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One day, a dog showed up at the door of the Mallqui Center laboratory, in the desert of the far south of Peru. Silent, small, with pricked ears, he began to surround the archaeologists as if he cared for them. At first glance he was just a dog like many others, one of those many funny dogs that wander the streets of the town.
But in his features, Sonia Guillén recognized something she had already seen, under the sand. In 2006, the archaeologist discovered more than 40 dog mummies from the Chiribaya culture, a civilization that thrived between 900 and 1350 in the Moquegua valleys.
That dog, who they called Abdul, seemed to come from another time. “It was the faithful image of mummies,” recalls the director of the institute dedicated to the recovery of archaeological remains. “I felt like the past was literally moving in front of us.”
Chiribaya sheepdogs, who herded llamas and alpacas and protected crops, were buried with the same care as people: wrapped in rich fabrics, with fish and shells on their faces, surrounded by offerings. “In these burials we perceive the persistence of affection and the pain for what has been lost,” says Guillén. “They speak of the tenderness of a society that recognized the value of others and the continuity of affection beyond death”.
For centuries the sand has kept them intact, but their history has been lost. Until Abdul seemed to remember her. Today, almost two decades later, the country is trying to save the lineage of those dogs who, like him, were once forgotten.
The guardians of the desert
The Chiribaya culture flourished on the edge of the Atacama Desert, one of the driest areas on the planet. Between the sea and the sand they grew corn, pumpkins and coca leaves, fished and raised camelids. His dogs were always by his side. “They were not pets, they were part of the community,” explains Guillén, who since the 1990s has been following the traces of this culture which was later integrated into the Inca empire. “That is why, when they died, they received their own burial and offerings for the next world.”
The chiribaya disappeared more than six centuries ago, probably due to the El Niño phenomenon or other natural phenomena. But the desert preserved their bodies and that of their dogs in an extraordinary way. Almost everything known about them comes from their graves.
For more than two decades, these vestiges have been preserved in the Mallqui Center and in the El Algarrobal – Chiribaya Municipal Museum, in Moquegua. But recognition was slow in coming. “Sometimes the results take time to understand,” reflects Guillén. “We have such a long history that sometimes we forget to look at what is in front of us.”
For years the only dog considered indigenous was the hairless Peruvian viringo, linked to pre-Inca cultures such as Vicús, Mochica, Chimú and Chancay. In other corners of Latin America, nationally recognized native dogs already existed, such as the xoloitzcuintle of Mexico and the muchuchíes of Venezuela. The descendants of the Chiribaya herders, however, were the dogs that no one looked at twice. Until someone looked again.
Recognizing a forgotten origin
In 2019, Jaime Rodríguez Valencia, president of the Peruvian Canófila Association – Unión Canófila Peruana (ACP-UCPE), examined photographs of the mummies found by Guillén. “The length of the legs, the proportion of the muzzle, the shape of the tail were repeated,” he recalls. “If there is a pattern, there is a race behind it.” The cynologist went to the museum and analyzed the remains. “It was like the past was walking in front of me. We had to save that story. We couldn’t keep thinking he was just another dog.”
Thus begins the rescue of an ancient race that survived on the edge of the country. Archaeologists, cynologists, historians and geneticists have worked to demonstrate the continuity of the lineage. The next step was political. In 2024 a commission of the Congress of the Republic requested technical support for the official recognition of the breed. The team presented their studies and defended the importance of the chiribaya shepherd. “There was enormous political will,” Rodríguez says. “We’re not inventing a race. We’re recognizing one that’s always been there.”
In September of this year, Congress declared it a Cultural Heritage of the Nation, making it the second native breed of Peru. Furthermore, it establishes its research, protection, conservation and valorization for “its historical, archaeological, biological and genetic importance”.
Also earlier this year, the American Canine Federation officially recognized the Chiribaya Shepherd as Peru’s ancestral dog breed. Currently, the ACP-UCPE is examining its recognition with the World Kennel Union.
“The recognition filled us with pride,” says Angela Gutiérrez, director of the El Algarrobal Municipal Museum – Chiribaya. “We used to receive local visitors, now they come from Lima, Arequipa, Cusco and tell us: ‘I have a dog like that too and I wanted to meet him.'”
The museum provides a small shelter for its conservation. “The idea is to save them and make their value known,” explains Gutiérrez. “Let it be a place of care and study”. Bobby, Pecas and Chiri currently live there.
The return of an ancestor
Away from museums, the history of the chiribaya is being rewritten as families discover that their dogs carry an ancient legacy. One of them is Yaku, a dog with black and white fur who found Andrea Casanave in a mountain town. “One day he saw me and didn’t leave my side,” she says.
In recent months, dozens of families, like yours, have participated in the campaigns organized by the ACP-UCPE to recognize their dogs. Specialists measure its skull, muzzle and paws and analyze its fur and semi-prong ears. “It’s exciting to be part of history again,” says Casanave.
So far, around 250 dogs have been recognized and more and more are appearing. But saving such an ancient lineage is not easy. “If you mix it with other types, you lose the pattern,” warns Rodríguez. “It’s not about having more dogs for the sake of having them, but about ensuring responsible breeding, especially since there aren’t many unsterilized females.”
One of the few is Gomina, rescued at just five months old in an avenue in Lima and recently recognized as a Chiribaya shepherd. “We were surprised that he belonged to such an ancient breed,” says Rosa Laura Gerónimo, his keeper. “We hope it can help recover its origin.”
The story of the chiribaya is not just that of a dog. It is that of a country that, between oblivion and memory, tries to recognize itself. For Guillén, these dogs reveal how affection and respect have been part of identity since pre-Inca cultures. “There wasn’t much distance between how they wanted it and how we do it,” the anthropologist says. “And knowing that is what will keep us going. Without history, our values will have no place to settle.”
What the anthropologist found under the sand, Rodríguez sees moving in front of him. Work with the time left behind. Him, with what time could not erase. In his house lives Qallar, a two and a half year old Chiribaya shepherd who has just had children through insemination. “I learn every day,” says the expert. “It is a race that must tell us, day by day, who it is and who we are”.
