Sir, to leave things out of a book, merely because people tell you it will not be believed, is meanness.
—Samuel Johnson
Video of a kangaroo cavorting with a dog:
Dog-kangaroo hybrids are occasionally described in old Australian news reports, some of which are quoted below.
One such report appears on page 2 of the March 19, 1892, issue of the Logan Witness, a newspaper published in Beenleigh, Queensland, Australia (source), there appears an account of a freak show which describes one of the creatures on display as “an animal that may be truly termed half a dog, half kangaroo, the legs and feet being moulded in true marsupial style, while the head and jaw are canine.”
A second, much longer report, appears on page 3 (cols. 4 and 5) of the May 5, 1883, issue of The Herald, a newspaper published in Fremantle, Western Australia (source). It reads as follows:
The following reference to a Western Australian natural curiosity appeared in the “South Australian Chronicle” of April 12th: We have been shown by Mr. James Storrie, jun., a most remarkable animal that he has recently brought from Western Australia, where he purchased it. This lusus naturae is one of a litter of six, to which a yellow smooth-haired kangaroo hound slut gave birth eight months ago [a kangaroo hound is apparently an Australian breed of dog]. Two of the litter were naturally formed like the mother, and four were monsters, but all died except the one Mr. Storrie secured. The creature is something between an animal of the marsupial tribe and a dog; in general appearance it most nearly approaches to the native bear [i.e. the koala, Phascolarctos cinereus], but that animal is not found in Western Australia. The hair is very long and mouse colored, like that of the common kangaroo or an opossum, and this long hair covers the animal’s head, body, and legs down to its toes. The face and tail were equally hairy, but the late owner clipped these portions of the brute for some reason just before parting with it. The head and face are decidedly like those of the native bear, and the body is somewhat of the same shape. The feet are dog-like, except that the claws are much curved inwards and prehensile. Each jaw has a double row of teeth, very short, except the canines which are single. The animal has all the lower division of the hind legs resting on the ground, just as the kangaroo has. It is very stupid-looking in the day, but brightens up somewhat at night. It eats flesh, food and bread; and drinks milk, lapping its liquor like a dog, but not so freely. Its legs are rather shorter than those of a native bear of the same size. The creature is very small for its age, and would be supposed, in the absence of reliable information to be only about two months old. This curiosity in the animal world is well worth inspection by naturalists.
There is a brief mention of a dog-wallaby hybrid on page 2 (col. 4) of the June 28, 1875, issue of the Evening News a newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales (source). The notice reports that at a local hotel, the Waterman’s Arms, there was then on display a “freak of nature in the shape of a dog that partakes strangely of the nature of a wallaby.”
An additional report that seems to fit under the heading of this cross, appears on page 3 (col. 1) of the December 21, 1939, issue of the Glen Innes Examiner a newspaper published in Glen Innes, New South Wales (source). Note that foxes are introduced in Australia. Also, dingos, which are native to that country, are often classified as Canis familiaris and have fox-like tails. At any rate, the article reads as follows:
“NO MYTH”
The Freak Kangaroo
The kangrafox—a kangaroo with a tail like a fox—is not a myth. It has been seen by Mr. A. W.
Tuckey, postmaster, at Half-way Creek (states the Grafton ‘Daily Examiner’).
Mr. Tuckey came across the strange animal hopping across the road with two other kangaroos, at the foot of the 10-mile hill on the Woolgoolea road, while driving his lorry to Half-way Creek.
Six other men were on the lorry at the time and he called their attention to the freak and slowed down for all to stand up and see the marsupial monstrosity.
‘I drove the lorry to within 10 yards of the animal,’ said Mr. Tuckey. 'The butt of the tail was of normal thickness, but not more than a foot long, and on the end of this thick butt was growing the fox-like bushy tail.’
‘You can say definitely that the earlier report that such a strange animal is in existence is absolutely true,’ added Mr. Tuckey.
The following is a list of reported dog crosses discussed on this site. Some of these crosses are much better documented than others (as indicated by the reliability arrow). Moreover, some are extremely disparate, and so must be taken with a large grain of salt. But all have been reported at least once.