To reveal the «Africanis» in this long standing and renowned «breed» column is not less than a challenge. It has to be stressed from the onset that the Africanis is NOT a breed as it is currently understood by eurocentric canine fanciers. The phenomenon «Africanis» must be apprehended as a «land race». It is a product of natural selection and spontaneous adaptation to typical but various African environments and to the utilitarian demands of the historical custodians of such dogs.

It is relevant to consider for a moment that, prior to the foundation of modern dogdom with the establishment of The Kennel Club (London) in 1873, many land races prevailed all over the world. There were dogs which pulled sledges in the high North, terriers which attended miners in Yorkshire, sheep dogs in the region of Brie in France, livestock guarding dogs in the Estrella mountains in Portugal and many tens of similar examples. Hence the names Siberian Husky, Yorkshire Terrier, Briard and Estrella Mountain Dog all referring to the geographical region of origin. When consulting the FCI list of nearly 350 recognised breeds world-wide you will have to conclude that in 70% of all cases, the breed name honours a land race origin. The biggest effort of modern dogdom - and it is modern as it is only 130 years old whereas the dog was domesticated ca. 13,000 years ago - was to streamline this variety of land races into well defined breeds and to create new breeds through extrapolation from and mixing of existing land races. In all these cases a strictly reduced and idealised «foundation stock» was chosen and breeding took place in respect of a prescriptive breed standard aiming at cosmetic homogeneity. In this process we obtained many «thoroughly» bred dog breeds and lost the majority of our ancient land races.

The Africanis Society of Southern Africa has made it its task to «conserve» the southern African canine land race as a whole. Southern Africa is a huge geographical area with a variety of ecological niches. Consequently the African dogs over the ages had to adapt to various environmental demands. Therefore the dogs guarding livestock in the Lesotho highlands are different to the multipurpose dogs which accompany the herd boys in the lowlands of Kwazulu Natal. The eurocentric approach would be to consider them as different breeds, to select «appropriate» foundation stocks and to reduce this healthy and well adapted heterogeneous gene pool into a variety of homogeneous but debilitating breeds all responding to a set prescriptive breed standard. Henceforth their intrinsic value would no longer be evaluated based on their natural adaptability to strenuous African conditions but to their conformity to a rigid «breed standard» evaluated in breed shows.

After such a statement it is time to ask where these aboriginal African dogs hailed from and if it is really worth to try to conserve them. More and more scientists agree that the domestic dog is an evolutionary product of southern wolves and that the final step towards domestication took place in the Orient with the «house dog» becoming a reality when humankind from its purely hunter-gathering existence tended to shift to a more sedentary lifestyle. This finally happened towards the end of the Last Ice Age which ended 12,300 BP (before present). From its cradle of domestication the dog soon spread into Eurasia, crossed the Bering Strait into the Americas, travelled with Jomo people to Japan, sailed with Asian seafarers to populate the isles in the Pacific and also accompanied nomadic herdsmen who drove their flocks across the Isthmus of Suez into Africa.

As such the domestic dog is not endemic to Africa. Like in most parts of the world it came as an immigrant. Archaeologists have discovered the earliest remains of domestic dogs on the African continent in Nabta Playa, Merimde-beni-salame and Maadi, all places near the Nile estuary in Egypt. The radiocarbon dating indicates that the domestic made its entrance in Africa nearly 7,000 years ago. For two years I researched and collected all records of archaeological findings and early dates for domestic dog remains on the African continent. I carefully put them on the map, enabling me to follow the distribution in time of the dog in Africa.

In summary I can say that during the first millennium after its arrival, the dog first spread along the river Nile into the northern parts of what is now Sudan. Drawings on pottery unearthed near the ancient settlement of Hierakonpolis show dogs on leashes or fitted with collars. It clearly proves that dogs were part of the Neolithic lifestyle in the region. This distinctly definable Neolithic art goes back to 5,700 BP. We have also proof that during that preceding millennium the domestic dog accompanied nomadic herdsmen who drove their flocks into the then not so dry Sahara. Rock paintings discovered in the Hoggar and Tibesti mountains depict hunting scenes with dogs. Here also the archaeologists were able to date these drawings back to 5,700 BP. Further archaeological proof shows that the dog continued its expansion further into western Africa and also along the river Nile into the northern parts of Uganda and Kenya. It has to be noted that this dispersal in the northern part of Africa happened well before the first pharaoh came to rule in Egypt in 5,310 BP.

