Most modern dog breeds were shaped within the last 200 years, often with an emphasis on aesthetics over working function. However, the Patagonian sheepdog (PGOD), maintained in isolation in South America for over 130 years, offers a unique opportunity to study an older lineage of herding dogs.
Barrios et al. analyzed the genomes of 159 PGODs compared with 1,514 dogs across 175 established breeds using over 150,000 genetic markers. The results showed that PGODs are most closely related to historic herding breeds from the United Kingdom. Admixture models also indicated a higher degree of genetic diversity in PGODs than in Western European herding breeds, suggesting that this population predates the structured breed construction of the 19th century.
These findings suggest that PGODs descended from the foundational herding dogs of the UK, before the establishment of modern purebred standards. In this sense, the Patagonian sheepdog represents a genetic bridge to a now-extinct population that gave rise to modern herding breeds such as Border collies.
Beyond canine genetics, this study also highlights how dog migration patterns mirror human history, as British settlers brought working dogs to South America, where they evolved under local conditions. The PGOD now stands as a rare living archive of pre-Victorian canine genetics.
Source: Barrios, N., González-Lagos, C., Dreger, D., Parker, H., Nourdin-Galindo, G., Hogan, A., Gómez, M., & Ostrander, E. (2022). Patagonian sheepdog: Genomic analyses trace the footprints of extinct UK herding dogs to South America. PLoS Genetics, 18. Published April 1, 2022.
