This rare breed is named after its homeland, the small Caribbean island of Aruba in the Dutch Antilles. The word Cunucu’ means ‘countryside’ in the Arubian language of Papiamentu. In derivation, however, the word comes from the older language of the indigenous Arawak Indians. This is a medium-sized sighthound primarily employed in the pursuit of iguanas, to obtain their meat.
Modern research techniques have shown that this little-known breed has an interesting origin. DNA tests have revealed that its ancestors were probably introduced to Aruba by Portuguese slave-traders sometime in the 16th century. The dogs they took with them were probably very similar to the modern Iberian breed called the Medium Portuguese Podengo, known in its homeland as the Podengo Portuguesa Medio.
Once on the island, some of those imported dogs then came into the possession of the indigenous Arawak tribespeople, who crossed them with local dogs that were living on the island in a semi-wild, feral condition. Comparing the modern Podengo with the modern Cunucu, it is clear that there must have been some spitz genes present in the feral dogs, because the Cunucu has the typical upcurled tail of a spitz dog, a feature that is not present in the Podengo.
Once the Arawak Indians had developed their own breed of hunting dog, they employed it to pursue the island’s iguanas, large lizards that offered a valuable source of protein. This would not have been difficult for a Podengo-type of dog, since the ancestral form in Portugal had been developed to chase rabbits and other fast-moving small game over rough terrain.
The Cunucu Dog is a medium-sized animal that appears in. a variety of colour forms, especially brown-and-white and black-and-tan. It is athletic, courageous, loyal and intelligent. A very fast-moving dog, it is renowned for its amazing leaping ability. This is an adaptation to its lizard-chasing, when it must skilfully manoeuvre the rocky outcrops in the island’s arid interior at high speed.
In 1999 the government of Aruba issued a special set of commemorative postage stamps depicting Arubian Cunucu Dogs, to honour this local breed.
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