Tahitian Dog  Information & Dog Breed Facts

The Tahitian Dog, or in its local Tahitian name, the ʻŪrī Mā’ohi, is an extinct dog breed, which can trace its origins back to the 16^th century in Tahiti and on the Society Islands, nowadays known as French Polynesia. Later the breed was also known under the name Society Islands Dog, Poe Dog, and South Sea Dog. The breed was imported to the Society Islands by the Tahitian ancestors when the mass migration of Tahitians to Polynesia happened. The Tahitian Dog was in close relation to the Hawaiian Poi Dog and to the New Zealand Kuri. Moreover, the latter is presumed to be a descendant of the breed. DNA studies have shown that the New Zealand Kuri dog is derived from Indonesian dogs, and henceforth, by inference, it is presumable that all of the Polynesian breeds have the same ancestry.

The Tahitian culture considered the Tahitian Dogs an essential part of the society. The indigenous tribes would make a variety of different kinds of ornaments and tools from the deceased dogs’ body parts. The teeth of the dogs were used as fishhooks and the dogs’ bones were used to make weapons and other accessories. The dogs’ fur, especially the long tail hairs were used to decorate the fringes of the taumi, the traditional ornament called a gorget, which was mostly worn by the chiefs of the tribes. Being a food delicacy was the breed’s other purpose. The dogs were tied up with strings around their bellies and kept in the house, where they were raised to serve nutritional purposes. Other specimens were kept alongside the domesticated pigs for the same goals. These dogs, seen as a delicacy were served to the tribes during the feasts and most importantly, the best ones were dedicated to the chiefs. The Tahitian Dogs were less abundant than pigs, presumably because they were killed at a very young age on the islands. James Cook, the well-known British explorer is one of the earliest explorers who got a taste from the breed. The dogs were in close relation with their tribes. European explorers often noticed that the indigenous women, who unfortunately lost their own babies or children, would easily breastfeed dog puppies.

The Tahitian Dog was considered a lazy, dull breed with a shy temperament, for the reason that the dogs were kept on a vegetarian diet. Moreover, many of the breed’s specimens were extremely obese, so consequently, lazy due to their unique diet, which made them less useful and less active. Their diet consisted of Yam, Coconut, Poi, Breadfruit, and other locally grown vegetables. This malnutrition affected the dogs’ external appearance, their skull was flat and round, which is not frequent with dogs, they were also really small-sized.

The Tahitian Dog got to the verge of extinction when European settlers arrived in Tahiti and in French Polynesia around 1834. Europeans brought another type of breeds with them on their ships, thus the local breeds were naturally inter-bred with these European dogs. The Tahitian Dog never remained purebred anymore. Moreover, even after the European settlement, very few people met and got to know the breed in its purest form. However, the very few who did meet them did not consider this breed worth preserving, instead, they focused on creating a new breed mixture. Thus, the Tahitian Dog went to extinction in the 19^th century. Experts still have very limited knowledge about the breed, due to the lack of records. In the 1960s and 1970s, examples of the breed’s bones and teeth were discovered during archaeological digs. Furthermore, there are a couple of paintings portraying dogs in close resemblance with the Tahitian Dog, by European painters who visited the islands.