Top 10 Rare Dog Breeds - Rarest Dog Breeds

Here I list the top 10 rare dog breeds with facts, information, pictures, videos, and useful resources.

Dog breeding over thousands of years has resulted in a wide variety of breeds, hybrids and types of dogs. These include small breeds of dogs, such as toy poodles and Chihuahuas; large dog breeds like pugs and beagles.

There are sporting breeds of dogs such as Labradors and golden retrievers; dog breeds with protective behavior, such as chows and rottweilers; Herding breeds, such as border collies and shepherds.

Many of these breeds of dogs have now become rare due to some reason or the other.

Chinook, a descendant of one famous sled dog, is one of the most rare god breed. After the death of Perry Greene in 1963, the founder of this breed, this breed went into rapid decline and is now a rare breed of dog. Some group of dog lovers have dedicated their efforts and worked hard to restore this breed. The Chinook that we see today are basically house dog and not sled dogs, although some are them are used as sled dogs.

Stabyhoun, a national treasure in the Netherlands is another most rare dog breed. This dog is both a pointer and retriever.

There are only about 100 of these rare dogs in the United States.

Trying to save this rare breed, the Dutch Dog Registry carefully monitors breeding of this breed.

Otterhound, is a rare and very noble hound breed. It was first traced back to the 1100’s. Otterhound dogs were primarily used hunt otter, hence the name, Otterhound.

Hunting otter was banned in England in the late 1970’s but this breed became rare. According to estimates, there are only 350 Otterhound in North America.

Azawakhis African sighthounds, now a rare breed of dog. They are favored in the United States with about 100-200 dogs. It is used for hunting gazelles and other fleet animals of the African deserts.

In Africa Azawakh are rarely treated as pets or companions. Outside Africa they are primarily appreciated for their companionship.

The Azawakh Club of America, Inc. (AZCA) was founded by Corine Lundqvist in 1998 to promote the Azawakh.

Tibetan Mastiff, is a rare breed of dog and a descendent of Mastiff dogs. The powerful Tibetan Mastiff is a naturally protective and territorial dog.

The Tibetan Mastiff exhibits an extremely independent, stubborn nature and a wondrous depth of intelligence and character.

Tibetan Mastiff focuses on his working abilities which include guarding, alerting through barking, patrolling and basic territorial/dominant behavior.

Carolina Dog, is a rare breed of dog also known as the “American Dingo”. Carolina Dogs are wild dogs and are still not a fully domesticated breed. They are genetically linked with primitive dog breeds such as the Australian Dingo and New Guinea Singing Dog. This versatile breed has a single estrus cycle during the year. 

Carolina Dogs are self-sufficient, intelligent and “pack” oriented. They can be slightly reserved with strangers, but grow more outgoing over time. Carolina Dogs are great workers, herders and outstanding playmates for children. Carolina Dogs can live as long as 15 years with relatively few genetic health issues. They are fairly easy to groom, needing only an occasional brushing.

Norwegian Lundehund, also known as the “Puffin Dog”, is one of the rarest breed of dog. These dogs are very flexible and have double dewclaws on all four feet. This makes them suitable for hunting.

Even though, this breed of dog has some extraordinary characteristics, unfortunately, it has serious problems in their digestive system that makes the absorption of nutrients from food difficult. This further shortens their life spans.

Thai Ridgeback, are primitive breed and good with children.

Evolved from the Asian wolf, this breed has a wrinkly-face, primitive paw pads, and pigmentation on their tongues. They are available in four colors - Red, Black, Blue and Yellow.

Thai Ridgeback have a strong will power and are still used in their native home as livestock guardians and protection dogs.

Mudi is a medium-sized rare breed Hungarian herding dog. Because of its superior herding quality, the Mudi is still favored by shepherds to work sheep and cattle herds in Hungary. 

Mudi dogs have dense and wavy to curly coats of black, white, red, brown, and cifra, a rare color of blue-merle. They are very intelligent, courageous and powerful. They make good guard dogs but are gentle to family members. Mudi enjoys swimming and playing in the water.

In the United States the breed is extremely rare. Mudi is very versatile that makes it a contender in many active dog sports

Catalburun is a rare Turkish dog breed with distinctive “split-nose”. Catalburun are well known for their hunting abilities.

Catalburun are the only native pointing breed of Turkey. The term “Catalburun” refers to the breeds’ most distinctive feature - its split nose. The term "çatal" means fork and "burun" means nose.

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