There used to be a ferryboat that ran a 30-minute
service from Jindo Island to the nearest mainland port
Mok-po. Some Jindo dogs were sold to visitors who took
the dogs on the ferry boat to the mainland. No matter
how far the dog was sent, when it managed to get off the
leash, it ran straight back to the island. People on the
ferryboat trip to Mok-po have seen Jindo dogs swimming
back in the opposite direction toward the island. Other
people have seen dogs soiled with muddy clay and sand
from the beach wagging their tails and being friendly to
everyone getting on the ferryboat to Jindo Island. As
soon as the boat docks at the island, they jump off and
disappear never looking back.
After the bridge connected the island to the mainland,
more dogs have been sold from off the island. In fact
most Jindo dogs in America are descendants of dogs that
were bred outside the island in Seoul and its vicinity.
The most recently known return of a Jindo dog involve a
5-year-old white Jindo bitch that returned home after it
was sold to a new owner in Tae-Jon some300 miles away.
It returned home 7 months after it was sold. When the
new owner found out that his lost dog had returned to
the island, he didn't have the heart to take her away
again and settled for a puppy from her next litter.
The first outside notice of the dog came in the 1930's
when occupying Japanese first noticed them. Japanese
professor named Mori went to Jindo Island to the
exceptional dog. He recommended to the Imperial
government that the dog be added to the list of
"Natural Monument". Jindo residents say that
Japanese authorities coerced many resident into giving
up their dogs and the best of the dogs at the time were
taken to Japan.
Since then several breeds of dogs with very close blood
ties to Jindo dogs have been introduced by Japanese to
the Western world. Akita-inu, Kyusu, Shiba and
Hokkaido-ken are just a few dogs introduced by the
Japanese.
Along with the recognition of the Jindo dog as a dog
worthy of national protection, the Japanese imperial
army ordered all Korean dogs except Jindo be slaughtered
to make fur coats for the soldiers fighting in
Manchuria. Some 300,000 Korean dogs are known to have
been slaughtered in accord with this policy of
eradication of Korean dogs.
It's probably safe to assume that there were several
breeds of dog roaming the Korean land unknown to the
rest of the world. Many scholars believe that several
breeds of Korean dogs perished at the time.
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This is Dae-Jin. He
was considered the best stud dog in America
until he became missing and perished at a
shelter. |
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