SumoNova t1_irzjbkr wrote on October 12, 2022 at 5:14 AM

Reply to comment by WirSindGeschichten in TIL that all Shiba Inu alive today are descended from one single Shiba, "Ishi," born in 1930. by Tsujimoto74

The article says they were near extinction until preservation found breeding pairs. Wouldn't you be able to "work backwards" and re-breee them from scratch by going back to whichever combo made them in the first place? Or would this make a "new" breed? I guess you'd have to be SUPER selective with the breeding and strict about which traits you keep? It's probably not as simple as I imagine.

GiantIrish_Elk t1_irzobom wrote on October 12, 2022 at 6:15 AM

Some breeders are and have done this with breeds that have recently gone extinct but these have been breeds that were created in the last century and we know or have a fairly good idea of the original breeds used to create them. For dogs this old the one or more of original breeds used to create it are most likely extinct.