Ryukyu Dog 

   Description 

Ryukyu Dog  are medium sized dogs... [and] look very much like wild dogs, which gives the impression of extreme ferocity, but, quite to the contrary, their disposition is mild and amiable and they make loving pets. Nevertheless, they have a strong territorial instinct, and they are not necessarily good with other animals. At one time they were used to hunt wild boar, and one should bear in mind that their hunting instinct is alive and well. 

I was searching for "Ryukyu dog" on the Internet and was dismayed to find very little information. Ryukyu tora (tora = "tiger"), or sometimes Ryukyu Inu or Ryukyu turaa, is the breed of my last dog, Courtney, and I figure her memory deserves a lot more respect from the Internet. Courtney was a street mutt that we picked up as a puppy. I began to suspect she might an actual breed when I ran into another street dog that looked exactly like her with different coloring. After seeing photos of Ryukyu toras in a local paper, there were enough physical similarities that I decided I could call her a Ryukyu tora if I wanted to. A ryukyu page  I found has even more photos, including a poster  that has Courtney's tawny coloring labelled as the 'Aka turaa' (red tiger) breed.

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