Other Names: Balinese Kintamani, Balinese Mountain Dog, Balinese Dog, Bali-Berghund, Anjing Kintamani-Bali, Kintamani-Bali Dog, Chien de Bali/Kintamani, Kintamani-Bali-Hund, Perro Kintamani-Bali.

The Kintamani dog (anjing Kintamani) or the Kintamani-Bali Dog is a dog native to the Indonesian island of Bali. It is a popular pet for the Balinese and locally Bali’s only official breed. It is an evolving breed indigenous to the Kintamani region which evolved from the local Bali street dogs, which are a fear random-bred landrace distinctive to Bali. In 2019, the FCI decided to give the breed a provisional recognition.

History

The kintamani dog breed could have arrived in Bali in 1343 with the Javanese invaders coming from the Majapahit kingdom. It is also possible that the kintamani dogs were brought along by the Javanese refugees fleeing from a civil war in the 15th century. Balinese folklore has implied that the breed has been cohabitating with the Bali street dogs for more than 600 years and that the breed has developed from the Chinese Chow Chow. Among the theories regarding the origin of this breed, the latter is the most plausible. The folklore that was handed down from generation to generation tells how a wealthy Chinese trader named Lee arrived in the Singaraja in Northern Bali in the 1400s bringing with him his Chow Chow dog. The Chinese trader settled in the Kintamani mountainous region when he married into the family of Balinese King Jaya Pangus. The Kintamani dog was created when the Chow Chow was crossed with the local dogs. A Chinese temple, the place of worship for people of the Confucian faith existed in the Kintamani region validating the existence of the Chinese in Kintamani.

Genetic evidence

A genetic study indicates that the Kintamani dog is native to Bali and was derived from Bali street dogs. The Bali street dog and Kintamani dog were most closely aligned with the Australian dingo, more distantly related to AKC recognized breeds of Asian origin but not those of European origin. Therefore, the Kintamani dog has evolved from Balinese feral dogs with little loss of genetic diversity.