People used to think Carolina dogs were unwanted mutts wandering around Aiken County and other areas.
But work done by Dr. I. Lehr Brisbin identified them as something special and now they are among the more 300 canine breeds and varieties that the United Kennel Club recognizes.
A senior research ecologist emeritus with the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Brisbin became interested in Carolina dogs years ago and he continues to study them.
“We know more about pandas in China, polar bears in Spitsbergen and gorillas in Africa than we do about Carolina dogs in Aiken County,” said Brisbin at Birds & Butterflies in downtown Aiken on Tuesday night.
Brisbin’s talk was part of the store’s 2016 Nature Series.
The presentation included an appearance by a Carolina dog named Stone, who was handled by Brisbin’s wife, Donna, and sat patiently while being petted by members of the audience.
Stone is black, but Carolina dogs come in a variety of other colors, including pale yellow buff.
The most common is a reddish ginger.
There are spotted Carolina dogs, and black and tan Carolina dogs.
“They look like Australian dingoes,” Brisbin said.
The typical Carolina dog has pointed ears, a fox-like snout and a tail that curves like a fishhook when it is raised.
“They also have a what is called an angel wing, which is a white stripe over the withers,” Brisbin said.
The ancestors of Carolina dogs were the canines that accompanied the Paleo-Indians who traveled from Asia to North America over the Bering Land Bridge.
“Those dogs probably never had a leash on them, and they never had a collar on them,” Brisbin said.
The dogs helped the Paleo-Indians hunt, and they also served as guards because their barks were warnings of possible danger.
Today, the descendants of those primitive canines are good companions for their owners.
They enjoy walking in the woods, and they also compete in dog shows and win awards.
The “best place” to see untamed Carolina dogs “is along the median strip of Interstate 20 between Camden and Florence,” Brisbin said.
Carolina dogs have an unusual behavior that involves digging small pits in the ground.
Females do it more often than males, and they do it the most in October, November and December.
“I call them snout pits because they are the size and shape of the dog’s snout,” Brisbin said.
The dogs will dig and sniff until they find a place that they like. Then they begin “chewing like crazy,” Brisbin said.
He has examined dirt from the pits where the dogs are chewing, but there’s nothing obvious to indicate what the animals have found that they want to eat.
“There are no bugs, no worms, no berries, no fungi and no roots,” Brisbin said. “It is just dirt.”
Maybe there are nutrients that the dogs are seeking, but for now, the purpose for their digging remains a mystery.
Dede Biles is a general assignment reporter for the Aiken Standard and has been with the newspaper since January 2013. A native of Concord, N.C, she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
