Thousands of years ago, across the shadows of the Ages, earliest homonids and canids started their evolutionary dance.  We are certain that  the Ancient Dogs followed Paleolithic tribes in their migrations just as the condors, pigs, rats and insect life followed them.  Perhaps at first they all were pariahs, especially the dogs as they followed man to eat what the human tribes discarded. It was an easier life than going it alone or in small packs - there is some safety afforded in numbers of anything and scraps were plentiful - humans discarded bones, etc. 

    Surely, just as the remnants of ancient man survive where ever they traveled - so do the remnants of the Ancient Dogs - other than just cave drawing and bones.  We are the evolutionary remnants of ancient man.  These fantastic little dogs - unspoiled by mans' structured breeding - who appear from Africa through Europe and Asia, on the Pacific Islands and Australia and in the savannas of South Carolina and Georgia  known as the Carolina Dogs and similar dogs, living
wild or on the fringe in other Temperate areas of the Americas are evolutionary  remnants of the Ancient Dogs. With the help of you and modern technology we can turn this hypothesis into an History of the Remnants of the Ancient Dog and save these amazing, little dogs as a Living Museum and discover a World Wide Breed. 

    The Carolina Dog Association's upcoming trip to Kuwait is just the beginning of a research project with far reaching implications and worldwide participation.  The educational opportunities for high school and college students alone make this project worthwhile. Along the way we might even write a new chapter to the history and migratory patterns of Paleolithic man. 

    With worldwide DNA testing on descendants of the feral pariah canids we hope their current world locations will parallel the route of ancestral Native Americans who came across the Bering land mass 8,000 to 11,000 years ago. 

    High school students will gather DNA samples along man's migratory route and process the DNA into "gels".  These worldwide field research teams will then submit these gels to the University of South Carolina, College of Science and Mathematics for scanning and sequencing.   When sequenced, all data will be place on the internet and made available to the world via the National Center for Biotechnology Information internet site.   This research hopes to support the theory that Carolina Dogs' ancestors traveled and evolved with man on this migration journey, possibly as a companion and vital contributor to his basic survival.

It all starts in Kuwait, a beautiful country which we believe holds the cradle, the beginnings, of the ancient canines and all the breeds we have today.
 

Want to make a tax deductible donation to the project? Click for information.

Click here for "Stalking the Ancient Dog" project outline.