Kunming Shepherd Dog

It is known that German shepherds and hybrids of dogs with wolves played the largest role in the origin of Kunming shepherds, however, there is no exact information about the breeds whose gene pool formed the basis of the Kunming dog due to the lack of pedigree records. The Kunming Wolf Dog was created in Yunnan in the early 1950s to meet the need for military service dogs ^[4] . A group of ten purebred dogs in the type of shepherd was brought to Kunming from the training courses of military dog ​​handlers held in Beijing in 1953. Ten dogs were not enough to carry out the usual tasks, so fifty suitable domestic dogs from Kunming and forty dogs from Guiyang in Guizhou province were also selected, these dogs were also of mixed origin. After training, twenty of the best dogs were selected from them, which were used to create the foundation of the breed. The initial breeding also involved ten dog and wolf hybrids brought from Beijing and ten German Shepherd dogs from East Germany . The breed was officially recognized by the in 1988. ^[5]

Kunming Shepherd Dog is a typical medium sized Spitz-shaped dog, height at withers 64-68 cm, weight 30-38 kg. In general, it resembles a German shepherd, but is more legged. The tail is long, usually lowered below the level of the back. The coat is double, longer in winter, shorter after spring molt. Typical black color with a black mask, areas of red hair can be of different brightness, from light straw to dark rust ^[6] .

Kunming Shepherd Dogs inherited the basic features of their German Shepherd Ancestors. They are smart, usually self-confident. Their curiosity and readiness for training are noteworthy, which makes them perfectly suitable for training. ^[7] Dogs are very active, require large loads and long walks.

Kunming Shepherd dogs are used for military service, in the police, as security and guard dogs, as well as companions.