Fuegian

The Fuegian dog, or Yaghan dog, refers to an extinct domesticated canid kept by Indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America. Historic accounts described small, foxlike animals living around camps, helping with hunting and warning their keepers. Older writers often called them dogs, but later study of museum specimens has suggested they may have been domesticated culpeos rather than domestic dogs descended from wolves.

There is no living Fuegian dog population to own, breed, or restore from a kennel line. The name belongs mainly to archaeology, museum collections, and discussions of human-canine relationships in cold maritime environments. Modern animals advertised as Fuegian should be viewed with skepticism unless the claim is clearly historical or educational, because the original animals disappeared after colonial disruption and the loss of their cultural setting.