The Hawaiian Poi Dog is an extinct pariah dog breed that originated in Hawai. It was used by native Hawaiians as a spiritual dog as well as a source of food. The word Poi refers to a mixed breed of dog in Hawai. These dogs were primary source of meat along with ferel hogs in an otherwise large mammal lacked island of Hawai. They were also used as lucky charm. Unsuited to anything else due to their sluggish and rather irrational nature, these dogs were fed with vegetarian diet, mostly Poi, a Hawaiian staple food, that made these dogs fat and were later used as a source of meat.
With abandonment of native religion and reduction in eating of dog meat, the breed declined in numbers to extinction.The Hawaiian Poi Dog can be described as half wolf, half chihuahua and half grizzly bear. These short-coated dogs came in a variety of colours but brown was most common. It had a barrel shaped body, short chubby legs and distended belly that gave the dog a hog like appearance. The head was large, broad and flat with a wide neck. Flat head was attributed to lack of chewing from vegetarian diet. These dog were between 13-16 inches in height and weighed around 25-35 lbs.
