Initial results of research on biological characteristics of short-tailed H'mong dog breed of Vietnam-Russia Tropical Center

Since the ancient times, the H’mong people have used dogs for hunting and house keeping. Today, under the development of society and laws that prohibit wild animal hunting, the role of dogs is narrowed. However, they still fulfill their role well in the life of the H'mong. Dogs are selected and bred by the H'mong people to form two breeds named in by their respective characteristics of long-haired H'mong dog and short-tailed H'mong dog.

The short-tailed H'mong dogs are highly appreciated by dogologists community for their morphology, personality, ability for professional work. A group of dogologists from Vietnam-Russia Tropical Center has selected the short-tailed H'mong dogs in some northern provinces of Vietnam to study their biological and distribution characteristics. The selected dogs were divided into 3 groups: Group 1: dogs from birth to 2 months old (puppies); Group 2: dogs from 2 months old to 8 months old (juveniles); and Group 3: dogs over 8 months old (matures).

Round black dots represent the distribution of short-tailed H'mong dogs

Regarding distribution, the short-tailed H’mong dogs are present in most of the provinces from North to North Central. However, they are concentrated in the northern mountainous provinces (especially the Northwest) and found in many places where the H'mong people live. Besides, due to the trade and exchange, they are sometimes seen together with some other ethnic groups such as Thai, Tay, Dao... On the other hand, they are often distributed from an altitude of less than 100m to more than 1,800 m above sea level, mainly averaging in the belt at altitudes above 800m.

Regarding morphological characteristics, the short-tailed H'mong dogs have an average stature but a well-proportioned body with the ratio of length and height at the shoulder of approximately 1:1.05 and that of front foot height to shoulder height of about 1:2. With such a structure, it is easy from them to move in complex terrain conditions. In addition, they have a fairly developed ribcage with an average chest circumference of 57.4 cm and chest width of 8.3 cm, which is one of their important characteristics when living in high mountains where the content of oxygen in the air is low. On the other hand, they have a relatively large skull size and balance between width and length of 10.4 x 10.8 cm. The mouth length at an average of 8.0 cm gives them sharp and strong bites.

Morphology of a short-taield H'mong dog (mature male individual)

Regarding growth: Through the research, it has been shown that in the mature stage, the short-tailed H'mong dogs have an average weight from 15 to 20 kg. In reality, a mature short-tailed H'mong dog can weigh up to 24kg. Their growth rate is relatively fast, especially in the puppy stage: 71.09g/day and the juvenile stage: 66.67g/day due to the fast and strong development of the skeletal system and muscles. In the mature stage, as musculoskeletal system has developed stably, the weight gain is mainly due to the storage of energy in the form of adipose tissue, so their weight gain rate is only 11.94g/day.

Regarding reproductive characteristics: The estrus time of the female dog is from 12-15 days, an average of 13.33 days. The number of puppies born in one birth usually ranges from 4-6, an average of 5. The dog's estrus duration ranges from 120 to 195 days, an average of 157.5 days (4-6 months). So, a dog can breed two times/year. The male/female ratio in a birth is usually 1:1.

          Some common diseases when migrating the short-tailed H'mong dogs to the farm

A very important issue much related to the survival rate of dogs when migrating from the fields to the farm is that some very dangerous diseases such as Care or Parvo may cause high mortality upto 100%. Common diseases have been monitored and aggregated.

Some common diseases when migrating short-taied H'mong dogs

Research results show that there are 4 diseases that often occur when migrating short-tailed H'mong dogs, in which Care accounts for the highest rate of 40%, followed by Tapeworm with 26.7%. Parvo has the lowest rate of 13.3%; however, the cure of this disease still faces many difficulties. None of the cases were cured after infection. The results also show that the cure rate of the disease is very low, only 33.3%, so it is necessary to do good prevention work before migrating the short-tailed H'mong dogs.

Dr. Dinh The Dũng/Institute of Tropical ecology