In "parched to the bone" Southern California, I reached out to a Contractor friend of mine to remind him to push Native Plants in favor over artificial grass as it relates to his customers considering removing their grass so as to save water and $$.................With artificial turf, nothing can live under it on it or near it............. It kills off life in the ocean and rivers............... It pollutes the air and makes our earth hotter............. It makes the enormous problems that we are already facing worse................ Butterflies, hummingbirds and all kinds of other animals are not attracted to plastic grass, even when it’s made from recycled content...... They need something alive—and so do we.....................But what if the fake grass is permeable? ....................Many brands claim to be, and likely are..................... But no matter what the permeability may be of a particular manufacturer, water still can’t get into the earth because the soil has to be compacted – essentially pressed into a hard asphalt-like crust – before it is carpeted over with the product.................... Where there is compacted soil, there is no oxygen and no water............... That means no earthworms, no fungi, and no other crucial life................. And without them, there is no life on the planet................. These are tiny organisms we take for granted every day, yet they ensure that you and I have food to eat and water to drink...................So a BIG NO to Artificial Turf,,,,,,,,,,,,,Instead, focus on using what is known as the "watershed approach"............... We must use mulch................. We must plant natives.................... We must care for our large trees and plant new ones to keep our canopy.............. We must take a hard stance against fake grass............. This ensures that the environment we live in is a functioning, healthy place to live.

From: "Meril, Rick" ;Rick.Meril@warnerbros.com;
Date: September 5, 2015 at 9:05:45 AM PDT
To: Syrus
Subject: Native Plants weigh in favor over artificial grass

Syrus

Please reach out to your clients with this information.......NO MORE ARTIFICIAL GRASS PLEASE.

https://blog.treepeople.org/home/2015/03/skip-artificial-turf-native-plants-truth-fake-grass

Best for the holiday

Rick

Rick Meril

Exec. VP; Gen. Sls Mgr.

Warner Bros. Domestic TV Sales 

818 954 5747 office

818 512 0861 cell

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skip the Artificial Turf: The Value of Native Plants and the Truth About Fake Grass

For decades Angelenos have maintained an image of the perfect suburban yard. We imagine homes with neatly trimmed hedges, colorful flower beds beneath the windows and a lush, green, well-manicured lawn rolling right up to the front door.

REPLACE YOUR LAWN WITH NATIVE PLANTS

The perpetuation of this image has skewed our sense of natural beauty. Not only is that ideal simply not sustainable in our climate, but in order to achieve it people sometimes turn to what they think is a good alternative: artificial turf. In other words, fake grass.

It needs no water, requires almost no maintenance and is often understood to be eco-friendly because it’s sometimes made from recycled materials. But while artificial turf may seem like a great alternative to traditional lawns in drought-stressed Los Angeles, the very option of a fake lawn distracts from far better sustainable landscapes. If your goal is a truly green lawn, fake grass isn’t actually the way to go.

Why not? Living sustainably means making smart choices to support a thriving local ecosystem, and an important part of this is healthy soil. Living, healthy soil is nurtured by water, first of all, and mulched native and climate-appropriate plants and trees with deep root systems, second. These conditions create diverse communities of microorganisms, none of which are supported when people opt for artificial turf, that essentially, is just as bad as paving over our earth.

NATIVE PLANTINGS ENCOURAGE LIFE---SOIL ORGANISMS

BIRDS, REPTILES AND MAMMALS

Though it may seem drought-smart, artificial turf has a big negative impact on our watersheds.  Healthy soil with deep root systems absorbs water when it rains that can, depending on its location, recharge our local water supply and even clean our water. In contrast, rainfall on artificial turf creates run-off that pollutes our beaches and rivers and fails to replenish groundwater supplies, while also starving our soil of the life it needs to flourish.

Soil is home to all kinds of fungi and other microorganisms—the basis of all life, including yours. Fake grass is uninhabitable. Butterflies, hummingbirds and our other pollinator friends need nectar from native plants. They’re not attracted to plastic grass, recycled or not. What’s worse, artificial surfaces can get very hot, sometimes hot enough to cause third degree burns. If that sounds unpleasant to you, imagine how the beneficial insects and local birds feel.

Give your home a real green treatment by always choosing climate-resilient landscapes that support a healthy, livable LA. That’s the real meaning of sustainability.

