When asked what a Chinook is, most people would probably say that it’s a kind of helicopter. But did you know that a Chinook is also a breed of dog? How about the Azawakh or the Tibetan Mastiff? These dogs are some of the rarest in the world. These dogs are in the opposite of the popularity spectrum where dogs like the Golden Retriever, the Labrador Retriever and the Yorkshire Terriers hold the top three posts.
A rare dog breed is just like what its name implies. When a breed is considered rare, either only a small population of the breed exists or the breed is slowly going to extinction. Rare dog breed owners are usually hesitant to breed their dogs unless they know that the pups are going to a good home, and since very few people know that these breeds exist, there is very little demand for them.
Other rare dog breeds are hybrids or crosses of other breeds, their population is also too small for organizations like the American Kennel Club to recognize, hence gaining popularity for the new breed is hard to achieve. Few pictures of these breeds exist.
Dog lovers for centuries have loved mixing one breed with another. Even with established and old dog breeds, people still breed dogs with other breeds and see what comes out of the mix. There are times when the new breed gains popularity and then times when the new dog does not hit it off with the public. When you search the internet for these rare dogs, you will find that there are in fact organizations that lobby for the recognition of these new dogs. As of this posting, there are 150 dog breeds recognized by the AKC and hundreds more waiting for approval.
The top three rarest dogs are:
3. Stabyhoun- this dog is native to the Netherlands and around 3,500 exist today. This dog is a pointer and a retriever. They work very well in cold water and larger dogs are sometimes used to pull sleds. This type of dog is not for the lazy owner as it needs lots of exercise. The Stabyhoun likes children, is easy to please and is a very loyal dog. They are also very easy to train.
2. Otterhound - this dog is in fact an old dog breed. Otterhounds have been in existence for a long time, in fact it is one of the ancestors of the Airedale Terrier. The AKC estimates the population of this dog to be around 1,000 in the whole world. The decline in popularity and population resulted from the imposition of the ban on otter hunting in the 1970's.
1. Chinook- this dog is native to America and numbers are less than 800. The breed came to existence when Arthur Treadwell Walden of Wonalancet, New Hampshire crossbred his Husky-like lead dog to a Mastiff in 1917. Breeding passed to Perry Greene who bred the dogs until his death in 1963. During this time, he was the only breeder left and the breed almost died with him. By 1981 there only 11 Chinooks worldwide and careful breeding kept the line going. The breed was recognized by the AKC in 1981. The Otterhound and the Chinook are rarer than the Giant Panda*.
