Kuri by Priscilla Weir

After reading 'Kuri' by Priscilla Weir the Avengers collaborated on a Compare and Contrast Map and summary. They compared Kuri, an ancient breed of dog brought to Aotearoa and the German Shepherd.

Over two thousand years ago, the early Polynesians began sailing across the Pacific Ocean looking for new lands. One of these lands was Aotearoa New Zealand. These early explorers were not alone but often brought with them dogs (kuri). We have a much larger collection of dog breeds in New Zealand these days. We are comparing kuri with a breed of dog found in New Zealand in 2017, the Alsatian, German Shepherd.

Working Dogs - Nikhil and Jack.

The Kuri and Alsatian breed of dog were both working dogs. However they don’t have the same job. Kuri’s were hunters their job was to help catch fish and birds, such as moa. The Alsatian dog’s job was to herd sheep.

Diet - Moksha

Both dogs had diets based on the foods available. Kuri ate the same type of food as the people of the time such as moa and fish.  On the other hand the German Shepherd ate food especially prepared for them such as beef, rice, vegetables and oats.

Hair - Harrison and Aadi

The Kuri’s hair was long and often used for cloaks and clothes. However the German Shepherd’s hair was only used by the dog as protection against the weather. The German Shepherd has two coats, an outer and under. The undercoat is softer but still thick.

Origin - Brianna

Both dogs arrived in New Zealand from overseas. Kuri came from east Asia and travelled from island to island. The kuri arrived on waka with early Polynesian explorers. However the Alsatian breed of dog came from Germany in Europe. This breed of dog would have probably have come with German settlers on large ships.

According to scientists the kuri died out when Pakeha arrived in New Zealand. However what if they were still around today? We believe we would treat the kuri more as pets, we would not shave them or skin them to make clothes, we wouldn’t eat them such as the early Polynesian people did and we wouldn’t use them to hunt for our food.

We believe this comparison is Relational. We made several comparisons between the breeds of dog. We also looked at the information in a new way by thinking what it would be like if kuri were still alive today. To extend our thinking we could have given an opinion about which breed we felt was the easiest to look after, most useful and which one we would prefer as a pet.