Phu Quoc Dog

There are 3 dog breeds known to have ridges on their back.  They are Rhodesian Ridgeback, Thai Ridgeback, and PhuQuoc Dog (PQ Dog).  Among the three, the Phu Quoc dogs are the first ridgeback dogs known to the Western world, but also the least popular nowaday due to poor breeding program and unregistered status.  They are reputed to be highly intelligent dogs that are used by the local people for hunting as well as guard dogs.  No one know for sure how the Phu Quoc breed started.  They may descend from ancient ridged dogs from Phu Nam or Khmer Kingdom or they could be the domesticated form of wild dogs on the island.  Phu Quoc is about the size of Singapore and has a dense rainforest with rich wildlife fauna.  There're wild dogs inhabiting the jungle.  I just found a brief news article in Vietnamese language dated 12/25/2000.  The article says a hunter found 3 wild puppies in PQ's jungle, 2 are sold to a Cambodian tourist, and the 3rd one a female was given to a local person.  That 3rd dog has a ash-grey coat and a ridge on her back.  The dog is thin and tall.  She's slow during the day but is active at night.   http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/Khoa-hoc/2000/12/3B9AD0DF/  .If that's true, then the PQ dogs must be the direct descendants of those wild dogs and therefore be the predecessor of the other 2 ridgeback breeds. I remember running across a website mentioning a PhD. in Europe took the blood sample of PQ Dogs and would do DNA analysis to see how closely related they are to TRB but never see the result posted.  Today, the PQ dogs are facing the problem of hybridization since pedigree breeding is not known in Vietnam.  I asked many people there about the purity of the dogs and most people said most of them are now mixed.  However, some people are still maintaining the breed for sale.  About 60% of dogs on PQ Island have ridges but only a few have nice looking ridge and having dingo features.  While there, I ran across 2 dogs that I thought having good ridge and look dingo.  I was told by a local man that narrow, well-formed ridge and black tongue are considered ID traits of PQ dogs. But he wasn't a dog breeder, so who knows?  I'm not an expert on ridged dogs, so I don't know whether the ridge on these dogs is considered good quality of ridged back standard or reflex the purity of the blood.  I saw some wide ridge dogs, but the dogs look more like European dogs and big, and the ridge are not as clear as the 2 dogs in the pictures.  I hope that in the future, I would get some rather pure dogs, bring them back to the US, register the breed and start a club to save the breed from extinction. If anyone know how to obtain a permit and doing the required paperwork to import dogs to the US, please email me.

	A perfect shot aiming at the back of this PQ bitch showing the ridge on her.  I saw her foraging in a restaurant.
	The same bitch in the previous picture eating.
	Another picture
	This picture was shot when she was standing near me, you can still see the ridge on her back
	A close-up shot at her back revealing 2 crowns where the ridge starts.
	She's looking at me begging for food.
	Quite cute, isn't she?
	A male PQ dog employed as guard dog by Vietnam-Australia Pearl Company stationed in Phu Quoc Island. This dog has a good ridge.
	Same dog sleeping.
	He's waking up.

Any comments? Please email me at dthong@rocketmail.com