Want to learn how? Ditch the turf and discover the basics of native plant selection and care at one of our Native Plants and Turf Reduction Workshops, or learn to appreciate the particular beauty of native plants and wildlife on a Drought Solutions Tour and Native Plant Walk at our own Coldwater Canyon Park. Check the calendar for dates!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Artifice of Artificial Turf

• 16. Jun
• /
• Environment Neighborhood Policy Sustainable Solutions
• /
• 1 Comment

You may have been hearing a lot of praise for fake grass in the media lately, but I’m here to set the record straight: Fake turf does more harm than good.

I’m not sure when I started hating artificial grass. Maybe it was when my beloved grandmother planted fake flowers in her garden beds so the Easter photos would “turn out nice.” For the record, I tried to pick them, and everyone laughed at us.

But I think it has to do more with the sheer fact that fake grass, or it’s trendier name—frass—has no place in a sustainable landscape. Let’s break this down a bit: How is something so awful so frequently touted a sustainable?

The label of “sustainability” gets thrown around a lot. Let’s just look at the essence: is the product able to sustain life or not? With artificial turf, nothing can live under it on it or near it.  It kills off life in the ocean and rivers. It pollutes the air and makes our earth hotter. It makes the enormous problems that we are already facing worse. Butterflies, hummingbirds and all kinds of other animals are not attracted to plastic grass, even when it’s made from recycled content. They need something alive—and so do we.

Furthermore, frass is glorified because it doesn’t need water. True. It doesn’t need water because it is not alive. Whether made of recycled plastic bottles, soybean oil or crushed tires, it is dead. So really, the only water required is to wash it down.

But we are people. We are alive. We do need water. One of the best ways to ensure an adequate water supply (i.e., plenty of water for you and me) is by maintaining a healthy watershed: where rain absorbs into the soil, replenishing plants and recharging our groundwater. Therefore, covering the earth in fuzzy green plastic actually exacerbates unhealthy environmental conditions.

But what if the fake grass is permeable? Many brands claim to be, and likely are. But no matter what the permeability may be of a particular manufacturer, water still can’t get into the earth because the soil has to be compacted – essentially pressed into a hard asphalt-like crust – before it is carpeted over with the product.

Where there is compacted soil, there is no oxygen and no water. That means no earthworms, no fungi, and no other crucial life. And without them, there is no life on the planet. These are tiny organisms we take for granted every day, yet they ensure that you and I have food to eat and water to drink.

By now you might be saying, OK. Fake grass is pretty horrible for the watershed and our water supply. Well, we haven’t even scratched the surface. What about water quality? According to the EPA, the number one source of water pollution is urban run-off. Surfaces like concrete and asphalt are not permeable, so any water that falls on them runs off into the ocean and local waterways, taking everything in its path with it… trash, toxins, you name it. Artificial turf acts in the exact same way. Any water that falls onto it (whether the occasional spray from a hose or rain), will not be able to be infiltrate our local aquifers. It will run off into our storm drains and eventually out to sea, sweeping pollution along with it and helping to further foul our ocean and beaches. Instead of getting the environmental benefit of replenishing our water supply, we will get the exacerbation of poor water quality. Less good, more bad.

As I mentioned before: fake grass is dead. There are no beneficial insects; there is no biodiversity.  No life. Synthetic turf does nothing to help with carbon sequestration. Fake grass gets hot. So hot that it burns people. Hot burning surfaces are not a good place for children, or anyone, to play. In fact, at high temperatures it can off-gas and add pollutants to the air. And of course, that heat also contributes to the heat island effect, which to put it bluntly, is an increase in climate change.

But back to frass. Currently, cities like Santa Monica and Glendale are considering removing the bans on fake turf, and are even considering rebates for those who replace their lawns with frass. I can’t emphasize enough that these choices would be a step in the wrong direction. Synthetic turf is a false reality. We have, for many decades, had the idea that the perfect landscape is green grass rolling right up to our front door. In Southern California, that idea is simply not sustainable. The perpetuation of that perceived “beauty” is extremely detrimental

.

Randen Pederson via Flickr Creative Commons

We’re attracted to lushness in landscapes because deep down in our cores, we know that green means life. But green plastic grass is a fools’ game. We’re lying to ourselves in an attempt to pretend things aren’t so bad. Yes, these are frightening times. We have a lot to do, and not much time to do it. And it is understandable that people would be susceptible to plastic grass being a solution.  But fake grass is an ecological nightmare.

