First, I apologize if this rambles. I've been doing a lot of reading.

Some of you may or may not remember Duke, my now 14mo. pup. Cliffs. He showed up on our porch at about 12 weeks on inauguration day, promptly followed me to and from the mailbox and then curled up on my feet on the porch. We've been trying to figure out what he is ever since, thinking he was a possible GSD/APBT mix.

Enter the interesting. My wife saw a dog that looked really similar to Duke at work yesterday and the guy said he was an APBT/Akita mix. So, we started researching the Akita. It's too big and just doesn't really seem to fit. Somehow my wife got linked to the Jindo and Duke fits it almost to a T. The typical Jindo seems to stop growing at five months (which Duke did) topping out at about 20" and 45lbs. (Duke's 21" and 42lbs.). He also looks a lot like one, but with enough variance that I'm pretty sure he's mixed...possibly still with APBT since they're very popular dogs in the area.

One of the main things that caught my eye is the temperament. It describes, almost exactly, the dog I've described in my topic in Dogs That Are Too Aggressive to Humans. He hates intruders, even intruding cats, and will shy away from the touch of a stranger. But, he'll willingly investigate something he's unsure about without doing the forward/backup thing most unsure dogs and cats do. They've been used as guard dogs on Jindo Island and will defend their master to death. They're also excellent hunting dogs capable of bringing down medium sized game and returning to get the owner if the game's too big to bring back. So they're protective and tenacious. They're supposed to be a dominant and independent breed that's mostly submissive and obedient to an owner they respect, due to "thousands of years" of natural selection. Also extremely loyal. Their territorial and prey drives are also really high. I've remarked about Duke's high territorial and prey drives several times.

They're also supposed to be really good at climbing and my wife has always told me that she has him climb different things on their walks and that he's like a cat. Everything we've read says that they can easily climb a six foot fence. Speaking of cats, Jindos a supposed to be "fastidious" and clean themselves like a cat. He does and he throws a hissy fit if I don't clean the water up out of his crate quickly enough. He'll literally back up while picking his feet up, like "oooh, gross, get it out of here".

Here are three older pics of him. I apologize for the e-baller-ness of the second one; it was taken for a car forum.

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You could always try one of the DNA tests. I heard mixed reviews about them but I know someone who got reasonable results.

I guess it depends on your area- how likely would it be to find that breed. In mine, I'm lucky to see anything other than a beagle or a lab. If I saw a Jindo, I'd drop dead from shock.

Scott, your dog looks a bit like a Thai Ridgeback/cross, check out the breed org at:
http://trdusa.org

Scott, I was looking up Jindos and came upon this:
http://www.jindorescue.org/available/jonbee/jonbee_2009.html

This was the dog (I'm pretty sure) that Cesar Millan worked with. Off topic, but interesting!(and unfortunate, since it seems he's up for adoption)

Duke might have some Jindo in him. He's a nice looking dog, that's for sure.

As soon as I saw the dog I thought Thai Ridgeback before I even read the post or thread.

As previously mentioned you could do a DNA test if you needed to be sure.

He sure is a beautiful dog!

 Quote: Jessica Pedicord

You could always try one of the DNA tests. I heard mixed reviews about them but I know someone who got reasonable results.

I guess it depends on your area- how likely would it be to find that breed. In mine, I'm lucky to see anything other than a beagle or a lab. If I saw a Jindo, I'd drop dead from shock.

Totally. We've been planning on doing that for a while, actually.

They're really popular down in L.A. because of the high Korean population and a lot of transplants have come this way for the lower cost in housing. My wife found a Jindo rescue in Sacramento, which is pretty close.

 Quote: Sarah Berry

Scott, your dog looks a bit like a Thai Ridgeback/cross, check out the breed org at:
http://trdusa.org

That one on the far right of the banner looks a lot like him, for sure. No ridge on his back though, other than hackles. I'll have to do some reading on this and see how the populations look in the area. Thanks for giving us another option to look into.

 Quote: Lynne Barrows

Scott, I was looking up Jindos and came upon this:
http://www.jindorescue.org/available/jonbee/jonbee_2009.html

This was the dog (I'm pretty sure) that Cesar Millan worked with. Off topic, but interesting!(and unfortunate, since it seems he's up for adoption)

Duke might have some Jindo in him. He's a nice looking dog, that's for sure.

I actually just watched that YouTube a few hours ago. Hahaha. I'm glad those people gave him up, they were a bad accident waiting to happen. I saw on a forum, somewhere, that JonBee is actually poor example of a Jindo. But it was a subjective opinion so I took it with a grain of salt.

Another thing I forgot to mention. Apparently Jindos lay their ears out flat when they rest, which Duke also does.

 Quote: Niomi Smith

As soon as I saw the dog I thought Thai Ridgeback before I even read the post or thread.

As previously mentioned you could do a DNA test if you needed to be sure.

He sure is a beautiful dog!

Hmm. Definitely going to have to give that breed some research.

Thanks.

Thank you. He's becoming quite the handsome boy.

I forgot to add that we've also been told that "he looks as purebred as my ten generation Carolina Dogs". He's definitely strongly mixed with a recently domesticated breed...and acts like it, the savage. I read something that said that most wild dogs end up looking similar because its a successful body structure.

He reminds me of Bolt.

I think he looks Jindo. My friend had a Jindo, and they are pretty common in CA. I've never seen a Thai Ridgeback outside of the Internet. Both are cool dogs though. He's s great looking guy either way!

Thanks for the reply. I'm really thinking he is. He fits the temperament description perfectly, other than being really vocal. He acts just like the Jindo videos we've watched on YouTube, too.

He acts exactly like the dogs in these two videos, which were taken on Jindo Island.
My Jindo Friend
Jindo Puppies on Jindo Island

And yeah, we get the Bolt comparison a lot. Little kids, "look mommy, it's Bolt!"

If we're playing the whatcha think game prior to a dna test my pick is 50%lab/25%GSD/25%siberian husky. I've seen a very well bred Thai Ridgeback recently, doesn't quite fit. They are pretty interesting dogs, as far as ancient breeds.