The history of the emergence of the New Guinea singing dog, its purpose, exterior, character and health, tips for maintenance and care. Price when buying a puppy. Do you like to sing? Probably yes. Do you like dogs? If your answer was again yes, then why not try to get a dog that can sing like no other dog in the world. This is what they call it - "the singing dog" from New Guinea. Having found such a unique singing friend, you can perfectly perform arias from your favorite operas, delighting everyone around you with your wonderful duet early in the morning, and introducing your beloved neighbors to the beautiful at any time of the day or night. Well, if one of them does not like your diligent, but not too professional performance, then they are unlikely to come to reprimand you, knowing with how half-wild dog you are displaying your roulades.
The history and purpose of the New Guinea Singing Dog
Modern zoologists and dog handlers still do not have a single version about the real origin of the singing dogs of New Guinea. Even the most courageous, strong and hardy dog breed has not yet managed to cross the Torres Strait on its own (at its narrowest point its width is 150 kilometers), separating New Guinea from the nearest mainland of Australia. There are only a few hypotheses, each of which has not yet found sufficient confirmation.
According to one of them, singing dogs appeared on the island in those prehistoric times when New Guinea and Australia were connected by land. This, to some extent, is also indicated by an archaeological find - a fossilized tooth of a prehistoric dog, in its size and shape quite corresponding to the tooth of a modern singing dog and having an age of about six thousand years.
However, there is another more prosaic version, suggesting that the completely domesticated dingo dogs by that time were brought to New Guinea from Australia by local tribes on boats or rafts. But later, the animals again became feral, multiplied and became an indispensable part of the native fauna of the island. And this hypothesis looks much more realistic. Indeed, as research and archaeological finds show, indigenous tribes often transported their pets from island to island throughout the Pacific region. Yes, and recent DNA studies of the singing dog (conducted in 2004 under the direction of Professor Peter Savolainen) have confirmed its close genetic relationship with the wild dingo dogs found in Australia. But for some reason dingo songs are not sung, and in size they are much larger than the New Guinean dogs. However, there is nothing surprising in such metamorphoses, the differences in living conditions and in the way of life, they did not such tricks. Moreover, in 1969, the singing dogs of New Guinea were even combined into one species with the dingo - "Canis familiaris dingo", and only many years later were singled out into a separate species.
Be that as it may, and behind the singing dogs of New Guinea there really is a long history of evolution, the mystery of which has yet to be solved by scientists.
The modern history of the new domestication and domestication of these singing dogs began, on the scale of their evolution, relatively recently. At least, the Portuguese navigator Jorge de Meneses, who discovered New Guinea in 1525, and later in 1545 the Spaniard Ynigo Ortiz de Retez, wrote in their diaries about the existence of reddish dogs on the island, everywhere accompanying natives in their movements around the island. But nothing was said in their recordings about the peculiarities of the performance of songs by these animals.
So, even by the most conservative estimates, the specific history of singing dogs dates back to the beginning of the 16th century, and in the same period the first Europeans learned about their existence. But for science, these animals were rediscovered only in the 50s of the last century. It was then that the first specimens of New Guinea dogs were captured in the mountains of the island and in 1956 were brought to Australian zoos for observation and study of the species.
Over time, it was found that "singers" are perfectly tamed and are able to be not only inhabitants of open-air cages in zoos, but also wonderful pets, friendly and affectionate to people. This affectionate relationship between the de facto wild animal and the human gave impetus to the transformation of the wild Canis lupus hallstromi into a full-fledged breed of domestic dog, the New Guinea Singing Dog.
Now, a little about the interesting "singing" of these animals, which gave the name to the breed. They began to be called "singers" for a special manner of howling, unlike any that exists among wolves, dogs, foxes or coyotes. The sounds made by the New Guinean canine "singers" are comparable only to the shrill trills of virtuoso birds or the peculiar sounds of ocean mammals such as whales or killer whales (this is how the howling of a dog vibrates and modulates, flowing from one sound range to another). However, in addition to the performance of peculiar "arias", singing dogs also emit many other sounds for their flock communication: barking, screeching, plaintive howl and sharp piercing cries in all kinds of variations. But all of them, one way or another, still differ in timbre and range from wolf howling or barking of a fox.
