Obi

(Canis africanis)

This page is all about Obi. Obi is a dog, “Canis africanis”, as his breed is known. While the name of this breed is not familiar to most people it has the distinction of being a fairly wide-spread South African breed, nevertheless.

The story of Obi starts five years and six months ago, in June 2005. The Animal Control Officer based at the Hermanus Animal Welfare Society was called to capture a three-month-old stray puppy that was roaming the streets of the upmarket suburb of Voelklip in Hermanus. The frightened and malnourished young dog was admitted to the facilities care that same day.

Three months later, on an impulse, we called at the Society’s kennels and selected Obi for adoption. We paid a fee to have him vaccinated against Rabies and for a de-worming treatment and then we could take him home. With care Obi matured into a fine healthy dog. He has the classic markings of the Africanis.

The Africanis dog is friendly and intelligent with pronounced territorial behavior. They make excellent watch-dogs.

The Africanis, the dog of Africa, is widely distributed through the villages and dirt roads of rural South Africa where they are often used as hunting dogs. Note the large dingo-like pointed ears and slightly Alsatian features that echo Africanis’s ancestors, the wild-dog Lycaon Pictus and the wolf Canis lupus, respectively.

Seemingly undistinguished, these are medium-sized dogs, sometimes scrawny, with long snouts and short brownish coats and often dark with distinctive white markings. Surprisingly, they are a distinct breed with a proven lineage going back some 7 000 years to the wild wolf packs of Arabia and India.