Description of a Kunming Dog.

The breed was created in the early 1950's to meet the need for military dogs in Yunnan, the capital of which is Kunming. A group of 10 dogs was brought to Kunming from a military K9 training program Beijing in 1953. (Available sources do not state what breed or breeds they were.) These ten dogs were insufficient for the immediate need, and so 50 suitable household dogs from Kunming were 'recruited' as well as 40 similar dogs from the city of Guiyang in Guizhou province. After training, the best twenty of these 90 'civil' dogs were then selected. The 10 'wolfdogs' from Beijing, these 20 'civil dogs' plus an additional 10 'shepherd dogs' imported from Germany constituted the pool from which the Kunming Dog was developed. The Chinese Public Security Bureau officially recognized the Kunming Dog as a breed in 1988. Kunming Dogs are now widely used by the Chinese military and police, and have also found their way into use as civilian watchdogs and guard dogs. They are less commonly kept as pets.