffs that were introduced to the country went extinct in the middle of the 20th century.
Dumfriesshire Black and Tan Foxhound
A Scottish-bred British pack of foxhounds from the interwar era, they were a distinctive black and tan colour, and the pack was disbanded after foxhunting was outlawed in 2002. They were a crossbreed of English Foxhound, Welsh Foxhound, Bloodhound, and Gascon Saintongeois blood.
English Water Spaniel
A British gundog breed whose appearance was compared to that of a retriever and a spaniel. In the middle of the 19th century, wildfowlers found them to be quite appealing. It vanished before the end of the 19th century and is regarded as the ancestor of both the Curly-Coated Retriever and the Flat-Coated Retriever (which replaced it in popularity).
English White Terrier
An all-white variety of British terrier that originated in England. It was one of several Bull Terriers and the ancestor of the Fox Terrier.
Fila da Terceira
It was the forerunner of the Saint Miguel Cattle Dog and the Fila Brasileiro, a mastiff-like dog from the Azores.
Fuegian dog
A domesticated form of the culpeo (Lycalopex culpaeus).
Grand Fauve de Bretagne
A French wolf and wild boar hunting scenthound breed from Brittany that went extinct in the late 19th century after wolves were eradicated from much of France.
Halls Heeler
A type of cattle-herding dog developed in Australia from imported Scotch collies and dingoes. They are thought to have been the ancestors of the Australian Cattle Dog.
Hare Indian Dog
The Hare Indians discovered and first bred the extinct domestic dog known as the Hare Indian dog in northern Canada for the purpose of coursing. It may have been a breed of domestic dog, coydog, or tamed coyote.
Hawaiian Poi Dog
Before the arrival of the Europeans, the native Hawaiians kept a Hawaiian pye-dog called a “Poi Dog,” which they kept both as a pet and for human food and which also served a ceremonial purpose. Its name comes from poi, which was its primary feed, and it went extinct after European dog varieties were brought to the islands.
King’s White Hound
From Louis XI through Louis XV, the French Kings owned a breed of scent hounds known as the Chien Blanc du Roi. When Louis XV disbanded the pack in 1725, the breed went extinct.
Kurī
The Mori term for the extinct Polynesian dog is “kur.”
The Mori’s Polynesian ancestors brought it with them when they migrated from East Polynesia in the thirteenth century.
Tradition among the Mori claims that the first dog was created when the deity Mui changed his brother-in-law Irawaru.
Lapponian Shepherd
The Finnish Lapphound, also known as the Lapponian Shepherd or Cockhill’s Finnish Lapphound (Kukonharjunkoira), is an extinct dog breed. Despite its name, it originated in the southern regions of the nation rather than Lapland.
Limer
On the morning of a stag hunt in the Middle Ages, a scenthound would find a stag.
The huntsman followed the limer, who was on a leash, to the stag, which was then pursued by other hound varieties.
Because of their reputation for scenting, limers had to work in silence so as not to notify the quarry.
Marquesan Dog
The Marquesan Dog or Marquesas Islands Dog is an extinct breed of dog from the Marquesas Islands. Similar to other strains of Polynesian dogs, it was introduced to the Marquesas by the ancestors of the Polynesian people during their migrations.
Molossus
Large dogs were kept in the ancient Molossi kingdom in the Epirus region. They are believed to be the mastiffs’ ancestors.
Moscow Water Dog
A little-known canine breed descended from the Newfoundland, Caucasian Shepherd Dog, and East European Shepherd was the Moscow Water Dog, also known as the Moscow Diver, Moscow Retriever, or Moskovsky Vodolaz.
It was utilised in the development of the Black Russian Terrier but is now extinct.
Norfolk Spaniel
Since the early 20th century, the Norfolk Spaniel and Shropshire Spaniel dog breeds have become extinct.
Originally, it was believed to have been the creation of one of the Dukes of Norfolk, but this claim was eventually proven false after being questioned in the latter 19th century.
Norman Hound
The Norman Hound was a now extinct dog breed of scent hound from France.
A large French scent hound breed from Normandy that is said to be one of the Bloodhound’s forebears went extinct in the 19th century as hunters shifted to speedier hound breeds.
