Fourteen ancient breeds of dog have recently been identified through advances in DNA analysis.[1] These breeds of domesticated dog show the fewest genetic differences from wolves. The breeds are geographically diverse, including dogs from Siberia, Japan, Alaska, China, Tibet (China), and Africa.
However, the assumption that a small sample from a single dog breed can be representative for the entire breed, is argued to be invalid by long-time repeated incidental or intentional interbreeding with local dogs, thereby gradually replacing original wolf clade elements but maintaining the original phenotype by ongoing selection for the original use and conformation.[2] This evolution can be seen also in the high proportion of European clade in Asian breeds close to Europe, like Saluki and Samoyed, while a geographically remote Nordic spitz, the Siberian Husky, does not show such a replacement of the original wolfdog structure. Also, as there are some 400 known dog breeds (of which the AKC recognizes 157), it is possible that an extended study would reveal additional "ancient" breeds.
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