I know that both "Hawaiian" and "Hawai'ian" are proper. Both are used in this article. However, it is proper form to stick with just one. Which one should be used?
I know that dogs were a part of Hawaiian diets, many years ago.... but is this article really appropriate in this category? The animal is extinct, there is no information about actually EATING them on the page (just the statement that they were raised as food animals), and they are not currently eaten in Hawaii... Just a thought. :) ColbyWolf ( talk) 02:13, 9 December 2009 (UTC)
I was thinking the same thing and saw someone else had already raised the issue... more than a year ago. I've removed that category from this article. If someone else wants to add it back, I would think that something should specifically be included to describe the "cuisine" aspect in more detail and should be thoroughly cited.
EclecticGeek (
talk) 20:52, 6 April 2011 (UTC)
I mean, is there another Poi Dog? There is only one Poi Dog, which is normally, as far as I can tell, simply called "Poi Dog", not "Hawaiian Poi Dog". Why not move this article to simply "Poi Dog"? Chrisrus ( talk) 16:51, 2 October 2010 (UTC)
Are you sure those dogs are all poi dogs? They look different. Chrisrus ( talk) 13:58, 19 November 2011 (UTC)
Around 1:01:01 on this YouTube video of the History Channel's documentary Conquest of Hawaii there is a photograph of a dog that looks like a poi dog with a old Hawaiian woman and man. The woman in the picture might be File:Kupuna wahine, 1890.jpg which an anonymous editor on File talk:Kupuna wahine, 1890.jpg identified as Mary Mahiai. If we can find this photo from the Hawaii State Archives or Bishop Museum, it would be a better picture.-- KAVEBEAR ( talk) 22:27, 4 July 2013 (UTC)
So, the problem with finding an authentic image of a poi dog is that by the time people started depicting dogs in drawings, paintings and photographs is that almost none of them claimed they were of the poi dog (leaving historians or us to assume base on their appearance) and by this time Western dogs have already been introduced by explorers to the islands and interbred with the native dogs. Petroglyphs are probably the best depictions of this species. Here are the some suspected poi dogs from : Commons:Category:Dogs of Hawaii:
I haven't seen this repeated in published sources yet but it is still troubling that this source which is possibly rooted in a Facebook post by the Maui Historical Society. This claims that Liliuokalani's pet dog in 1917 was a poi dog which is not found in any contemporary account from the time of Liliuokalani's death. It also claims that Kamehameha I's pet dog Boss (who High Chief Boki was named for) was a white poi dog.-- KAVEBEAR ( talk) 21:19, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
Ramler, Piilani. Who invented the doggy bag? Perhaps the early Hawaiians, for their menus often featured canine cuisine. HON 8 (Nov. 73): 86-87.
Luomala, Katharine. Polynesian myths about Maui and the dog. SAP 2 (1958): 139-162.
Titcomb, Margaret. Dog and man in the ancient Pacific, with special attention to Hawaii. Special Publication 59. Honolulu: Bishop Museum, 1969. 91 pp.
McClellan, Edwin. Ahaaina or luau in old Hawaii. POP 52 (Jan. 1940): 9- 12, 25.
Hoku, the poi dog
Maxwell