HAWAIIAN POI

COUNTRY: USA
COAT: Short
COLOR: Variety
OTHER NAMES: Ilio
GROUP: Southern


Pariah dogs came to Hawaii with the Polynesians during the first settlement more than 1,000 years ago. The dogs came under the care of the women and children, with a pup sometimes given as a present to an infant at birth. Nursing from the baby's mother supposedly gave the dog a protective instinct. If the child died, the dog was killed and buried with his tiny master. If, as was often the case, the canine predeceased his young owner, his teeth were pulled and given to the child to wear as a necklace, continuing the "protection."

Unfortunately for the Poi Dog, writer Elinor Dewire observes, the island's people "made no distinction between the enjoyment of an animal's consumption and its companionship. Dogs played with during the day were fed as a delicacy to visiting chieftains and royalty that same night. The dogs were fed poi (a paste made from ground, baked and fermented taro root) to fatten them for eating.

Their vegetarian diet over a long period of time resulted in a change in the bones of their heads. The heads became large and flat, due to the disuse of the bones from a lack of chewing.

Not used for any purpose but to be eaten, the Poi Dogs gradually evolved into small, lazy animals, waddling around with distended bellies and shortened legs. These pariah types never reverted to the feral state, since the Hawaiian habitat was not suited to that lifestyle. Besides they probably were too lazy to bother scrounging for food when they could become fat on human handouts! They grew to be slow, lazy and dull witted, much like a slug in mind and body.

On one of his explorations in 1779, Captain James Cook described them, when he said the Poi Dogs seldom barked, came in many colors and ran with the hogs (which also held the dual role of pet/pork chop).

Early in the 19th century, other dogs had so intermingled with the Poi Dog that it was no longer pure. Years later two men conducted a breeding program at the Honolulu Zoo, attempting to reconstruct the breed. After 12 years, it was deemed to be a failure and the experiment was discontinued, and another breed was lost to the world of dogs.