We’ve gone in the wrong direction, but it isn’t too late to repair our mistakes. To remedy this issue, we must use the watershed approach. We must use mulch. We must plant natives. We must care for our large trees and plant new ones to keep our canopy. We must take a hard stance against frass. This ensures that the environment we live in is a functioning, healthy place to live. We have to use mulch to keep our soil healthy and collect the rain that does fall in cisterns and in our gardens.

And we have to start now

I have tremendous respect for the acumen, drive and relentless focus that writer Bill Mckibben continually brings to the table regarding the perils of climate change and the need to minimize the use of fosssil fuels as our primary energy source going forward...........The problem is that even if wind and solar could completely take over for oil, natural gas and coal, I do not want windmills and solar panels covering our mountaintops, valley floors and desert expanses.................General Electric, the largest maker of wind turbines in the world pretends to have become a "green" corporate entity............In truth, all they care about is selling the windmills, not whether or not more "virgin ground" is going to be despoiled with 300+ foot monstrosities piercing the planet...............I am all for solar panels on every existing structure on the planet!................Let's place Windmills on already despoiled land(e.g. the industrial NJ Meadowlands)!...................But no, the deserts should not become industrial deserts and the mountain forests should not become industrial mountain forests!!!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,And meadows and farmland should not become industrial farmland in our zeal to find a "quick fix" to our fossil fuel addiction.............There has to be another way that will not further scar our land-----Your thoughts?

READ BILL MCKIBBEN'S FULL ARTICLE BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK
http://adirondackexplorer.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f2786fbb7862339a0b90113d7&id=44d5f70f9c&e=46b8d98c61

Bill McKibben is an author and environmentalist who in 2014 was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the ‘alternative Nobel.’ His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has appeared in 24 languages; he’s gone on to write a dozen more books. He is a founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement, which has organized twenty  thousand rallies around the world in every country save North Korea, spearheaded the resistance to the Keystone Pipeline, and launched the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement.  

The Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he was the 2013 winner of the Gandhi Prize and the Thomas Merton Prize, and holds honorary degrees from 18 colleges and universities. Foreign Policy named him to their inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers, and the Boston Globe said he was “probably America’s most important environmentalist.” 

  

A former staff writer for the New Yorker, he writes frequently for a wide variety of publications around the world, including the New York Review of Books,National Geographic, and Rolling Stone. He lives in the mountains above Lake Champlain with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, where he spends as much time as possible outdoors . In 2014, biologists honored him by naming a new species of woodland gnat— Megophthalmidia mckibbeni--in his honor.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

A travesty to blow up our mountaintop forests,farm
land and deserts with industrial wind turbines and
solar panels--The viewpoint of Blogger Rick

Physics 

Doesn’t 

Negotiate

Notes on the

 dangerous 

difference between science 

and political science-

by-Bill Mckibben

Activists who oppose Royal Dutch Shell’s plans to drill for
 oil in the Arctic Ocean prepare their kayaks for the “Paddle
 in Seattle” protest on Saturday, May 16, 2015, in Seattle.
 | Photo by Daniella Beccaria, via Flickr | CC BY 2.0

For several years there has been a death of largemouth bass in a particular North Pond in New England........... Now they’ve returned..Why? Because there are more spiders in this pond than could be remembered in years past.............More spiders means many, many bugs in the air, and that means that a particular North Pond fish population is being treated to a smorgasbord of delicious bug larvae................ The more bugs, the more fish there are...........Remember, nothing exists in isolation..........If we want the most vivid and picturesque of natures design, then we must learn to love all that has been placed on our beautiful planet.....................“The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, "What good is it?".......... "If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not"........... If the biota, in the course of eons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts?".............. "To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” ― Aldo Leopold, Round River: From the Journals of Aldo Leopold

http://on.wsj.com/1POBYzX

The Spiders Were Biting

A sign that the fishing at North Pond 

was robust this summer

The current Florida Wildlife Commissioners are nearly all developers and builders............So it is miraculous that they reversed course this week and did not push though a plan to kill off any of the 100 or so adult Pumas who are confined to Collier/Lee/Hendry County, a territory between Fort Lauderdale and Naples north of Alligator Alley...........The FWC put the onus to create more Puma territory back on the USFW folks, who clearly have no stomach for following through on the original management plan that calls for two more Puma populations in Central or North Florida............At least for now, the one Commissioner who wanted the Puma population "slashed and burned"(Leisa Priddy — who owns a 9,300-acre cattle ranch not far from the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge in Immokalee) has been stymied