North Country Beagle
One of the foundation breeds of the present English Foxhound, this medium-sized scenthound from Britain was employed to hunt hare. It was supposed to be smaller, faster, and have a sharper nose than the Southern Hound of today.
Old Croatian Sighthound
A sighthound breed from Croatia that has been there since the Middle Ages was employed to hunt all types of local game.
Old English Bulldog
A small mastiff-like breed of specialised British canines was created in the 16th century for the bloodsport of bull-baiting.
Although some were kept as companion dogs and were bred into the contemporary Bulldog, the breed declined once the majority of blood sports were outlawed in 1835.
Old Spanish Pointer
A type of Spanish pointing dog that dates back to the early modern era. It is regarded as the pioneer of its kind, from which all current breeds of pointing dogs descended.
Old Welsh Grey Sheepdog
Wales gave birth to the sheepdog breed known as the Welsh Grey or Old Welsh Grey. It is likely to be extinct.
Paisley Terrier
A Scottish terrier variety that was developed primarily as a pet and show dog variation of the Skye Terrier is known as the Yorkshire Terrier’s ancestor.
Polynesian Dog
A collective term encompassing the Kur, Marquesan Dog, Tahitian Dog, and Hawaiian Poi Dog, four of the breeds on this list.
Rache
They were a fast-moving breed of hound employed to lure wildlife toward waiting hunters in the Middle Ages in Britain.
Rastreador Brasileiro
The Fédération Cynologique Internationale recognised the Rastreador Brasileiro, a huge breed of dog from Brazil, for the first time in 1967, however the entire breeding population of the breed was wiped out in a disease outbreak and insecticide overdose.
The breed was then delisted and declared extinct by the FCI and the Brazilian Kennel Club (Confederaço Brasileira de Cinofilia) in 1973.
St John’s water dog
A Canadian breed that Newfoundland and Labrador fishermen utilise. It is thought that the Labrador Retriever originated from imported European dogs that were transported to the New World on fishing boats.
Sakhalin Husky (Karafuto Ken in Japan)
Salish Wool Dog
Sleuth Hound
Smithfield
Southern Hound
A slow-moving, deep-scenting medium-sized scenthound thought to be linked to the Bloodhound that was used for hare hunting in Britain went extinct near the end of the 18th century as speedier hounds gained favour.
Staghound
A type of scent hound employed for stag hunting in England. The Middle Ages saw the development of the breed. When the final pack was sold to Germany in 1826, they practically vanished from existence.
Tahitian Dog
An extinct breed of dog from Tahiti and the Society Islands.
Tahltan Bear Dog
Early migrations brought the Tahltan Bear Dog breed to Canada, where it adapted to its surroundings.
Talbot Hound
A small to medium-sized white scenthound that originated in Britain in the late middle ages. Due to its renown for scenting, it was frequently used in the pursuit of criminals. It is thought to be an ancestor of the modern Bloodhound.
Tesem
This was a dog in ancient Egypt, whose name means “hunting dog.” In popular literature, it refers to the lop-eared “Saluki/Sloughi” type of dog that was lanky, prick-eared, and had a curled tail during the early Egyptian era.
Toy Bulldog
The French Bulldog is thought to have predated the British Bulldog and its last occurrence was in 1914. The British Bulldog was a miniature version of the Bulldog that was popular as a companion dog in the late Victorian era.
Toy Trawler Spaniel
The King Charles Spaniel of the 16th century was physically similar to the extinct Toy Trawler Spaniel breed of Spaniels. It is believed to be a direct descendant of the original King Charles Spaniel and an earlier breed of Sussex Spaniel.
Turnspit dog
A breed of short-legged British dog that was used in bigger kitchens to pull a wheel that rotated a rotisserie. These dogs were known in the Middle Ages, but it is likely that they went extinct in the 19th century.
Tweed Water Spaniel
A British gundog breed that originated along the Anglo-Scottish border; it was bred for hunting wildfowl and is regarded as the ancestor of the Golden Retriever.
Welsh Hillman
A historic breed of herding dog used for droving and herding in Wales was the Welsh Hillman. Around 1990, the species is assumed to have become extinct.