I have read that Native American groups from both North and South America had dogs. What would these dogs have looked like, and were they brought from Siberia or were they domesticated in America? Do they still exist? Were they affected by diseases the same way their owners were? What did the Indians use them for?
I cannot seem to find much information on my own, and I have wondered about this for a while.
There are several breeds of domestic dogs that were developed in North America. Some are breeds are still around, while others are extinct.
Among those that are still popular pets today you can find huskies and Malamute and their relatives, which have Old World counterparts in the Eurasian Arctic as well. Chihuahuas trace their origins to the other end of the continent in Mesoamerica, as does the Xolo (aka the Mexican Hairless Dog, although there are variants with hair).
Another breed that's still around, but is rarely seen as a pet, is the Carolina Dog. These dogs resemble dingos, as a lot of dogs will after being feral for many generations. They were rediscovered relatively recently in the 1970s and we're not sure how long they've been around. Dogs like them show up in pre-Columbian art, but they were pets back then or if they were already feral is unknown.
Many of the most famous extinct breeds are from the northwestern part of North America. For example, there are the Hare Indian Dog, the Tahltan Bear Dog, and most famously, the Salish Wool Dog. The first two were bred for different styles of hunting, while the wool dogs, as their name suggests, were breed for wool.
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The Native Americans of the North did indeed keep dogs, but they were not specifically of any breed as we would understand it. They were what's called a landrace, which means that they all looked similar enough that they could be considered one 'type' of dog, but the common traits that they shared were the result of a more natural selection process than intentional breeding.
To begin with, since these dogs would likely have been semi-feral camp dogs, fed on scraps and left to roam around near the settlement, traits such as friendliness (friendlier dogs get more food, attention, etc.) would have been useful to them, along with traits that enabled them to better survive in their native environment, since they would likely be spending most, if not all, of their time exposed to the elements.
One thing to note, which I shall only go into briefly, is that genes for certain character traits can go hand in hand with physical characteristics, which explains how a landrace might come about of dogs that all looked pretty similar - since the traits that made them successful among humans could also make them look a specific way.
People subsequently realised that they could use dogs to perform certain tasks and no doubt began to pair two good dogs, who seemed to perform the tasks well, together to create more good dogs. This does not constitute an effort to create a 'breed' as we understand it today, but no doubt helped propagate the beneficial traits through the canine population.
A good example of this is that before the Spanish Conquest, there were no native wild horses in North or South America. Before they had horses, plains tribes utilised dogs to carry their belongings and pull the tipi poles and coverings when they were on the move. (Interestingly, for this reason the introduction of horses meant that the tipi poles could be longer and heavier, which meant the tipi design became bigger). Thus dogs with traits that benefitted them in these areas (strength, endurance, good temper) were preferred and kept around (i.e. not killed), and passed on the beneficial genes.
This resulted, over a long period of time, in a homogenised 'breed' of dog developing without any real conscious effort to create one.
These dogs still exist, though have now become a standardised breed - called American Indian Dog or Carolina dog.
Originally you would probably have found that native dogs would have varied depending on locality. All the dogs from one settlement or area would probably have looked very similar, as they were all interbreeding, but the dogs from another tribe or from other parts of the country would have had a slightly different set of traits that better suited their particular climate and the lifestyle of the tribe to which they belonged. A good example of this is dogs bred by the Inuits (Malamute, [Canadian Eskimo dog] (http://www.breedia.com/uploads/dogs/canadian-eskimo-dog/photos/canadian-eskimo-dog-a7478830-d84e-4fd1-9953-62aadda8238e.jpg)). They had to be able to perform well in cold weather, as well as pull sleds. So they are very strong, energetic, long legged and thick furred) The Canadian Eskimo dog was also used for hunting seals and other arctic game. They were not considered pets, nor as part of the natural world - they were tools to assist survival.
Examples of native dogs from South America are the Peruvian Hairless Dog and the Xoloitzcuintle. It is theorised that their hairlessness was a spontaneous mutation of the American Indian dog that allowed them to better cope with the tropical conditions. As well as hunting, these dogs were often raised for meat.
After the Europeans arrived, they brought dogs of their own, which would no doubt have interbred with the local dogs and added a bit of variation to the gene pool. But the native dogs, which had over many generations become perfectly adapted to their locality, did not die out. They excelled in the tasks they were put to. The Europeans saw the advantage of malamutes, etc. over european dogs when it came to pulling sleds in the snow and made good use of them. And Native Americans often traded good hunting/sled dogs for other tools. It is possible that european dogs brought european dog diseases, but I can't imagine it would be something that was well documented.
I hope this answers your question. Sorry it's a bit long... brevity does not come naturally to me.
A handful still exist but it's difficult to know for sure if they're pre-columbian. The Canadian Eskimo Dog is an example. They're a northern working dog that has probably existed with the Inuit as long as the Inuit have been in the north. Lack of written records makes it hard to know if the modern breed is the same as the one that existed 4000 years ago. They're threatened by extinction due to disease and no longer being as useful in the day of the snowmobile.