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://opinionzone.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2015/09/03/floridas-panther-out-of-cross-hairs-for-now-but-its-long-term-prospects-are-a-question-mark/&ct=ga&cd=CAIyGjdhMTVhNWYwMTg4ZmMzNTU6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNEs6RK9JhbaGxpJjajEyl4nxz1Rhg

Florida’s panther out of

 cross-hairs for now. 

But its long-term 

prospects are a

 question mark

$33 million is the estimate from the California State Road folks(Caltrans) to build the needed wildlife crossing near the Liberty Canyon Exit on the 101 Freeway(Agoura, California)........... A scant 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, this connective "green artery" would allow the movement of Pumas, Coyotes, Foxes and who knows, maybe even Wolves one day across the Los Angeles region..........Public comments will continue into 2017 regarding how to fund the project.............We need the Leonardo Decaprio's, Robert Redford's and other well intended and vocal Hollywood activists to contribute a good chunk of this money, so as for the project to become reality.........What a legacy for those with the $$ to be philanthropic and make this wildlife crossing real................State agencies, elected officials and wildlife advocates have urged the state to provide the much-needed link in an area where rampant development and highways have fragmented once-continuous habitat........... This proposed 165-foot-wide, 200-foot-long overpass near Liberty Canyon Road would connect the Santa Monica Mountains on the south with the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains and beyond going north

Above: Artist rendition of the proposed Lindero Canyon
wildlife overpass

CLICK ON LINK TO READ FULL ARTICLE
Caltrans proposes wildlife overpass on 101 Freeway

While we are consistently focusing on the fauna of our wildlands and woodlands across the Americas, it is always worth a reminder that if there was no flora(trees, shrubs, flowers,etc,,,,,,,there would be no animal life............The bottom up forces(weather/flora) are in a constant dance with the top down forces(Carnivores) and their prey(herbivores) forging the dynamic swirl of equilibrium that we call "nature",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,And for those of us who walk our neighborhoods after a day of work or hike, camp, bird watch, fish and hunt on the weekends, the visual sights of flora are in our visual "headlights" constantly..............Interesting article below on what happens to the leaves on our trees as Spring bloom matriculates into deep Summer.............Many of the "scars and afflictions" that deface the leaves on trees are as the author points out below,only "skin deep" and not life threatening to the future health of the tree..............A good educational primer on this topic below

https://shar.es/1vqa3n

• Ndack Explorer
• Digital Subscriptions
• Adventure Planner

THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2015

Afflictions Of Late Summer

 Tree Leaves Only Skin Deep

by Paul Hetzler

2 Comments

Being an arborist, I’m of course very
 mindful of complexion. Things like 
bruises and blemishes catch my eye,
 in addition to scabs, cuts, and even those 
out-of-place whiskers that appear out of
 nowhere. It sounds like a description of
 my aging skin, but I’m talking about 
blotches, warts and cuts that accumulate
 on tree leaves over the summer.

I suppose if we had to stand outside day
 and night all season, our skin would 
develop issues too. Those who work o
r play much outdoors need to be
 concerned about skin spots that 
suddenly show up. With tree leaves,
 that’s not the case – even the ugliest
 “skin” condition is generally no cause
 for concern.

One of the more alarming leaf 
disorders is called tar spot, whose
 symptoms are black blobs that often
 show up in late summer or early fall.
 Tar spot affects Norway, silver, red
 and sugar maples, in order of 
severity. The spots, which really do 
look like drips of roofing tar, seem
 to appear overnight, and sometimes
 cover much of the leaf. While it may
 look like a serious affliction, it’s 
really just a cosmetic issue
 (meaning if you’re good with
 cosmetics you can probably make
 your tree look pretty again).

