Lài

The Lài is a Vietnamese village dog of the northern lowlands, one of the country's native landraces.

History

It is the ordinary dog of Vietnamese villages away from the highlands, kept for guarding and general help, and it has never been bred to a standard. Vietnamese cynologists group it with the Phú Quốc, the H'Mông Bobtail and the Bắc Hà as native types worth documenting before imported breeds absorb them.

Temperament

The breed is known for being alert, adaptable and attached to its household, wary of strangers and self-reliant in the way village dogs generally are.

Care and training

It needs regular exercise and secure boundaries. The short coat suits the climate and needs almost nothing.

Health

Generally very hardy from natural selection; nothing is documented as breed-specific, and the record is thin. These are patterns for the landrace rather than a forecast for one dog; the measured facts are in the panel.