The first Australian dog breed ever created, was the Australian Kangaroo dog, today known as a Staghound. Another names these dogs is ‘roo dog’.

The first Australian dog breed ever created, was the Australian Kangaroo dog, today known as a Staghound. Other names these dogs go by is roo dog.

The kangaroo dog type was created by the early settlers by a need to supply fresh meat and to protect their livestock. Had it not been for the roo dogs, many a family would of starved, and it is to the roo dog we owe what this country is today, for had they not been around we would not of advanced as quickly as we have. The roo dogs are almost a forgotten breed by so many, so often I hear the comments “what is that” or “I haven’t seen one of them in 40 years”, but alas they are around, one just needs to know where and who to talk to.

The Goss family at Tea in Wittenoom Street Boulder.

The dogs continued to be popular as family pets, as the above photograph shows.

The earliest accounts of these dogs go back to the late 1700’s. Today while not overly common they are working as well as ever. There is not a huge amount of information on these dogs available as far as history goes, but the general consensus is they are based on a deerhound x greyhound mix, then from there depending on where/who/what was available they bred to suit the conditions. In Tasmania it is documented that the roo dogs were so popular it really held back the agricultural side of things, as everyone was too busy out hunting with their roo dogs! They even attempted to force people to work, but this did not work, and the people crossed them out and still hunted with these functional hounds.

The Below picture dates back to 1932.