Unlike the tar sands of northern
 Alberta in Canada, though, tar 
spots can’t be processed into 
crude oil. As disappointing as
 that may be, at least tar spot is
 not a problem. Spots are caused
 by several different species of 
fungi in the genus Rhytisma, 
which I mention because some
 of you play Scrabble.

If your tree’s leaves have sprouted
 tiny spindle-shaped structures
 that make it appear that the leaves
 need a shave, don’t worry. These
 are tiny galls, formed when a 
minute arachnid called an 
eriophyid (go for a triple score 
on that word) mite laid an egg, 
along with a dose of a plant 
hormone which directed the leaf
 to grow a little home for her 
young one.

Depending on the species of mite,
 these galls can be green, yellow,
 red or pink. Some are squat and
 thick, resembling a wart, but they
 are all completely harmless. 
Good thing, too, because galls
 shield the mites from anything
 you could spray on them anyway.

Believe it or not, scabs are caused
 by a disease called scab. I think it
 was late on a Friday when scab 
and tar spot were named, probably
 by a new intern who was later 
reprimanded for “making sense.”

 It affects apple, crabapple, 
hawthorn, juneberry and other
 trees in the rose family. Scab 
causes affected leaves to drop 
early, and is much worse in wet 
seasons when it can defoliate a 
tree by mid-summer.

It’s a serious problem for
 orchardists because it causes
 scab-like blemishes on fruit in 
addition to weakening the tree, 
so they routinely spray fungicides
 beginning at bud break. 

Other ways of managing scab 
include proper pruning, 
increasing air flow and access 
to sun, and buying scab-resistant
 varieties.

High winds, especially early-
season
 events, can tatter leaves, a 
condition called “leaf tatter.” 
(Same intern, don’t you think?)
 Japanese beetles, caterpillars, 
sawflies and other insects chew
 on leaves over the summer, 
while leaf-cutter bees remove
 perfectly scribed circles. 

All in all, many trees look 
bedraggled by September.
 Should you be worried?

Here’s a secret: by late summer,
 trees don’t “need” their leaves 
any more. While this is true, it’s
 akin to saying you don’t need
 another five bucks at the end
 of the year. It would be nice,
 but it’s not going to change 
the big picture. A deciduous
 tree expends a huge amount 
of energy investing in new 
leaves each spring, and its 
leaves have to make enough
 sugar from sunlight to “repay”
 the tree, plus a little extra for 
rainy days. By early August, 
trees have recouped their
 investment along with a pile 
of interest.

Late-season disorders are
 superficial and no cause for
 concern. But if you’re 
embarrassed by your tree’s 
appearance come late summer,
 you can always try cosmetics.

Photo: Rhytisma acerinum 

fungus on a European 
sycamore maple. Courtesy
 Wikipedia userAnnabel.

Paul Hetzler

Paul Hetzler is the Horticulture and Natural
 Resources Educator at Cornell Cooperative
 Extension of St. Lawrence County.

You can reach Paul at the Cornell Cooperative
 Extension office in Canton at (315) 379-9192
.

- See more at: http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2015/
08/afflictions-late-summer-tree-leaves-skin-
deep.html#sthash.zCBG4Hck.cf5iiGcT.dpuf

A Psychology Professor at the University of Tennessee(Vladimir Dinets) comes out in favor of PROTECTED STATUS for the Eastern Wolf(both those found in eastern Canada and North Carolina) as well as for what is known as the CAROLINA DOG, the first dogs brought to North America 10,000 years ago...........Nothing really new in the Professor's findings other than another call to action to our Federal Government not to abandon Eastern Wolf(Red Wolf) reintroduction in the southeast

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://tntoday.utk.edu/2015/09/01/study-ancient-hybridization-holds-key-domestic-dogs-origins-wolf-conservation-efforts/&ct=ga&cd=CAIyGjNiY2FkZTRjYzk3Y2I0MjI6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNGhw4Sej6UKHqwSghIeVN1Ypm2WCQ

Study: Ancient Hybridization Holds Key to Domestic Dog’s Origins, Wolf Conservation Efforts

SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

0SHARES

Share on Facebook Tweet on Twitter

The ancestry of man’s best friend may be more complicated than its furry coat and soulful eyes betray. Understanding the evolutionary history of the domesticated dog may ultimately help protect endangered wolves, according to a UT study.

