andrea 10 Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 I asked Kim a question and as usual got an interesting answer, which he suggested could be shared here. -----Original Message----- From: Andrea Wilhelm [mailto:andrea@haidagwaii.net] Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2012 7:44 AM To: kim laflamme Subject: Xoloitzcuintle Do you consider Xoloitzcuintles to be Indian Dogs, and if so, have you bred any into your family? Just wondering. I saw a photo of one and thought "that looks like an indian dog". ------- Andrea ~ (you are welcome to use this on our forum if the subject comes up) Good question ...... Years ago, in the late 70's I met a fellow that was doing the tour with the Peruvian dancers that I met at a Peruvian horse show. He saw one of my AI dogs & said his family in Peru were ranchers, that were still using the old dogs on their working ranch. That was around the time when the Xolo's were just being introduced into the Rare Breed Dog registry. I believe they used some other hairless breeds to bring in more unrelated bloodlines, just to be hairless. Plus LOTS of inbreeding; witch they already were, very inbred. I did end up using one of his dogs in the breeding program. But the breeders that started the Xolo club only wanted the "hairless" ones & to keep the breed hairless. They would have been much better off, if they had crossed in some AI dogs to help the health of that breed, but they were & are into HAIRLESS. The problem with breeding for one "quality" like that (I don't conceder it a quality, but a genetic fault) that if kept breeding for will loose so many other qualities, only creates more genetic problems that they already had; like bad skin problems. We are still dealing with a slight skin problem from that one from years ago. So I would not want to bring those lines into our breed, because of there genetic problems. Learned my lesson from a Xolo. But yes, they are old Indian dogs, to a certain extent, but too inbred & not genetically sound enough for me to want to use again. Even the one I used that had hair, was too related to the hairless one's for me to want to use in our program again. It's the same thing with the Chihuahua's of northern Mexico they have been inbred to be small, probably using other small breeds. They were a lot larger & more related to the Tahltan, through the Navaho dogs many years ago. So in my opinion I would rather (as I did) use the part blood Tahltans (even if they aren't pure, they are much healthier than using a Chihuahua, that is actually "less" pure than the part bloods ... that have a much more "Indian Dog like" & healthier cross than many of the other modern Indian dog bloodlines; Catahoula's, Chihuahua's, Xolo's, Alaskin Husky, Carolina Dogs ... etc . I've learned (the hard way) that just finding related bloodlines is not the best way to go. You have to use healthy bloodlines, even if they aren't as pure as I would preffer, it's still better to then selectively breed them together selecting the best old dog types from them, rather than breed to anything as long as it is most pure. Kim La Flamme ~ founder/trustee of the AIDog breed for over 45 years -- www.indiandogs.com 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Karen 41 Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 That was interesting, thanks. It's always great talking dog with Kim. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nessa 91 Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 Wow, I'm glad that you asked! Having a AIDog/Tahltan mix, this was very insightful. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
liz 9 Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 This really rells you that Kim is more interested in breeding healthy dogs, that don't have inherant failings of other dogs, carry on the good work Kim, your ways and the elders are definately the best! My near 14 year old verifies that! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
woodrat 399 Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 (edited) Thank you for posting this! I'd wondered the same thing actually, as I've read that Xolos and Chihuahuas are derived from older pre Columbian strains. I also found this article a little while ago featuring a Cuban village dog nursing some piglets. I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the appearance of this dog and Kim's. http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/189710/slide_189710_349598_large.jpg?1315140569 I eventually ended up on this site about 'Carib Tykes,' which is the name given to these surviving (though inevitably diluted, as are ours) pre Columbian remnants. From what I can tell these guys are quite similar in type to AIdogs, but the personalities sound very different. While Kim's dogs are fantastic and adaptable household pets, these dogs are a lot more edgy - described as having an extremely high prey drive, territorial, aggressive with other dogs of the same sex, etc. Still, I can't help but wonder if there's a common ancestor somewhere back there. Kim's breeding methodology is largely why I decided on an AIdog. I don't know any other breed this well-rounded in which the overall health of the breed is considered paramount over all else, including breed 'purity.' Edited February 10, 2012 by woodrat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Allison 2,369 Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 Health over so-called purity... Lots of comments are possible, but I will settle with, yes, it means alot ot us, too, that Kim breeds for health, not color. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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