I Googled: "Other Korean Dog Breeds/Populations > What is a "dosa"? Is it a Korean breed? First of all, let me clarify that I'm really not a fan of the "dosa" and have been avoiding a write-up of them, however, in the three or four years that the "dosa" has appeared on the internet, there's been a lot of knee-jerk hostility and negativity, but not a lot of informed decision-making about them. The Name The first thing to clarify is that "dosa" and "tosa" are the same word in Korean and mean the same thing to Koreans. The divergence in spelling is due to how the word is Romanized to English. In Korean, the dog's name is . The Romanization of directly into English is "dosa," which takes into account of another Korean consonant with a stronger d/t sound. However, since the dogs are mostly from Japan and the Japanese prefer "tosa" in their Romanization, "tosa" is more commonly used in the English-speaking world. "D/tosa" will be used in the remainder of this page to re-emphasize that the two words are the same. Are there differences between a Korean d/tosa and a Japanese d/tosa? It's been generalized that the d/tosa of Korea is this massively wrinkled, red beast while the d/tosa of Japan is this fit and trim fighting animal. This isn't quite true. In both countries, you'll see dogs of both types. The d/tosas in South Korea have their origins from Japan, and, as much as I would prefer it to not be, there are some Koreans who fight their d/tosas. With similar origins and functions, many of these fighting dogs in Korea look very much like their fighting counterparts in Japan. The majority of the d/tosas in Japan are utilized for fighting, but there are reports where a few areas (Kochi, I think?) that have red dogs with wrinkles, similar to those in Korea, which caters to tourists. A better way to catagorized the d/tosa would be by type rather than from country. Koreans have labelled the heavily wrinkled, deep red d/tosas as "Mee-Kyun", which translates into "beauty dog" and the fighting d/tosas as "Thoo-Kyun", which translates into "fighting dog. Is the Mee-Kyun d/tosa a mix and the Thoo-Kyun d/tosa a purebred? It's often said (rather derrogatorily) by English-speakers that the "dosa" (referring to the meekyun d/tosa) must be a neo mix and that breeders of this type are unethical. On the other hand, the "tosa" (the thookyun d/tosa) is admired and considered a purebred. This a rather funny position to take. Assuming that the meekyun d/tosa is a mix, why the uproar and the indignation? Considering the history of the thookyun d/tosa - evolving from a medium-sized spitz to the giant mastiff of today - the thookyun d/tosa can hardly lay claims to being a purebred of very long lineage. Considering the current situation of fighting dogs of other breeds *still* being grandfathered in, being purebred is not the defining characteristic of the thookyun d/tosa. It would make more sense to me if all d/tosas were defined as a breed type (like huskies, lurchers, and bandogs) rather than a purebred, but that's just me... Is the mee-kyun d/tosa's appearance due to a neo influence? I know this is a popular theory due to the excessive wrinkles, but I'm not a big fan of it. I don't believe there were that many neos in Korea when the mee-kyun d/tosa gained popularity. I'm more in favor of something similar to convergent evolution in the development of the heavy wrinkles. The Italians were able to change their neos from a moderately wrinkled house guardian to a heavily wrinkled, large dewlapped, loose-skinned dog in just 20 years. Something similar could have been done to change the fighting d/tosa to a mee-kyun version of the d/tosa. I believe most neos tend to be fawn or greyish. Nearly all mee-kyun d/tosas are a deep red. I would assume that if the neo was used in creating the mee-kyun d/tosas, there should be some color other than deep red that reflects a dilution gene in effect. Are all Korean Mee-kyun d/tosa breeders unethical? Due to the bad experience with *one* kennel in Korea, the "dosa" has taken a major hit in credibility. Honestly, I do feel it's been blown out of proportion. Imagine me branding all German shepherds dogs as unhealthy and all German shepherd breeders as fakes because I didn't do enough research in selecting the right breeder with the right dogs. Ridiculous, isn't it? There *are* other breeders of the meekyun d/tosa who aren't going to demand outrageous amounts of money, send sickly animals, or give confusing information about the dogs. They just choose not to advertise on the internet, which I think is best for these extra-large dogs."