At present, the breed is already close to recognition by several international canine organizations: Great Britain (UKC), Australia (ANKC), New Zealand (NZKC) and Canada (CKC), but has not yet passed the selection and recognition of the International Cynological Federation (FCI).
The New Guinea Singing Dog is one of the twenty rarest canine species on Earth and is gradually expanding into new territories, delighting fans of rare dogs around the world.
It is still difficult to say what kind of service functions can be assigned to singing New Guinea dogs. The breed is still being developed, being in a state of close study of its prospects and possibilities.
Exterior New Guinea Singing Dog
Representatives of this "singing fraternity" of dogs belong to the rarest species of primitive domestic dogs. Outwardly, they have a lot in common with the Australian dingo dog, although they are significantly smaller than the dingo in size. An exterior standard for singing dogs from New Guinea does not yet exist (it is in development). Therefore, the following descriptions of the external appearance of the animal are collected from a variety of sources.
The maximum dimensions of the New Guinea "songstress" reach 40-45 centimeters of height at the withers, and body weight - up to 14 kg. Females are slightly smaller than males (their weight is in the range of 9–12 kg, and their height is 37–40 centimeters). This size is roughly the size of the average Field Spaniel. So, song dogs are not too large animals. At the same time, scientists observing the behavior of dogs unanimously note their almost feline grace and agility, as well as extraordinary mobility and speed of movement.
- Head "New Guinea" resembles in its structure the head of a dingo or a fox, but with a slightly wider skull and wide cheekbones and a not so elongated muzzle. The proportions of the head are in perfect harmony with the body. The animal's muzzle is elongated, tapering towards the nose, with a quite distinct, but fox-like smooth stop. The bridge of the nose is straight and rather wide. The nose is black, of medium size. The lips are black in color rather tightly to the jaws, without forming drooping wings. The jaws are strong, with strong large teeth and an excellent grip. The canines are significantly larger than those of similarly sized domesticated dogs. The jaw bite is like a scissor.
- Eyes singing dogs have a beautiful almond shape, with a slight mowing. The eyes are set at an average size, both in height and in width. The color of the cornea ranges from dark honey to dark brown. Eyelids without sagging and dark colored. The look is direct, bold and somewhat rogue.
- Ears erect, have a triangular-rounded shape and are somewhat concave (resembling a tulip petal). They are shorter than the Australian dingo, set high and almost on the sides of the head. In an alert state, they lean forward slightly.
- Neck medium length, strong and dry.
- Torso strong, somewhat elongated format, reminiscent of the body of a dingo. The chest is quite broad and well defined. The back is relatively straight, with a slight rise in the lumbar region, strong, not very wide. The croup is muscular, sloping. These dogs have very flexible ligaments, elastic joints and a ridge, allowing them to be very resourceful and feline dexterous. The belly is well tucked up.
- Tail in length reaches the hock joint (but not because it is long, but because the limbs are not too large). The tail is medium set, in a calm state it is lowered, in an excited state it can be raised high above the level of the back or even curved towards the back. It is richly pubescent with the longest possible dog (hair length can be about 5-6 centimeters).
- Limbs the New Guinea Singing Dog is even, straight, and much shorter than the Dingo, muscular, lean and very flexible in the ligaments. Feet are round-oval in shape, tightly knit, with dense pads and strong black nails. The limbs are perfectly adapted for moving on mountainous rugged terrain, for jumping and climbing hills and trees, and to a much lesser extent for running.
- Wool (psov) dense, from short to medium length, straight, can be close-fitting to the body or slightly raised (especially with increased coat length). Harsh in structure, with a softer and thinner undercoat.
- Color coat has three main variants: brownish-red (with many variations of shades from golden-red to brown), black-and-tan (with reddish tan) and reddish-black (with a black "saddle cloth" on the back and a black end of the tail along the reddish-brown main color).
In addition, almost 1/3 of individuals have white spots-markings on the chin, neck, withers, back of the thighs, in the middle of the tail and on the muzzle (in the area of the nose).