Scientist believe that it was the belt formed by the Equatorial forest that acted as a natural barrier and for a long period in time hindered a further southward expansion of humans and dogs into central and southern Africa. The event of the Early Iron Age in association with the cultural changes that it brought would finally tackle this barrier. We don»t know with certainty which were the natural or political pressures which roughly two thousand years ago caused the migration of Early Iron Age Bantu speaking people. Historians place the epicentre of this wandering of nations in the grasslands of present day northern Cameroon. Based on the expansion of language and art styles different migration routes have been identified. For us in Southern Africa one of the eastern expansions is of particular importance. To bypass the Congo basin these agricultural Bantu speakers first moved east and travelled through the southern parts of present day Sudan and northern parts of Uganda and Kenya where they came across an already long-standing cattle farming tradition. As combined agriculturists and stock keepers, they finally traced tsetse-free corridors along the Great Rift valley. Along this route they drove their cattle in the direction of the southern African grasslands. They occupied present day Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana.

It seems that their «voortrekkers» crossed the Limpopo as from the fifth century of our era. The earliest remains of domestic dogs on South African soil have been discovered, identified and dated by Dr. Ina Plug, archaeozoologist and deputy director of the former Transvaal Museum. She told me that the fossils were found in an Early Iron Age site on the farm «Diamant» near Ellisras. The bones have been dated at 570 AD and their structure indicates that some of the dogs were slender, rather long-legged while another type was more stocky. Interestingly, as recent as 1994, Dr. Len Van Schalkwyk explored Early Iron Age sites on the Lower Thukela river in Kwazulu-Natal. He found proof that here also these early immigrants next to their livestock owned dogs and settled in this area by the year 650 AD. The expansion continued and the presence of the dog is established by C.A. Chappel in a Khoisan settlement in Cape St. Francis by 800 AD . This suggests that contact and barter had taken place between Bantu speakers and Khoisan residents. From there the dog spread over the entire country.

It is interesting to consider for a moment that all the above happened in parallel with the great migrations in Europe. There, the Western Roman Empire was crumbling under the pressure of invading Goths, Franks, Bourgonds, Alans, Germans, Saxons, Huns and others. All these so-called barbarian tribes hailed from the Central Asian hinterland. Some were reputed for the dogs that they brought. Eventually these dogs were mixed with the genes that the Romans had brought with and in their turn had been mixed with the blood of the ancient Celtic dogs. Compare this European canine situation in the year 800 AD with the condition of the dogs in southern Africa which as direct descendants of early domesticated dogs in the East had reached a dog free part of the world. There they adapted and evolved into well-adjusted land races. They became resistant to regional sicknesses and tolerant of prevailing internal and external parasites. They remained free of exotic genes until European colonists brought their dogs. Even then, due to cultural barriers, exotic input in tribal areas remained minimal.

The Africanis as an aboriginal land race has - in its various forms - been preserved and can still be found deep in our traditional tribal lands. Don»t go and look for them in our modern townships or squatter camps. They have survived with the African culture in former «homelands». However, their natural state is increasingly coming under threat because of their changing environment and the eurocentric approach which still considers them as rejects and bequeath this unfounded opinion to the public at large.

You might be surprised that I do not formulate a «prescriptive» breed standard for these dogs. As I mentioned before, the fancy of breed standards is only 130 years old. It serves the purpose of prescribing and guiding the continuation of artificially selected breeds. In the case of the Africanis we are dealing with a «natural» breed because it was nature and the stringent conditions of African environments which over all these centuries were responsible for the state of affairs. The Africanis Society therefore believes that their first and foremost effort should be to conserve this broad and ancient gene pool. Efforts are being made to compile a DNA profile. Only after this scientific guide becomes available will planning for the future be put in place.

After having observed and studied Africanis in their natural habitats and in my home for the past ten years, I must admit that they are genuine dogs. Their behavioural patterns are intense and unspoiled. They are very attached to their people, unobtrusive, non-demanding, extremely intelligent and hardy. They are eager to learn and to work, especially in situations where they can use their natural intelligence. For example, teach them to track or to search and you will be stupefied by the results. They will even accept our classic «obedience» drill but they will only enjoy it when positively reinforced. Without doubt, they are dogs for the open spaces. Anybody living in the countryside and leading an active life will thoroughly enjoy them. Even though they might adapt to city life it must be a nightmare for them.

To conclude I must stress that not all dogs of indefinite origin which roam great metropolitan streets or end up at the SPCA should henceforth be coined «Africanis». The native African dog is most likely to be found in traditional rural African homesteads.

Johan Gallant - chairman of the Africanis Society of Southern Africa, author of: The Story of the African Dog published by the University of Natal Press, 2002, ISBN 1-86914-024-9