Vladimir Dinets, research assistant professor of psychology, has published an overview examining the confusing and often misunderstood system used to classify dogs and related animals such as wolves and jackals. He has proposed a logical and scientifically sound classification scheme to help make sense of all the contradictory claims. The study appears in the Vavilov Journal of Genetics and Breeding. He compiled his overview by reviewing existing studies about dog classifications.

“The study shows how complex and surprising can be the evolutionary history of familiar animals we think we know perfectly well,” Dinets said.

The relationships between dogs, wolves, and jackals are complicated and controversial, Dinets noted. Scientific studies and popular literature contain countless alternative ideas on their composition and the number of their species, both of which can be difficult to track.

Dinets’ overview shows that domestic dogs are descendants of two interbred species: a small extinct wild dog of Asia and the grey wolf. Different breeds have different proportions of wolf blood, and that can explain a lot about their personalities and behavior.

The Carolina Dog

There are four to five wild species of Canis in North America, according to the overview.  In addition to the well-known grey wolf and coyote, there is a secondary wild population of the domestic dog known as the Carolina dog, plus a few populations of hybrid origin with different proportions of wolf and coyote genes. Two of these hybrid populations, the red wolf of the eastern U.S. and the Algonquin wolf—also known as Eastern or timber wolf—of southeastern Canada, have already evolved into full species. What is still unknown is whether they should be considered two different species or one species with two living subspecies.

“Both red wolf and Algonquin wolf are critically important components of North American ecosystems and must be protected and restored,” Dinets said. “The Carolina dog, which is also critically endangered, also deserves protection in its small natural range; it is a descendant of the first dogs brought to North America by humans at the end of the last ice age.”


Eastern Wolf in Algonquin Park, Canada

The overview helps debunk claims that the red wolf is not a real species and thus not worthy of protection, he said, noting that there are persistent attempts to kill red wolf reintroduction programs.

Dinets added that the critically endangered Carolina dog currently has no legal protection and animal control services treat Carolina dogs as strays and kill them. Most zoologists have not heard of it.

Red Wolf in North Carolina

“These species must be protected and reintroduced if we want our forests to function normally,” he said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEIQFjAEahUKEwj4jsv7vtfHAhVLJh4KHX6RDhc&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dogster.com%2Fdog-breeds%2FCarolina_Dog&usg=AFQjCNERXlgO0tgVCk-RjRVOL3D7cdqObQ

Carolina Dog

Just recently discovered in the wild, Carolina Dogs are still not a fully domesticated breed. However, these “wild dog” qualities blend together into a loving, cooperative and protective companion. Carolina Dogs are self-sufficient, intelligent and “pack” oriented, making them crave togetherness and family time above all else. They can be slightly reserved with strangers, but grow more outgoing over time. Carolina Dogs are great workers, herders and outstanding playmates for children.

Carolina Dog Pictures

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

see Carolina Dog pictures »

Quick Facts

• weight: 30 - 44 pounds
• height: 17 - 24 inches

Ideal Human Companions

• Outdoorsy types
• Active singles
• Families with older children

Carolina Dogs on Dogster

443 dogs | see profile pages

ADD YOURS

Trademark Traits

• Intelligent
• Resourceful
• Gentle
• Reserved
• Loyal

Things You Should Know

Carolina Dogs can live as long as 15 years with relatively few genetic health issues. They are fairly easy to groom, needing only an occasional brushing. Carolina Dogs are used to fending for themselves in the wild. For this reason, they might not be happy living in apartments. A large, fenced yard is ideal. They also appreciate long hikes in the woods. When in public, always keep the Carolina Dog on a leash.

Carolina Dog History

Discovered in the American South, Carolina Dogs are believed to have descended from Asian “pariah dogs” brought to North America across the Bering Strait 9,000 years ago. Much more recently, a University of Georgia professor discovered these Dingo-like dogs living in a remote area of South Carolina. Some historians have noted that the Carolina Dog’s bone structure resembles the dog bones found in American Indian burial sites.

The Look of a Carolina Dog

Carolina Dogs have muscular, medium-sized frames covered in short coats that come in tan, black & tan and off-white. They have wedge-shaped heads with pointed ears, long muzzles and dark, almond-shaped eyes. Their strong necks lead to narrow chests, straight backs and thick tails that either hang low or curl in a hook. Overall, Carolina Dogs have a ruggedly handsome look.