Singing dog lifestyle and behavior in nature
In nature, "New Guinea" live in the dense and inaccessible forests of the foothills of the high mountain ranges of New Guinea. Their way of life in the wild is still poorly understood, due to the inaccessibility of habitat areas and a rather secretive nature. It is only known that singing dogs live in small flocks, jointly hunting for medium-sized species of New Guinea kangaroos (reminiscent of Australian nimble wallabies), as well as wild boar pigs, platypuses and various rodents. They feed on bird eggs and small lizards (the diet has not yet been fully studied). Competition on the island in obtaining food for singing dogs is only the marsupial marten, and there are no predators at all that can somehow harm their population.
The behavior of New Zealand singing dogs is quite different from the behavior of their related wolves, jackals and foxes. Pregnancy in females occurs at the end of the flow period (after 4 or 12 weeks from their beginning). As a rule, from three to five cubs are born, which the mother hides for a long time in a den in thickets or in the mountains.
New Guinea Singing Dog personality traits
Currently, the New Guinea dog lives mainly in nature reserves, zoos and kennels. Experiments on home keeping as pets are just beginning, although there are many who want to get such an exotic animal.
Therefore, little is known about the nature of the dogs living in indoor conditions. But those individual owners, as well as zoo attendants, argue that singing dogs behave extremely friendly towards the people who raise and care for them. "New Guinea" girls respond well to care and affection, and therefore they are able to quickly become attached to a person and his family members, without showing any aggression.
The animal is distinguished by curiosity and curiosity, loves to make new acquaintances, play and frolic. But he perceives other domestic animals only as potential food. Small dogs, cats, rodents and other animals (smaller than themselves in size) can attack, and large ones are carefully avoided.
In general, these "singers" of the animal world are distinguished by their independent and independent character and do not particularly strive to learn the usual dog commands and wisdom, they are smart and attentive. Raising such a pet requires patience from the owner, constant attention to changing behavior and elementary caution.
New Guinea dog health and life expectancy
Despite the fact that in kennels the creators of the breed had to use inbreeding due to the small number of breeding aboriginal animals, the dogs raised in the kennel turned out to be surprisingly healthy and hardy, with good resistance to diseases and excellent heredity.
Now the breed is being studied in more detail for the presence of genetic predispositions, especially since the breeders themselves already have several examples of the sudden death of their pets, which have already been handed over to the owners. The death of the animals was caused by congenital heart disease (in a young puppy) and recurrent digestive problems in an adult male. But on the basis of these two cases, it is too early to deduce any general regularity.
In zoos, the average age of the singing dogs' lifespan is measured at 19–20 years, without the manifestation of any pathologies during their life. It is noted that even twelve-year-old females are capable of producing full-fledged offspring at this age.
Tips for keeping and caring for a dog
New Guinea dog singers adapt well to living outside the city or in the countryside in small courtyards or specially built enclosures with a size of at least 10 square meters in area. Moreover, the fencing of the dog from strangers and animals must be present without fail. And its height must be at least 2 meters.
When walking, a collar, a leash and (if you can put on) a muzzle are required. Socialization and obedience training under the guidance of an experienced dog handler is mandatory. Only after this is it possible to walk on the street or in a place unfamiliar to the animal.
The diet recommended by New Guinea and Australian breeders for this breed is formed on the basis of high-quality meat or high-quality industrial food of the holistic class, supplementing the pet's diet with mineral and multivitamin complexes from leading manufacturers. For any of the dietary options, it is recommended to avoid high-fat food components. And also observe moderation in feeding your pet, avoiding overfeeding.
New Guinea Singing Dog Puppy Cost
The exotic breed of singing Guinea dogs is still unknown in Russia and is not represented on its territory by a single specimen.
The exact cost of these animals (in their domesticated version) in the nurseries of Australia and New Guinea can only be found out by becoming a registered member of the New Guinea Singing Dog Conservation Society. But the tendency prevailing in this society is that a rare dog should cost not thousands (as is usually the case in especially exotic cases), but hundreds of US dollars.
More about the New Guinea Singing Dog in this video:
